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.
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.