cycling.... few questions

[e46er]

so i have a 120 G and am using seachem reef salt
with 120 lbs rock and 150 lbs sand cycling and i have been using cycle as per directions.... and i had no die off from my rock after 10 days becuase it was kept in a 55G barrel with no circulation for a long period of time
well i used pure ammonia as my ammonia source which i cycled my planted tank with so after a week or so these were my test results

ph 7.7 was 8.2 last week?
ammonia 6.1ppm checking daily and it drops so i add a little bit more to keep it around 5.6-6.1
nitrite buried on scale at 3.3 ppm
nitrate buried on scale at 110 ppm
KH 80 ppm
Ca 420 ppm

im not sure what caused the ph to drop any ideas?


i have no tank inhabitants so i dont need to do a WC during the cycle to drop the nitrates do i? just a huge one at end of cycle possibly 2 or 3 to get the nitrates down?

also i seem to have red looking stuff growing on certain parts of my tank im guessing this is the no flow areas??

i went to the LFS today and grabbed some loc line Y so now i have 4 outlets from ym sump return and 4 outlets from my closed loop should be enough outlets for a 4 foot tank.......

also my alk should be slightly higher maybe seachem reef builder since my salt obviously isnt buffering it high enough...thoughtsÉÉ
thanks in advance

[Aquattro]

pH is dropping from the NH3 concentration. Why are you adding this? If you had cured rock, you could have just added it and waited a few days. Once NH3/NO2 hits 0, add a small fish. NO3 is way off the deep end, I'd stop adding ammonia and get on with the tank. Do a really good water change, ideally you want 0 on all three parameters.

[moldrik]

From what i've read so far, while cycling doing water changes help out. These shouldn't be major water changes, but something along the line of 10-20% every week.

If you think about it, ammonia, nitrates, nitrites, etc, will remain in the water, by doing water changes, you're removing these components out of it and bringing in fresh water which will help remove these from the tank and should help stabilize things further.

Ph changing so much can be just part of the cycle itself. There are several components that help buffer the PH in order to maintain a stable system that takes a while to develop. So even though, one day you'll measure a good PH value, a few days later things will be different.

I haven't tried adding ammonia to my tank, and I probably won't. The LR that I picked up was fairly developed and had been in tanks for a really long time, so I figured it would be counter intuitive to artificially raise the ammonia levels, and I'm letting things go in a more natural route.

I also would think that adding ammonia, it's something that you would do at the beginning but not continuously add more. Basically, the concept is to put some in there to help the nitrifying bacteria to start doing their job, which will start the whole nitrite-nitrate cycle.

From what I've read as well, you don't want to use huge amounts of ammonia, and a good way to go about it, is to just drop a dead shrimp or something ( from a supermarket ) which will help release natural ammonia and help out the bacteria do their job.
________
drug testing

[e46er]

the rock wasnt cured at all it was live at one point becuase its purple but it had been in stagnat water for months no heat no flow no aireation but it was added and no ammonia for 2 weeks.
i added the ammonia to start the cycle same as ive done for all my fresh tanks.. when i said i added it to keep up 5-6 ppm i have only done it for a few days and thats all ive always done sorry it was worded wrong..

[Aquattro]

Then, as mentioned, you should have just added a bit (or a dead shrimp) to get things going. Right now you're elevating levels way above what they need to be, and if you've converted that much NH3 into NO3, youhve plenty of bacteria now. Back off adding anything, let NH3 and NO2 drop to 0, do some water changes to lower NO3 and add maybe a couple of hermits, or your first small fish.

[moldrik]

Your readings are off the charts though, as Aquattro said, doing a major water change will probably set things in the right course. Make sure that your water is getting decent aeration as well, adding an airstone might help get the necessary oxygen in the tank.
________
Healthy living

[e46er]

ok thanks guys

[Myka]

Holy shitballs! That's waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay too much ammonia!! In a saltwater tank, when cycling you don't want ammonia over 2 ppm, and you don't want to add ammonia repeatedly to keep it there either. When using ammonia to cycle a tank, you just do the one initial dose, and don't repeat it. There are a lot of differences between a saltwater and a freshwater tank, so don't assume that what you did with your freshwater tank will be what you need to do with your saltwater tank. You would be surprised how much can survive in a bin with no heat or circulation, but if there was any remaining life on that live rock it is now dead after adding all that ammonia.

Having said that I would suggest you do several 75% waterchanges every day until your numbers are in line. I'm betting you will have to do these daily 75% waterchanges for a week...maybe more. Don't add anything alive to the tank (hermits, snails, fish, ANYTHING) until you have 0 ammonia, 0 nitrites, and <10ppm nitrates. I would also suggest you keep the tank lights off, and shade the tank if it gets any natural light until your numbers are correct.

Also, read the Cycling link in my signature.

[e46er]

ok so after a few large water changes im at
ph 8.2
alk 90 ppm 5 dkh
ammonia .3ppm
nitrite .1 ppm
nitrate 5 ppm
SG 1.025

[Myka]

That's looking a lot better! You probably have another week or two before your cycle finishes. Make sure your ammonia and nitrite are both at 0 before adding a small clean up crew. What kind of salt are you using? Your alkalinity is low. I like to keep mine between 8-9 dKH. You're going to need a buffer to bring that up, but don't bother until your cycle is over. I use SeaChem Reef Buffer. Works well. You might want to take a look at two part Cal/Alk solutions as well like C-Balance.