Water Change? Add Bacteria to Reduce? Please help!

[jellifishi]

Ammonia - 0.25/0.5 ppm
Nitrites - 2-5 ppm
Nitrates - 30 ppm
PH - 8.2
Temp - 77.9
Salinity - 1.025

So, I have turbo snails, one hermit crab, and some nassarius snails in my saltwater tank. I ran my 32 gallon tank for a few weeks before adding them in, but I'm not sure if a cycle was completed. There's live rocks and live sand that was initially put in along with 10 gallons of ocean water (not made salt water). I did a 25% water change two days ago and my nitrites went up along with nitrates. Ammonia went up slightly as well. Was it because the sand was disturbed? Is it in the middle of the cycle and converting to nitrates? Should I do another water change or add some solution to reduce the nitrites? Please let me know! Don't want anything to happen to my snails.

 

[Fish Fan]

Welcome to Reef2Reef!

Yes, disturbing the sand bed can lead to an spike in ammonia >> nitrite >> nitrate. Your ammonia level isn't that bad considering your snails and hermits are fairly hardy critters. If you used live rocks and sand you should be well on your way to a fully cycled tank after a few weeks. I'd just watch and see if your ammonia goes up or down. I expect it will go down, and you'll be fine. If it keeps rising towards or above about 2ppm, then I'd do a water change.

Good luck!

 

[jellifishi]

Welcome to Reef2Reef!

Yes, disturbing the sand bed can lead to an spike in ammonia >> nitrite >> nitrate. Your ammonia level isn't that bad considering your snails and hermits are fairly hardy critters. If you used live rocks and sand you should be well on your way to a fully cycled tank after a few weeks. I'd just watch and see if your ammonia goes up or down. I expect it will go down, and you'll be fine. If it keeps rising towards or above about 2ppm, then I'd do a water change.

Good luck!

Thank you for the help. If I were to ever get fish that were sensitive to the ammonia/nitrites/nitrates, what would I do in that scenario?

 

[Fish Fan]

Thank you for the help. If I were to ever get fish that were sensitive to the ammonia/nitrites/nitrates, what would I do in that scenario?

Then I'd suggest doing partial water changes to lower the ammonia. I hope that helps!

 

[slingfox]

If all you have are snails and hermits right now you should be okay. Just keep checking parameters and don't add any fish until ammonia level gets to zero or very near it. Assuming no die off in your critters the cycle should be over soon. If you plan to stay in hobby for the long run you should switch over to more reliable water parameter tests such as Salifert and Hanna.

 

[Naekuh]

Your at the very end of cycle...
That to me looks normal like your at the closing peak.

Over the next few days to a couple of weeks, the nitrite will drop, and your nitrate will explode even more.

You'll hear a lot of people say nitrite and nitrate aren't too harmful to fishes.

But id do a large water change after your nitrites have bottomed out.. (approx 40%-50%)
This will help you flush out the excessive nitrates you have collected.

As for ammonia, API is notorious for giving false possitives at the .25ppm end.
So to me it looks like a API error and your ammonia is most likely fine.

 

[jellifishi]

If all you have are snails and hermits right now you should be okay. Just keep checking parameters and don't add any fish until ammonia level gets to zero or very near it. Assuming no die off in your critters the cycle should be over soon. If you plan to stay in hobby for the long run you should switch over to more reliable water parameter tests such as Salifert and Hanna.

I will check these out! Thank you!

 

[jellifishi]

Your at the very end of cycle...
That to me looks normal like your at the closing peak.

Over the next few days to a couple of weeks, the nitrite will drop, and your nitrate will explode even more.

You'll hear a lot of people say nitrite and nitrate aren't too harmful to fishes.

But id do a large water change after your nitrites have bottomed out.. (approx 40%-50%)
This will help you flush out the excessive nitrates you have collected.

As for ammonia, API is notorious for giving false possitives at the .25ppm end.
So to me it looks like a API error and your ammonia is most likely fine.

I've seen this problem with API, but it was after I already bought the kit. Can I ask what you use to test ammonia more accurately?

 

[Lavey29]

Nitrites are irrelevant in reef aquaria. You want 0 ammonia and measurable nitrates production. Water change is fine. Add some nitrifying bacteria to help finish your cycle along then add first fish.

 

[Ben's Pico Reefing]

I am curious. Said you used live sand and live rock. But have nitrites (ammonia can be iffy usinf API but looks like you may have some). Where did you get the live rock and sand from. As the bacteria should have already been established. Also where did you get the ocean water from? Did you add any ammonia or fish food to tank? There is nothing in the sand really to cause disturbance that would jump up your nitrites at this point in time.

 

[EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal]

Ammonia - 0.25/0.5 ppm
Nitrites - 2-5 ppm
Nitrates - 30 ppm
PH - 8.2
Temp - 77.9
Salinity - 1.025

So, I have turbo snails, one hermit crab, and some nassarius snails in my saltwater tank. I ran my 32 gallon tank for a few weeks before adding them in, but I'm not sure if a cycle was completed. There's live rocks and live sand that was initially put in along with 10 gallons of ocean water (not made salt water). I did a 25% water change two days ago and my nitrites went up along with nitrates. Ammonia went up slightly as well. Was it because the sand was disturbed? Is it in the middle of the cycle and converting to nitrates? Should I do another water change or add some solution to reduce the nitrites? Please let me know! Don't want anything to happen to my snails.

This looks fine. How long after the water change did you test?

 

[EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal]

Your at the very end of cycle...
That to me looks normal like your at the closing peak.

Over the next few days to a couple of weeks, the nitrite will drop, and your nitrate will explode even more.

You'll hear a lot of people say nitrite and nitrate aren't too harmful to fishes.

But id do a large water change after your nitrites have bottomed out.. (approx 40%-50%)
This will help you flush out the excessive nitrates you have collected.

As for ammonia, API is notorious for giving false possitives at the .25ppm end.
So to me it looks like a API error and your ammonia is most likely fine.

It's not a "false positive"!
It's a measurement of TOTAL ammonia, not just FREE (harmful) ammonia.

 

[EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal]

I've seen this problem with API, but it was after I already bought the kit. Can I ask what you use to test ammonia more accurately?

API is fine. See my other comment. Once the tank has established an appropriate amount of nitrifying bacteria (aka, once it's "cycled),, any reading below 0.5 is perfectly fine (actually, as someone else mentioned, a reading up to 2 is still ok, but likely indicates something has died in the tank to create the extra ammo.)

 

[jellifishi]

I am curious. Said you used live sand and live rock. But have nitrites (ammonia can be iffy usinf API but looks like you may have some). Where did you get the live rock and sand from. As the bacteria should have already been established. Also where did you get the ocean water from? Did you add any ammonia or fish food to tank? There is nothing in the sand really to cause disturbance that would jump up your nitrites at this point in time.

I believe the reason why there is ammonia in the tank is because I have some snails in there. The live rock was from a local pet store (not Petco or Petsmart that had the rock in their own sumps. The live sand was also bought from them and it's the Caribsea Arag-Alive! Sand. The ocean water was Nutri Seawater and I did 10 gallons of that and the remaining gallons of RODI water mixed with my preferred ocean salt.

 

[jellifishi]

This looks fine. How long after the water change did you test?

This was about 2-3 days after water change.

 

[BigMonkeyBrain]

I believe the reason why there is ammonia in the tank is because I have some snails in there. The live rock was from a local pet store (not Petco or Petsmart that had the rock in their own sumps. The live sand was also bought from them and it's the Caribsea Arag-Alive! Sand. The ocean water was Nutri Seawater and I did 10 gallons of that and the remaining gallons of RODI water mixed with my preferred ocean salt.

I used the same sand and I am sure there was a lot of dead organic matter in it. Every day that the tank is running the cycle continues to get better and the biome will process more input quicker.

I would just do a 10% water change a week until you decide to add fish, then before you add them a larger water change.

What are you feeding your CUC ?

Please don't use "Emergency" unless your tank is crashing.

 

[Naekuh]

Please don't use "Emergency" unless your tank is crashing.

Thinking on the OP's possition, he probably saw the unusually high nitrite and creeping high nitrate, and assumed just that.

 

[PharmrJohn]

Your tank is young. And still cycling. It takes a while. How much live rock do you have (in pounds) and how deep is your sand bed?

 

[twentyleagues]

Depending on how much live rock from an established tank you put in you should see no ammonia or nitrites with that little bioload. The "live" sand you bought isnt really "live" sand it does have bacteria in it and it does work it just takes a while unlike actual live sand. Got any pics of the tank specifically the rock you put in under white light?
With enough actual live rock its called a skip cycle. Because you actually skip the first part of the cycle. The tank is cycled the minute you add the live rock. There is nothing in the sand at this point to cause anything to happen if disturbed as @Ben's Pico Reefing said. That take months if not years to happen.

 

[Ben's Pico Reefing]

I believe the reason why there is ammonia in the tank is because I have some snails in there. The live rock was from a local pet store (not Petco or Petsmart that had the rock in their own sumps. The live sand was also bought from them and it's the Caribsea Arag-Alive! Sand. The ocean water was Nutri Seawater and I did 10 gallons of that and the remaining gallons of RODI water mixed with my preferred ocean salt.

Snails shouldnt have an ammonia reading once bacteria is established. Using live rock and live bag sand should be more than plenty for a few snails waste. The water you used also sounds good. Now what may have happened is a massive live rock die off. Did the live rock have all sorts of stuff growing on it or just rock that was still whate or off green color maybe a little coraline? The only thing I can think of is using different salts in large water channge. The chemicle makeup could have been different enough. I do 100 percent water changes but use same salt and get temp up. Was the live rock covered in life or did it just have maybe some light green and a little coraline maybe on it.. if a lot of stuff could had die off from the various salts. Just a theory.