Hello
First of all thanks for reading the post.
I have a new tank, a RedSea 250 G2 with Skimmer and ReefMat.
I have no experience with saltwater aquariums.
January 25th
I started the tank on January 25 of this year 2024.
I use dead marco rock ( https://www.theaquariumsolution.com/product/8232/345 ), about 46 Pounds (21Kg) and I use Carib Sea ARAG-ALIVE live sand, two bags of 20 Pounds each (9Kg per bag). And I added a starter kit quite famous around here of Microfauna and meiofauna eggs (seeded microfauna) and every day I'm dosing live aerobic and anaerobic seawater bacteria (Bactoreef), all from the company Daphbio. I also dose Red Sea Reef Energy Plus AB+ at 5ml per day. I use Tropic Marin Pro salt. I also have a bag of activated carbon in the sump.
I started as advised by my store with fish from day one and some corals.
I use Hanna tests for NO3 and KH. The rest with Salifert.
The parameters were the classic for a cycling, first ammonia peak, then N02 peak and then NO3 peak at 25 ppm in about 4 days.
16th of february
As it already had algae I added about 10 snails, two shrimps and two hermits.
After the N03 peak I did a water change of 40/50% and lowered them to 10ppm, the next day, due to a family problem I had to go on an "emergency" trip for a week. The aquarium stayed 6 days running with the skimmer, the reefmat and the automatic feeder.
February 25th
When I came back the NO3 PPM were at 75, I guess because of the excess of pellet food (4 turns per day with about 15-20 pellets per turn for two Ocellaris and one C. bispinosa).
The same day I did a water change by preheating it to 85% and lowered the N03 to 10ppm.
That day I turned off the automatic feeder and started to feed manually with the pump stopped and pellet by pellet (about 5 pellets per per day).
February 26th
I did another water change by preheating the water to 85% and lowered the N03 to 3 ppm.
March 2nd
I had the water at 15ppm of N03.
I did another 85% pre-warm water change and lowered the N03 to 4 ppm.
I added algae to the tank to see if it would lower the N03 and two gold Goby fish to clean the sand.
March 6th, today
NO3 is at 8ppm, my PPM is rising at 0.8ppm per day.
Thanks for your help!
Albert
First of all thanks for reading the post.
I have a new tank, a RedSea 250 G2 with Skimmer and ReefMat.
I have no experience with saltwater aquariums.
January 25th
I started the tank on January 25 of this year 2024.
I use dead marco rock ( https://www.theaquariumsolution.com/product/8232/345 ), about 46 Pounds (21Kg) and I use Carib Sea ARAG-ALIVE live sand, two bags of 20 Pounds each (9Kg per bag). And I added a starter kit quite famous around here of Microfauna and meiofauna eggs (seeded microfauna) and every day I'm dosing live aerobic and anaerobic seawater bacteria (Bactoreef), all from the company Daphbio. I also dose Red Sea Reef Energy Plus AB+ at 5ml per day. I use Tropic Marin Pro salt. I also have a bag of activated carbon in the sump.
I started as advised by my store with fish from day one and some corals.
I use Hanna tests for NO3 and KH. The rest with Salifert.
The parameters were the classic for a cycling, first ammonia peak, then N02 peak and then NO3 peak at 25 ppm in about 4 days.
16th of february
As it already had algae I added about 10 snails, two shrimps and two hermits.
After the N03 peak I did a water change of 40/50% and lowered them to 10ppm, the next day, due to a family problem I had to go on an "emergency" trip for a week. The aquarium stayed 6 days running with the skimmer, the reefmat and the automatic feeder.
February 25th
When I came back the NO3 PPM were at 75, I guess because of the excess of pellet food (4 turns per day with about 15-20 pellets per turn for two Ocellaris and one C. bispinosa).
The same day I did a water change by preheating it to 85% and lowered the N03 to 10ppm.
That day I turned off the automatic feeder and started to feed manually with the pump stopped and pellet by pellet (about 5 pellets per per day).
February 26th
I did another water change by preheating the water to 85% and lowered the N03 to 3 ppm.
March 2nd
I had the water at 15ppm of N03.
I did another 85% pre-warm water change and lowered the N03 to 4 ppm.
I added algae to the tank to see if it would lower the N03 and two gold Goby fish to clean the sand.
March 6th, today
NO3 is at 8ppm, my PPM is rising at 0.8ppm per day.
- Is it normal for my nitrates to go up so much every day?
- Is it because of the marco stone and the lack of bacteria?
- What do I do now? Recommendations?
Thanks for your help!
Albert
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