Hi All,
I started an 18 gallon nano tank Jan 1st 2023 and completed the cycle (bottled bacteria) and added some fish (clownfish, red firefish, yasha goby and possum wrasse) and some corals (torchs, acan lords, zoas, gsp, duncan). Clean up crew consists of 6 small nassarius snails, 2 trochus, 1 astrea. My parameters have been looking solid so far. I feed the fish once a day and dose the smallest amount of reef nutrition live phyto daily - less than 0.25 ml (added some copepods after cycle completed and want to maintain the population). Once a week I feed the corals one or two LPS pellets each.
Everything is thriving; corals looking bright and growing, fish very active and eating.
I run a small skimmer 24/7 and will be getting a small carbon reactor next week (I want clearer water and the tank kinda smells?)
I do weekly 10% water changes (aquaforest reef salt) and change the filter floss every 3 days.
Parmeters below:
Salinity: 1.025 (hanna salinity tester)
Ammonia: 0 (red sea)
Nitrites: 0 (red sea)
pH: 8.2 (red sea)
Calcium: ~440 (red sea)
Magnesium: ~1400 (red sea)
Alk: 8.4 stable (red sea)
Nitrates 4 days ago: 26.0 (Hanna HR Nitrate checker)
Nitrates today: 33.1 (Hanna)
Phosphates: 0.08 (red sea pro) and very stable
So I realize the tank is still new and "maturing", but when should I expect Nitrates to stabilize; a general timeline would be appreciated. I know this is very variable and dependant on the tank, but just so I have something to work with (examples from your own systems would helpful).
Also when should I be concerned about Nitrates. Ive read up on Nitrates and many reefers recommend values between 5-20 ppm or 5-50 ppm. If I keep seeing Nitrates increasing daily/ weekly, should I just ride it out and continue with my current 10% water change regimen? at what value should I maybe intervene and increase water change % ? Any suggestions would be helpful!! Thank you!!
I started an 18 gallon nano tank Jan 1st 2023 and completed the cycle (bottled bacteria) and added some fish (clownfish, red firefish, yasha goby and possum wrasse) and some corals (torchs, acan lords, zoas, gsp, duncan). Clean up crew consists of 6 small nassarius snails, 2 trochus, 1 astrea. My parameters have been looking solid so far. I feed the fish once a day and dose the smallest amount of reef nutrition live phyto daily - less than 0.25 ml (added some copepods after cycle completed and want to maintain the population). Once a week I feed the corals one or two LPS pellets each.
Everything is thriving; corals looking bright and growing, fish very active and eating.
I run a small skimmer 24/7 and will be getting a small carbon reactor next week (I want clearer water and the tank kinda smells?)
I do weekly 10% water changes (aquaforest reef salt) and change the filter floss every 3 days.
Parmeters below:
Salinity: 1.025 (hanna salinity tester)
Ammonia: 0 (red sea)
Nitrites: 0 (red sea)
pH: 8.2 (red sea)
Calcium: ~440 (red sea)
Magnesium: ~1400 (red sea)
Alk: 8.4 stable (red sea)
Nitrates 4 days ago: 26.0 (Hanna HR Nitrate checker)
Nitrates today: 33.1 (Hanna)
Phosphates: 0.08 (red sea pro) and very stable
So I realize the tank is still new and "maturing", but when should I expect Nitrates to stabilize; a general timeline would be appreciated. I know this is very variable and dependant on the tank, but just so I have something to work with (examples from your own systems would helpful).
Also when should I be concerned about Nitrates. Ive read up on Nitrates and many reefers recommend values between 5-20 ppm or 5-50 ppm. If I keep seeing Nitrates increasing daily/ weekly, should I just ride it out and continue with my current 10% water change regimen? at what value should I maybe intervene and increase water change % ? Any suggestions would be helpful!! Thank you!!