New Tank - Nitrites

[NeonRabbit221B]

If you plan to keep coral I would say yes its an important one to have on hand. For the first two months with regular water changes I can't see a tank using enough for regular testing to make an impact. I only test for it monthly and dose it bi-monthly.

 

[NeonRabbit221B]

I knew @brandon429 would make an appearance! Not testing isn't a terrible idea. Great analogy about checking the vehicle daily for oil leaks. It can be draining very quickly.

 

[Manos]

Manos Ill tell you a secret I know you won't believe

not that the tests are bad, those tests above have been used in proofing threads for various cycling actions.

But specifically, unique to this aquarium and its dosing and timeframe, you should cease testing for six weeks and reef like luke did on the stinging planet holograms saber training run. you need intuit running right now, your testing regimen is exactly like checking a vehicle daily to see if all the oil drained out. there's a way to increase your enjoyment twenty fold

I promise you nothing will happen if you do exactly this. cease testing for six weeks, keep the thread updated with your water changes. do test for salinity and temp, and that's it.

Then in six weeks, consider your calcium, alk, phosphates and pH and nitrate.

Adding fish isn't a concern, you don't have to test for that, you are free to simply add fish in a cycled reef that's the truth. You have no ammonia issues, that's the truth. trust me, cease testing at all for six weeks watch how your reefing changes. we guide it right here live time.

Well my friend its not that I don't believe what you are saying, after all, if you are telling someone to do or not do something on his/her tank, then I assume that you are a good human, that's why you have a reef for hobby and not gambling or *******, I assume that you know what you are talking about!
My problem is that I care for those little souls in there, I don't want them to be hurt in any way!

 

[NeonRabbit221B]

Meet us half way and stop testing for nitrite as it can't hurt a soul in a cycled saltwater tank lol

I think his point is largely to move from a test kit checkup to a visual checkup. Misreads in ammonia are soooo common that you tend to overreact when you don't need to. Cycles are far more stable than anyone gives them credit for.

 

[brandon429]

we should run the tank remotely live time here for fun and accountability no joke

there is nothing in a two month tank that commands any params out of balance, and mainly its to trust cycling rules that once locked in we can forget about it and reef and add fish.

To save this from becoming a link stack/years to read consider just this entry one and how it pertains to offers prior:

Suddenly add 20 fish to Established tank

Hi Reefers I need some advice from experts here. So my 65 gallon tank is about 2 years old and was housing 4 fish and around 20+ anemone. Recently I converted into a clownfish harem by adding 20 clownfish all at one time. Suppose 20 is a good number for them not to fight. Right now...

www.reef2reef.com

this reef does what all reefs do if you add twenty fish at once. his tank isn't magic, they all do this. False test reads from api is why people think its not possible.


we aren't going to add twenty fish we'll just run the current lot off visuals for six weeks testing only temp and salinity. aka what ten million nano reefs are doing at this same moment

we should do it, would be great fun and you'd have fun Manos

and if at any time the reef gives you a bad sign, ditch jedi mode go right back to titration

the deal is 99% this: you do weekly water changes a bit stepped up at the start-not like its forever, its new gardeners price. even though you could be skipping them bc nothing is wrong, we wouldn't. weekly a small change couple gallons if that's all can be done, for several weeks and your tank will be better not worse in the end.

you can practice direct spot cleaning vs uglies takeover in this time, that's a big deal practice benefit.

enjoy the reef daily, feeding, taking note of behavior of fish and light cleaning when needed. keep topped off.

that's it, for six weeks. you'd resist all test runs and replace with salinity and temp only, nothing is going out of spec, the water changes balance all.

is your home gas heating or electric

*the dinos are coming regardless of what's tested. you can be reading up on those as you reef. don't think testing for phosphates makes a hill of beans difference there for a new tank, a battle is coming nonetheless and none of it is related to cycling.

 

[Manos]

Ok mate, got you! It was a little difficult for me to understand your text at once, had to read it 3 or 4 times, not my native language! So im gonna do as you told, as I said I haven't met you before, and maybe I won't meet you until I die, but I think that your saying is honest!
My home has natural gas heating system, but why? Has something to do with my tank? Im really curious now...

 

[brandon429]

In extreme settings natural gas heaters boost up co2 a little but that’s only a rare issue. We can watch for it when pH gets tested down the road it can’t affect anything right now or for our cruising interval.

an electric home with a bunch of family members and animals can drive it up too so it’s no big deal if gas at all, thousands of reef tanks are in gas heat homes. That was the only parameter I could think of that home environments could alter, and it’s a low potential at that, more of a matter in coral tuning as they’re growing its not a pressing matter for sure

can you post the official full tank shot pic, all our little details come from the pic not any tests. Nice to meet you! Nothing in your new tank pulls down the params from a bag of saltwater mixed up. It takes quite a coral load to begin that command above what basic really easy water changes will handle.

as they’ve mentioned, nitrite is 100% neutral in reefing. Nitrate is for algae tuning, and ammonia is permanently controlled here, we are doing a safe experiment for sure.
b

 

[Manos]

Sure, there you go!

 

[Manos]

Oh, and the pleasure is all mine mate! To meet you I mean! Cheers!

 

[NeonRabbit221B]

FYI starfish hardly ever do well in new setups much less mature setups. Do you know what type that is? Sand sifting stars tend to bury themselves and if they die while buried its... its not good.

 

[brandon429]

Ok excellent setup that’s just perfect.

seeing your ratios, that’s enough rock and sand to handle any bioload reasonable for any reef tank. The starfish is ultra sensitive to salinity so keep topoff accurate.

good starter fish, their waste won’t overcome the filter your main challenge is disease control it’s a true, true challenge to engineer. Basic water changes weekly, where the work to prep and exchange a few gallons of water replaces the testing, is ideal based on this layout. You will enjoy the system much better for a bit.
Full bright lights will bring on algae in this new tank, the uglies coming are not a bad param showing, they are growths from reflective vs purple surfaces blasted with light. We lift out rocks, clean it off, set them back, no messing with water params. Gardening mode on

fish disease, it’s a doozie. The bottled supplements don’t work

 

[Manos]

FYI starfish hardly ever do well in new setups much less mature setups. Do you know what type that is? Sand sifting stars tend to bury themselves and if they die while buried its... its not good.

Yes I know that, the LFS told me about, but the other half wanted it, so you know, I must do some things as she says even if they tend to be bad! I hope the starfish will do fine, it is the one that burries itself in the aragonite but it surfaces to eat when I feed the tank...

 

[Manos]

Ok excellent setup that’s just perfect.

seeing your ratios, that’s enough rock and sand to handle any bioload reasonable for any reef tank. The starfish is ultra sensitive to salinity so keep topoff accurate.

good starter fish, their waste won’t overcome the filter your main challenge is disease control it’s a true, true challenge to engineer. Basic water changes weekly, where the work to prep and exchange a few gallons of water replaces the testing, is ideal based on this layout. You will enjoy the system much better for a bit.


fish disease, it’s a doozie. The bottled supplements don’t work

Thank you mate, well I hope that diseases will hopefully come later, cause now I have other things to worry about!!!
The salinity is at point! The ATO is working wonders and it pours RODI water every 5-10 minutes, I haven't seen alterations to the salinity from the start...

 

[brandon429]

the #1 upgrade I recommend isn't hardware, its biological. secure ten pounds of the finest live rock your pet store is already using in a reef, pay them enough to part with ten pounds and bring it home and add it. second best is ten pounds of live rock from a vat marked live rock at the pet store, ideal is ten pounds from their display reef try and convince them.

this changes your trajectory in coral growth in full favor of grow

we need everything the live rock has to offer, it can help prevent dinos which are very, very selected for here in this type of dry start. if the live rock brings a bad anemone that's no big deal, we'll scrape it right off.

 

[brandon429]

New Tank (6 Weeks Old) & Dinos - Please help

Hey all, I am pretty much having the worst beginning to a reef tank, especially comparing to my last tank almost a decade ago. It looks like I got myself a nice dino outbreak. I cycled my Waterbox 220.6 with dry rock/sand and bottle bacteria. When it completed the ammonia cycle, I added the two...

www.reef2reef.com

I feel this should be a direct prep for your tank, this is what white base rock maturation looks like. its not a parameter battle, this is coming in any parameter and even worse if you try and lower them. be prepared for physical direct access.

see how UV keeps popping up there

that's what you want, its needed for any reef so large you can't reasonable change all its water. if that's only forty or so gallons and you can do a full water change when things get challenging, owning a UV is less required. You don't have to spend $900 on the good ones

we have saved a thousand reefs from loss with a $150 pond sterilizer off amazon, meant for a koi pond but still small. something cheap and oversized it doesn't have to run forever. we only turn it one when needing a cheat.

UV and live rock will streamline your system into just what you want, with work still required on the surrounding zones. We simply would not ever let it amass this way above, its what everyone does. the common thing is to wreck your tank by allowing a total takeover. everyone thinks we have to leave it in place and try and coax it out, no. force it out. each time you're changing 2 gallons of water a week be siphoning up new spots, this is the work for dry rock starts.

we should do opposite, and plan for it. we are long past cycling concerns in your tank, and into prepping for that.

we should make resolve right now to not allow the tank to downgrade itself into a challenge, it should be kept manually clean right from the start.

reducing your overall light intensity by 40% is wise and indicated at this stage. once a week directly place feed up under the starfish so it can have a round. agreed it wants to be eating sandbed life forms this is only a supplemental mode, its a creature delicate enough if it dies it doesn't mean you have a param out of whack, he does not have any sandbed life forms to eat yet.

Your tank will show the first initial signs of this above by the end of this month is the prediction. lowering light is a big help for you, that level there is for full packed and fed and aging corals. not for a new tank, big driver of uglies.

working by param control is how everyone gets invaded with these

its about the physical arrangements and the willingness to implement full control as needed.

not any params are of concern given good temps and salinity. nothing in there is affected by any typical range of params we see in a reef. its new enough you have room to wait on that level of concern, its about the invasion preps for sure. you will hate owning a wrecked reef, Im 110% sure.


so any good reef friend would head that off for you.

 

[Manos]

Hey reefers! So the brown stuff appeared! Check the photos below and help me with what steps to follow, I have already read many many posts and I am confused. Im in the process of adding some live rock, it will be done in a day or two...
It seems that it likes to grow more around the frags...

 

[brandon429]

common new tank growths undefined. the uglies

 

[brandon429]

you are free to ride out

or dose something

or stick siphon hose in there and uptake

 

[Manos]

Thank you Brandon for the quick response, please be patient with me and be more of specific?
What should I dose? Peroxide? Something else?
When you say siphon, do it as a I change the water every week? Or siphon and put the other end at the filter shock and then change the shock?

 

[brandon429]

there is no plan, all those options are in the range of what people do. what I mentioned is simply siphoning out a few gallons worth as needed, no set time on the frequency, as needed. there's no right way

some get lucky on its own it goes away

I didn't recommend peroxide bc in our peroxide threads we don't dose new tanks we just manually remove like an active garden. can't go hands off until about 25 months have passed, get ready to pull some dandelions x 2999