High nitrates in new minimalist dry rock tank

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Hi. I have just about 100g of water volume in a tank that has been running with tropic marin syn-biotic salt and zero tds rodi since December.

A month ago I added 40 pounds of fiji pink live sand that i flushed out with hose water (112 tds at source) and drained out excess until just damp. Added sand.

Next day i added Dr. Tim's all in one as well as 2 clowns and 3 chromis.

I also started adding microbacter7 at 4 caps a day for my 100 gallon as recommended by brightwel.

I added a carbon reactor with rox.8 and a chaeto refugium as well as a couple marine pure bricks

One week later I added an NSA aquascape with a small footprint maybe about 35 pounds of rock total. This was made from old dry ocean rock which had a quick bleach bath in novemeber and a freshwater bath before entering the tank.

Added a cleaner shrimp and a hermit. Everyone seems fine. Still adding microbacter7 daily and also a bit of dr Tim's re-fresh every few days just for extra diversity.

Nitrates have been climbing in the last week. I'm not great with viewing the colors but seems between 5-10 ppm nitrates. Looking at about .25 phosphates and about .2 total ammonia. I only feed frozen foods currently a few times a day and was doing slightly heavy to get extra food for the inverts since the rock and sand is bare. I do have a theiling rollermat that I've had running since before food or fish were added.

So between the rollermat and the fuge... I dont see how I could have any nitrates with this little in the tank. A bit of phosphates and ammonia leaching from the rock I would expect, but the rising nitrates while having a fleece roller, refugium and carbon running seems alarming...
Maybe the dr Tim's all in one didnt work and I'm going through a cycle anyway? Even if I am I'd expect my filtration to keep it lower.

Any thoughts or advice would be greatly appreciated.
 

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Suggest you read about the nitrogen cycle. There's nothing "wrong" with your tank. The ammonia is being converted to nitrate, most likely by the Dr. Tims and microbacter - which it's supposed to do. There's no way to avoid a cycle, only to minimize the effects of one which is what those two products perform.

Do you have chaeto growing in the fuge? When's the last water change?
 

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Feeding 3 times a day isn't helping either. For my 8 fish I give less than half a mysis cube a day.
 
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Yes I know what the nitrogen cycle is... thanks for that amazing advice... what I didnt know... was the dr Tim's was directly adding nitrates. I thought it was super condensed dormant bacteria strains to insta tank. Didnt think it would have some sort of slow releasing nitrates that would take a week to be able to test for as I've been at zero nitrates until 4 days ago.

Perhaps I'm feeding more food for sure, but I have plenty of nutrient export to handle that. Hopefully it will balance out in a week or so and drop back down. And I know 5-10 ppm isnt that high, but it is to me for this particular system.

My big concern was the thought that somehow something was in the rock that I added. Knowing that the Tim's all in one leaches nitrates gives peace of mind.
 
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No I haven't. My nitrite test is expired. I'll throw one in tomorrow's order
 

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Hi. I have just about 100g of water volume in a tank that has been running with tropic marin syn-biotic salt and zero tds rodi since December.

A month ago I added 40 pounds of fiji pink live sand that i flushed out with hose water (112 tds at source) and drained out excess until just damp. Added sand.

Next day i added Dr. Tim's all in one as well as 2 clowns and 3 chromis.

I also started adding microbacter7 at 4 caps a day for my 100 gallon as recommended by brightwel.

I added a carbon reactor with rox.8 and a chaeto refugium as well as a couple marine pure bricks

One week later I added an NSA aquascape with a small footprint maybe about 35 pounds of rock total. This was made from old dry ocean rock which had a quick bleach bath in novemeber and a freshwater bath before entering the tank.

Added a cleaner shrimp and a hermit. Everyone seems fine. Still adding microbacter7 daily and also a bit of dr Tim's re-fresh every few days just for extra diversity.

Nitrates have been climbing in the last week. I'm not great with viewing the colors but seems between 5-10 ppm nitrates. Looking at about .25 phosphates and about .2 total ammonia. I only feed frozen foods currently a few times a day and was doing slightly heavy to get extra food for the inverts since the rock and sand is bare. I do have a theiling rollermat that I've had running since before food or fish were added.

So between the rollermat and the fuge... I dont see how I could have any nitrates with this little in the tank. A bit of phosphates and ammonia leaching from the rock I would expect, but the rising nitrates while having a fleece roller, refugium and carbon running seems alarming...
Maybe the dr Tim's all in one didnt work and I'm going through a cycle anyway? Even if I am I'd expect my filtration to keep it lower.

Any thoughts or advice would be greatly appreciated.
What is the nitrite level?
 

nudave

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Yes I know what the nitrogen cycle is... thanks for that amazing advice... what I didnt know... was the dr Tim's was directly adding nitrates. I thought it was super condensed dormant bacteria strains to insta tank. Didnt think it would have some sort of slow releasing nitrates that would take a week to be able to test for as I've been at zero nitrates until 4 days ago.

Perhaps I'm feeding more food for sure, but I have plenty of nutrient export to handle that. Hopefully it will balance out in a week or so and drop back down. And I know 5-10 ppm isnt that high, but it is to me for this particular system.

My big concern was the thought that somehow something was in the rock that I added. Knowing that the Tim's all in one leaches nitrates gives peace of mind.
Sorry if I offended you. Just trying to help. Your question of "I'm going through a cycle anyway?" I took as you're trying to avoid cycling by using Dr Tim / Microbacter.
 
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No problem man. It just reminded me of the classic tech support response of "well is tv plugged in?" Lol.
Ok I read other versions of the directions now that do seem to go many days further then the original directions I recieved plus some YouTube videos that didnt quite tell the whole story. My own fault for not piecing the 2 versions together. I was too busy going down the rabbit hole of what could have happened to my rock before I owned it that I was blinded from considering this product's speed is based on other variables.
 

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Hi. I have just about 100g of water volume in a tank that has been running with tropic marin syn-biotic salt and zero tds rodi since December.

A month ago I added 40 pounds of fiji pink live sand that i flushed out with hose water (112 tds at source) and drained out excess until just damp. Added sand.

Next day i added Dr. Tim's all in one as well as 2 clowns and 3 chromis.

I also started adding microbacter7 at 4 caps a day for my 100 gallon as recommended by brightwel.

I added a carbon reactor with rox.8 and a chaeto refugium as well as a couple marine pure bricks

One week later I added an NSA aquascape with a small footprint maybe about 35 pounds of rock total. This was made from old dry ocean rock which had a quick bleach bath in novemeber and a freshwater bath before entering the tank.

Added a cleaner shrimp and a hermit. Everyone seems fine. Still adding microbacter7 daily and also a bit of dr Tim's re-fresh every few days just for extra diversity.

Nitrates have been climbing in the last week. I'm not great with viewing the colors but seems between 5-10 ppm nitrates. Looking at about .25 phosphates and about .2 total ammonia. I only feed frozen foods currently a few times a day and was doing slightly heavy to get extra food for the inverts since the rock and sand is bare. I do have a theiling rollermat that I've had running since before food or fish were added.

So between the rollermat and the fuge... I dont see how I could have any nitrates with this little in the tank. A bit of phosphates and ammonia leaching from the rock I would expect, but the rising nitrates while having a fleece roller, refugium and carbon running seems alarming...
Maybe the dr Tim's all in one didnt work and I'm going through a cycle anyway? Even if I am I'd expect my filtration to keep it lower.

Any thoughts or advice would be greatly appreciated.
Don't feed so much, cut it in half minimum.
 
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