Tank Transfer and Cycle?

[tuscani]

Hi all, I recently did a tank transfer going from a 65g to a 110g. I kept all my old water and used new live sand. I also kept existing rock and added some new. Questions..

1. Water is still a bit cloudy after one week. Is this normal? Should I up water changes?
2. SeaChem badge shows slightly green but more yellow. Salifert test shows 0 ammonia. Added some MicrobacterClean and MicroBacter7. Is this a one time deal?
3. My Nitrates show higher ~20. But Nitrites are 200ppb\0.66ppm (Flashing) on my Hanna test. I understand the Nitrates could be skewed with Nitrites present?

Thanks!

 

[Kingsley_Reef]

Hi all, I recently did a tank transfer going from a 65g to a 110g. I kept all my old water and used new live sand. I also kept existing rock and added some new. Questions..

1. Water is still a bit cloudy after one week. Is this normal? Should I up water changes?
2. SeaChem badge shows slightly green but more yellow. Salifert test shows 0 ammonia. Added some MicrobacterClean and MicroBacter7. Is this a one time deal?
3. My Nitrates show higher ~20. But Nitrites are 200ppb\0.66ppm (Flashing) on my Hanna test. I understand the Nitrates could be skewed with Nitrites present?

Thanks!

Hey,
1)Post some pics of your cloudy water may be a bacterial bloom or you just stirred up the new sand a bunch but for now I say no water change yet
2)the badges are ok but I’ve never found them to be 100% reliable I would trust your salifert
MicrōBacterCLEAN is really used as maintenance to sort up loosen up and aid in cleaning hold off for now MicrōBacter7 should help clear up the cloudy water I dose it daily
3)nitrite is most likely affecting your reading it’s only been a week give it another week to settle its cycling be patient

 

[JayM]

Cloudy after 1 week would suggest a possible algae or bacterial bloom if substrate is not being stirred up by powerheads. What do your phosphates look like?

I've never used any sort of ammonia reducing/removing product, so I have no idea if it's a "one and done" situation or not. Assuming the Seachem is as accurate as they advertise, I wouldn't worry much at this point.

Nitrite will skew nitrate results, but you're nowhere near dangerous levels of nitrite or nitrate.

 

[MoshJosh]

Keep in mind I am not an expert skip cycler/tank transferrer (though I have done it with varying levels of success).

1. For the cloudiness I would try running some type of very fine filter floss for a day and see if that makes a difference (though as said above could be bacterial bloom/algae bloom).
2 I would skip Clean altogether, I (and other people on the internet) don't think it makes much of a difference. . . Microbacter 7 recommends daily dosing for new tanks, so I would dose based on that.
3. . . Don't know, I will leave that for the pros.

 

[Finn450]

Hi all, I recently did a tank transfer going from a 65g to a 110g. I kept all my old water and used new live sand. I also kept existing rock and added some new. Questions..

1. Water is still a bit cloudy after one week. Is this normal? Should I up water changes?
2. SeaChem badge shows slightly green but more yellow. Salifert test shows 0 ammonia. Added some MicrobacterClean and MicroBacter7. Is this a one time deal?
3. My Nitrates show higher ~20. But Nitrites are 200ppb\0.66ppm (Flashing) on my Hanna test. I understand the Nitrates could be skewed with Nitrites present?

Thanks!

this recently happed when I swapped tanks...very similar to what you did. I dosed MicroBacter for a week...also ran activated carbon for a week. Mine lasted 10 days.

 

[Daz_1978]

If you moved an established 65g contents over, there shouldn't be much of a cycle. Some die off maybe, but it should take care of itself pretty quickly. Grab a bottle of SeaChem Prime or the like, if you want to be on the safe side.

1. What kind of filtration are you running? You might could get a flocculant like SeaChem Clarity or the like to help clear the water. My guess is this is from the live sand, which isn't rinsed before putting it in. If there was significant die off, then it might be a bacterial bloom.
2. MBClean is a weekly maintenance thing. MB7 is daily for 2 weeks on new tanks or high nutrient tanks.
3. Nitrates could be skewed... It's no biggie though. Fish could care less about Nitrite/Nitrate unless it's absolutely ridiculously high.

 

[tuscani]

Thanks all.. I will wait it out and add a few caps of the MicroBacter7 daily for the next week or so.

For filtration. I have Reefmat 500 and RSK 300 Skimmer.

The sand does have some brown and there was some coral die off so I suspect it will clear up.. here are a few pics

 

[Kingsley_Reef]

That’s a week old sandbed !?
How many fish are in there?
Cloudiness not too bad I’m saying bacteria bloom…..

otherwise welcome to the ugly stage my friend

 

[tuscani]

Yep week old.. about dozen fish. Yeah I suppose with new sand and some new rock, to be expected.

 

[moretor1]

get a small UV bulb to clear up the bacterial bloom. It really doesnt take much at all

a 3w bulb cleared one so bad that i had about 2 inches of visibility in my 15 gal

 

[tuscani]

Won't that kill my copepods? Will daily water changes make a difference?

 

[moretor1]

Won't that kill my copepods? Will daily water changes make a difference?

you can buy an enclosed green killing machine that will leave the pods mostly unharmed

I did 50% WCs every day for a week straight with no avail