new tank parameters and water change

mossmoss · Mar 25, 2020

Hey, hopefully im posting this in the right spot! Shop keeper advised to do a water change last week (in my live rock cycling tank) and again this week before bringing my water in again to check if im ready for fish. Im trying really hard to understand ideal parameters and how my tests will show me when i need a water change.

What parameters will my tests show when it is time for a water change? I thought high nitrate (how many ppm though?) and low ammonia, nitrite ( how many ppm?)
Is that correct? Im also having difficulty reading the tests :/

Currently my tests are
Ammonia 0.25 or 0.15? ..see photos
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 10? see photos

its been 9 days since i did my first ( 10%) water change. i intended to do another 10% today but want to understand what im doing before i do it.

fyi. tank looks great, brittle star and other hitchhikers seem happy and i have a mild diatom bloom (eager to get CUC)

thanks for your help!

naclasen74 · Mar 25, 2020

you could get your clean up crew. don't get to many at one time. snails and crabs and a fish or two. No more watching rock!!!!!!! My bloom was much bigger. just don't want your pets to starve after diatoms are eaten.

Seadoc · Mar 26, 2020

The ammonia results are really hard to read from the picture. In general you want 0 ammonia, 0 nitrites and some nitrates.

Your water changes are basically going to depend on the amount of nitrate you want to maintain. The nitrate level is going to be guided by the type of corals you want to keep. For example, if you are targeting SPS, the guidance is to keep your nitrates at or below 5ppm (but never at 0ppm), if you want to keep LPS, a level 20ppm or less is acceptable. This are general and not absolute rules. I have seen beautiful systems in hands of experienced hobbyists with values different than the ones just stated.

You may add some CUC or wait a little more so the crew has some food to eat. Slow is the ticket. Do not follow the advice of some commercial sites that will sell you an absurd ammount of CUC based on your system volume. For what is whort, when I added my CUC (71g display) I had more of a diatom and algae bloom and started with only a few of them.

mossmoss · Mar 26, 2020

Seadoc said:
The ammonia results are really hard to read from the picture. In general you want 0 ammonia, 0 nitrites and some nitrates.

Your water changes are basically going to depend on the amount of nitrate you want to maintain. The nitrate level is going to be guided by the type of corals you want to keep. For example, if you are targeting SPS, the guidance is to keep your nitrates at or below 5ppm (but never at 0ppm), if you want to keep LPS, a level 20ppm or less is acceptable. This are general and not absolute rules. I have seen beautiful systems in hands of experienced hobbyists with values different than the ones just stated.

You may add some CUC or wait a little more so the crew has some food to eat. Slow is the ticket. Do not follow the advice of some commercial sites that will sell you an absurd ammount of CUC based on your system volume. For what is whort, when I added my CUC (71g display) I had more of a diatom and algae bloom and started with only a few of them.

thank you very much. im definitely having a hard time reading the ammonia.. does it have to be absolutely 0 before i get cuc? (was just thinking 1 snail 1 hermit for now) will the 0 look completely clear in the test or still have some cloudiness?