Hi,
Thanks for the advice on the water change. I'd read you weren't supposed to change the water while cycling unless the ammonia got high enough to kill your live rock, but this was looking a bit weird, so I didn't really know what to do..
Ammonia test is API, the rest are done off Mardel test strips - I'm beginning to think that maybe the latter were a mistake though...
I think taking a sample to the LFS is probably a good idea.
I think I get what you mean about the nitrates with mostly dry rock - takes a long time for the anaerobic bacteria that get rid of the nitrates to establish..
I know that the nitrate must be coming from the ammonia, but I'm at a bit of a loss to explain why the ammonia isn't dropping as the nitrate rises - no food in the tank for several weeks, and nothing I can see dying off apart (maybe) from a small brittle star. Could that create that much ammonia?
I'll get the water tested and set up for the water change and see what happens..
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