alshayazoo
Community Member
A little background...
I have a Red Sea Reefer 250 that I received as an anniversary gift and was started 4 weeks ago. The wife had it delivered and I watched as it was set up. The wife is regretting the gift now[emoji12].
I've learned a lot about tank set up from this forum and wish I had had more of a hand in the decisions in the beginning, but what is done is done.
I have 75 pounds of dry rock and the install guys added a sealed bucket of sand that looked moist.
They handed me a bottle of bacteria and said "Add this everyday for 10 days then you can add fish". I also got Tropic Marin test kits and Red Sea Coral Pro Salt.
After 10 days of nothing much happening I added a raw shrimp to help start ammonia production and over the next 10 days I saw the ammonia jump to 1ppm and is now down to 0.01ppm. Once the ammonia dropped I tested Nitrite (0.0) and Nitrates (100) and thought to myself YAY!!! Because of the high Nitrates I decided to do a a 15% water change to see if that would bring them down some.
A day after the water change the ammonia stayed at 0.01 but the Nitrites went up to 2ppm and Nitrates are at 100ppm, both the maximum my test kit can show. I figure either I got a false reading when I tested nitrites the first time or Nitrates are so high that it is effecting the Nitrite test.
Looking at this empty tank is killing me but I will be patient. Here are my questions.
1. What's next for the cycle?
2. Is there anything that I need to do or should I just wait it out?
3. Should I add another shrimp to keep the cycle going?
4. Would adding a couple pieces of live rock help?
5. If adding live rock, would I need to quarantine it?
Thanks in advance for the help!
AZ
I have a Red Sea Reefer 250 that I received as an anniversary gift and was started 4 weeks ago. The wife had it delivered and I watched as it was set up. The wife is regretting the gift now[emoji12].
I've learned a lot about tank set up from this forum and wish I had had more of a hand in the decisions in the beginning, but what is done is done.
I have 75 pounds of dry rock and the install guys added a sealed bucket of sand that looked moist.
They handed me a bottle of bacteria and said "Add this everyday for 10 days then you can add fish". I also got Tropic Marin test kits and Red Sea Coral Pro Salt.
After 10 days of nothing much happening I added a raw shrimp to help start ammonia production and over the next 10 days I saw the ammonia jump to 1ppm and is now down to 0.01ppm. Once the ammonia dropped I tested Nitrite (0.0) and Nitrates (100) and thought to myself YAY!!! Because of the high Nitrates I decided to do a a 15% water change to see if that would bring them down some.
A day after the water change the ammonia stayed at 0.01 but the Nitrites went up to 2ppm and Nitrates are at 100ppm, both the maximum my test kit can show. I figure either I got a false reading when I tested nitrites the first time or Nitrates are so high that it is effecting the Nitrite test.
Looking at this empty tank is killing me but I will be patient. Here are my questions.
1. What's next for the cycle?
2. Is there anything that I need to do or should I just wait it out?
3. Should I add another shrimp to keep the cycle going?
4. Would adding a couple pieces of live rock help?
5. If adding live rock, would I need to quarantine it?
Thanks in advance for the help!
AZ
