I have a new 3 week old saltwater tank. I have 7 fishes. I currently have brown spots on my sand and here's a picture of how my water tested. Is there anything that I need to do or is this part of the cycle?
New Tank Please HELP!
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Looks like your tank is cycling. Did you cycle your tank ? How big is your tank?I have a new 3 week old saltwater tank. I have 7 fishes. I currently have brown spots on my sand and here's a picture of how my water tested. Is there anything that I need to do or is this part of the cycle?
i figured that now. but the reef shop had told me otherwise that my tank would never cycle without fish. My conclusion is they may have lied to sell the fish. Should i do any water change or that would not help or distrupt the cycle?. What would prime do?
Prime binds ammonia, reducing its toxicity to fish.
A water change will also help to remove some of it, but not as much as your fish are likely producing, and a water change will remove the ammonia before it gets a chance to feed the bacteria that you need. Can you get hold of some BioSpira or Dr. Tim's One-And-Only bacteria in a bottle? Those would help to boost the populations you need.
You might also consider choosing a new favorite LFS - those beautiful golden jacks you've got in there may not be comfortable in your tank, long-term.
~Bruce
A water change will also help to remove some of it, but not as much as your fish are likely producing, and a water change will remove the ammonia before it gets a chance to feed the bacteria that you need. Can you get hold of some BioSpira or Dr. Tim's One-And-Only bacteria in a bottle? Those would help to boost the populations you need.
You might also consider choosing a new favorite LFS - those beautiful golden jacks you've got in there may not be comfortable in your tank, long-term.
~Bruce
I would test for ammonia & nitrite using a better test kit: Red Sea, Salifert, Seachem, Giesemann, etc.
API is notorious for showing false positives. Also, I find it hard to believe that a tank with diatoms is still cycling.
Thank you for your reply, when i first set up the tank i did add Dr. Tim's One And Only, would i need to add another bottle?. Also what is LFS sorry im new to the forum so not sure what that means. I also have a clown trigger, want to make sure my fish dont die and i dont know why the reef shop recommended me to add these fish if now i am in this situation
"LFS" = Local Fish Shop/Store
I don't know why they would recommend those fish to you either, unless it's because they now have your money, and care more about that than your long-term success. The same may hold for the clown trigger - those guys get big, and can become ... a bit feisty.
Diatoms are a type of algae, often the first to grow in a new tank. They feed on silicates released from sand and stone, as well as nitrate and light. Diatoms and other algaes generally don't show up until after your bacterial cycle has begun to chug along smoothly.
~Bruce
I don't know why they would recommend those fish to you either, unless it's because they now have your money, and care more about that than your long-term success. The same may hold for the clown trigger - those guys get big, and can become ... a bit feisty.
Diatoms are a type of algae, often the first to grow in a new tank. They feed on silicates released from sand and stone, as well as nitrate and light. Diatoms and other algaes generally don't show up until after your bacterial cycle has begun to chug along smoothly.
~Bruce
Well it would be wise to have your water checked again to make sure your api kit is ok. I’m not a big fan of API kits as the ammonia test can be bad and show a false positive of low ammonia. The nitrate kit is also suspect.
In your case though I think you do have ammonia and nitrites present. Your test sequence appears to me that you are right at the nitrite spike point where ammonia is coming down and nitrates are creeping up. The test results appear right.
I can’t speak for the diatoms, I never got them in my tank. With 7 fish are you sure that’s not poop and decaying food on your sandbed?
Get Prime and follow the instructions. Every Reefer should have a bottle of Prime for emergency use. While at the store bring some water and have them test it to verify your results.
If you water change that is good for the fish but not good if you are working through your cycle. I started with live rock with a ton of growth(corals, algae, plants, sponges, crabs, etc). I had to cycle the tank and cure the rock. I used Prime and I was able to keep a lot of the hitchhikers alive. I still lost stuff but a lot of cool stuff made it. So I believe the Prime works.
In your case though I think you do have ammonia and nitrites present. Your test sequence appears to me that you are right at the nitrite spike point where ammonia is coming down and nitrates are creeping up. The test results appear right.
I can’t speak for the diatoms, I never got them in my tank. With 7 fish are you sure that’s not poop and decaying food on your sandbed?
Get Prime and follow the instructions. Every Reefer should have a bottle of Prime for emergency use. While at the store bring some water and have them test it to verify your results.
If you water change that is good for the fish but not good if you are working through your cycle. I started with live rock with a ton of growth(corals, algae, plants, sponges, crabs, etc). I had to cycle the tank and cure the rock. I used Prime and I was able to keep a lot of the hitchhikers alive. I still lost stuff but a lot of cool stuff made it. So I believe the Prime works.
I definetly dont think its food as the fish eat all the food like savages in less then 2 minutes. I sit their and watch as they eat everything. i put pellets and some tropical flakes because my fish happen to love the tropical flakes. I do have krill but i saw it was becoming a problem because they would never finish it so it would be in the water too long and took it out and stopped feeding it to them it seems they would nibble it but never get to the end of it. So do you suggest i only add prime or water change might mess up the cycle?
I definetly dont think its food as the fish eat all the food like savages in less then 2 minutes. I sit their and watch as they eat everything. i put pellets and some tropical flakes because my fish happen to love the tropical flakes. I do have krill but i saw it was becoming a problem because they would never finish it so it would be in the water too long and took it out and stopped feeding it to them it seems they would nibble it but never get to the end of it. So do you suggest i only add prime or water change might mess up the cycle?
I had to do water changes when I cycled and cured my live rock. The ammonia was off the chart. I can’t say for sure what way to go in your case, sorry. I did both water changes and Prime.
Have you vaccumed your sandbed since you started the tank? Fish poo is gonna pile up with that many fish and no offense here but many new people tend to really overfeed their fish. If you can get closer/clearer pic it will help to see if there are diatoms.
Have you vaccumed your sandbed since you started the tank? Fish poo is gonna pile up with that many fish and no offense here but many new people tend to really overfeed their fish. If you can get closer/clearer pic it will help to see if there are diatoms.
Looks like the start of diatoms, but like I said I never got them. Doing some quick reading it seems it is fairly common to get a diatom bloom when your tank is not fully cycled yet. So that seems to go along with your testing results.
Any ammonia in the water is going to be toxic.
Prime will bind the ammonia for ~48 hours, IIRC, which may give your bacteria time to get to work on it. If it was myself, I would probably do a water change, then dose the tank with Prime. (No sense dosing before the water change, only to pull the prime from the tank . . . )
~Bruce
Prime will bind the ammonia for ~48 hours, IIRC, which may give your bacteria time to get to work on it. If it was myself, I would probably do a water change, then dose the tank with Prime. (No sense dosing before the water change, only to pull the prime from the tank . . . )
~Bruce
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