Api Nitrate test!

kyskeaa · Nov 10, 2022

Hello! My ten gallon nano tank is hitting the one week mark. I have been ghost feeding with frozen brine shrimp and dried flake food since day 3, so far I have not noticed any signs of ammonia, nitrite or nitrate, I think. I used 4 pieces of live rock from a friends tank and the CaribSea Live Sand. I also have the seachem ammonia alert in the tank. On day 4, I noticed a very minute amount of ammonia in the tank, maybe 2ppm but not sure, as the test kit is a little difficult to read (plus my houses lighting is very yellow). Is my nitrate test reading anything at all? I can’t seem to tell, as my LFS told me it’s at 0. I doubled the amount of fish food yesterday after he told me this. Still waiting for the tank to digest it. What are your guys’ thoughts? I would like to put corals and maybe a brittle star, I know it’s still very early to add anything- just want to make sure I’m on the right track for success

kyskeaa · Nov 10, 2022

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The ammonia test was performed before adding more fish food btw

nereefpat · Nov 10, 2022

Welcome to R2R!

As for nitrate, I don't see much there either. Looks to be more than zero, but low.

As for cycling a tank: You will want to add enough of an ammonia source to spike the ammonia reading to the 1-2 ppm range. Once ammonia has dropped down to zero, your tank is safe for fish. Since you used live rock, it could be that your tank is already cycled, but I would always recommend spiking ammonia and letting it drop, just to be sure.

kyskeaa · Nov 10, 2022

nereefpat said:
Welcome to R2R!

As for nitrate, I don't see much there either. Looks to be more than zero, but low.

As for cycling a tank: You will want to add enough of an ammonia source to spike the ammonia reading to the 1-2 ppm range. Once ammonia has dropped down to zero, your tank is safe for fish. Since you used live rock, it could be that your tank is already cycled, but I would always recommend spiking ammonia and letting it drop, just to be sure.

How long would you recommend after adding the fish food in, to retest for ammonia? Should i get pure ammonia to bump it up? If the tank was cycled; there would be much more nitrate, right? I’m still going to wait the recommended 4 weeks just to be sure tho.

dstockwell · Nov 10, 2022

Welcome to the Reef

zdrc · Nov 10, 2022

To me it looks like you have 5-10 ppm nitrate. Zero nitrate should look very pure yellow with no hint of brown/red. Your tests definitely look like 5-10 ppm to me. I would get a second opinion on the nitrate reading (maybe a different LFS or using a friends test kit).

It's possible that the rock insta-cycled the tank.

nereefpat · Nov 10, 2022

kyskeaa said:
Should i get pure ammonia to bump it up?

That's what I would do, yes. A few drops of pure ammonia from the hardware store to get to the 1-2 ppm range.

kyskeaa said:
If the tank was cycled; there would be much more nitrate, right?

It depends on how much nitrogen was added. There will be roughly 4 ppm of nitrate for every 1 ppm ammonia added. So less than 10 ppm nitrate isn't unreasonable.

kyskeaa said:
I’m still going to wait the recommended 4 weeks just to be sure tho.

If the ammonia spikes and then drops to zero, the tank is safe for fish.

kyskeaa · Nov 11, 2022

nereefpat said:
That's what I would do, yes. A few drops of pure ammonia from the hardware store to get to the 1-2 ppm range.

It depends on how much nitrogen was added. There will be roughly 4 ppm of nitrate for every 1 ppm ammonia added. So less than 10 ppm nitrate isn't unreasonable.

If the ammonia spikes and then drops to zero, the tank is safe for fish.

I got pure ammonia! Going to add today. Should the ammonia be instantly testing at the 1-2 ppm, or does it take 24 hours to show up?

Garf · Nov 11, 2022

kyskeaa said:
I got pure ammonia! Going to add today. Should the ammonia be instantly testing at the 1-2 ppm, or does it take 24 hours to show up?

But you’ve used fresh live rock, yes? Hold off on the ammonia for a bit, you probably don’t wanna be putting it in if it’s from a display or if it’s got critters in it. Put up a pic of the rock first. Stay away from green brittle stars, they be monsters, lol

kyskeaa · Nov 11, 2022

Garf said:
But you’ve used fresh live rock, yes? Hold off on the ammonia for a bit, you probably don’t wanna be putting it in if it’s from a display or if it’s got critters in it. Put up a pic of the rock first. Stay away from green brittle stars, they be monsters, lol

This is my tank right now, I haven’t tested yet today. Will update when I do. I also got the Hanna Nitrate tester, so I will find out if there was an ammonia spike

kyskeaa · Nov 11, 2022

kyskeaa said:
This is my tank right now, I haven’t tested yet today. Will update when I do. I also got the Hanna Nitrate tester, so I will find out if there was an ammonia spike

So according to API I got an ammonia spike from the fish food from I added, it looks pretty spot on to .50: Gonna see if it drops in a day or two. Seems like my nitrate is going up as well. still looks like 0 nitrite, but going to check that too. At what point do I do a water change? and how much?

kyskeaa · Nov 11, 2022

kyskeaa said:
So according to API I got an ammonia spike from the fish food from I added, it looks pretty spot on to .50: Gonna see if it drops in a day or two. Seems like my nitrate is going up as well. still looks like 0 nitrite, but going to check that too. At what point do I do a water change? and how much?

Garf · Nov 12, 2022

kyskeaa said:
So according to API I got an ammonia spike from the fish food from I added, it looks pretty spot on to .50: Gonna see if it drops in a day or two. Seems like my nitrate is going up as well. still looks like 0 nitrite, but going to check that too. At what point do I do a water change? and how much?

Personally I wouldn’t do a waterchange unless it’s part of your planned water maintenance. Because your using precycled rock you may never see a nitrite reading. It’s all looking rather good at the moment, happy reefin :)