New to Cycling Caribsea Live Rock and Live Sand help

maryocean7

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Hello everyone. Off the bat I am new to the hobby but have been doing research on different sites to learn before getting into the hobby. Now it's been 2 weeks now since we set up our waterbox 65.4 tank. We tried the fishless cycle using Dr Tims. In our tank we used caribsea live sand special grade and aquascaped using Caribsea Life Rock. We have been following the instructions for Dr. Tims but have come to a point where our
Nitrites are fixed at 5ppm
Nitrates have been at 80ppm one day at 160ppm.
Ammonia 0 to 0.25 ppm fluctuates

Those parameters have been like that for about 4 days now

we have no lights turned on and so far not seen any diatoms.

We put our filter socks back on day 5

We have not added ammonia again since then because of our high nitrites and what we have been researching but wonder what your take is on it for those experienced in the hobby.

Any help would be appreciated!



P.S once we can get the right parameters what livestock would you suggest adding first invertebrates? Fish? We are looking into adding corals eventually as well too.
 
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R0L0

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Hello everyone. Off the bat I am new to the hobby but have been doing research on different sites to learn before getting into the hobby. Now it's been 2 weeks now since we set up our waterbox 65.4 tank. We tried the fishless cycle using Dr Tims. In our tank we used caribsea live sand special grade and aquascaped using Caribsea Life Rock. We have been following the instructions for Dr. Tims but have come to a point where our
Nitrites are fixed at 5ppm
Nitrates have been at 80ppm one day at 160ppm.
Ammonia 0 to 0.25 ppm fluctuates

Those parameters have been like that for about 4 days now

we have no lights turned on and so far not seen any diatoms.

We put our filter socks back on day 5

We have not added ammonia again since then because of our high nitrites and what we have been researching but wonder what your take is on it for those experienced in the hobby.

Any help would be appreciated!



P.S once we can get the right parameters what livestock would you suggest adding first invertebrates? Fish? We are looking into adding corals eventually as well too.
Do you use ro/di water? You could also try and big water change maybe 50 to 75 percent. As far as first fish go in that tank I recommend starting with a smaller tang of some sorts like a yellow tang. The tang will help out a lot through the ugly phase.
 
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maryocean7

maryocean7

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Do you use ro/di water? You could also try and big water change maybe 50 to 75 percent. As far as first fish go in that tank I recommend starting with a smaller tang of some sorts like a yellow tang. The tang will help out a lot through the ugly phase.
Yes we have an RO/DI system in place
 
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maryocean7

maryocean7

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Least aggressive fish first to aggressive. And what test kits are you using?
Unfortunately test kits that we have been using are the API test kit. We are looking into investing into the Hanna Checker in the near future but trying to make due with the test kit we have at the moment.
 
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Cell

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You are safe to start stocking slowly. Nitrate cannot be measured accurately in the presence of nitrite. Nitrite is not harmful to saltwater fish. Ammonia tests are notorious for giving false positives, API in particular shows as .25 often.
 
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Dburr1014

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Do you use ro/di water? You could also try and big water change maybe 50 to 75 percent. As far as first fish go in that tank I recommend starting with a smaller tang of some sorts like a yellow tang. The tang will help out a lot through the ugly phase.
That's an aggressive fish to start with! They should be added last.
What fish do you like? Try to get a list together and we can help then.
You may be cycled. As everyone else stated, water change, wait a day, re-test
 
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Cell

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Curious what a water change is going to accomplish for the OP?
 
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Cell

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Can't measure nitrates in the presence of nitrite. We don't know the nitrate level.
 
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Cell

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So, they are cycled? Nitrite is okay, then nitrate is fine. Ammonia is a false reading.
I don't want to get into a definition of cycled debate here, but the OP can add fish safely. Ammonia is being processed. Nitrite will catch up, but is not harmful to marine fish.

Dr Tim's, Bio-Spira and Fritz all work well and have been vetted by this community in many threads.

I really wish Brandon didn't leave, he had no peers in his passion for cycling science and progressing/challenging the traditional thought processes. I have neither the time nor ambition.
 
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Curious what a water change is going to accomplish for the OP?

Reduce the Nitrite. I had the same thing with my tank; a big water change dropped nitrite and nitrate to more 'normal' levels. Whilst the Nitrite (or even Nitrate) might not be an issue, a big water change will help be able to test these parameters, so you know exactly what is going on.

If you don't know the nitrate level (as mentioned earlier) is it wise to recommend adding fish?

What worked for me in a similar situation was a big water change. Nitrites rapidly indicated zero after that, which meant that I could then test Nitrate and have a reasonable idea what was going on.

I agree that the tank is probably cycled sufficiently to add fish, but I would still 'clean up' the water with a water change first.
 
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Dburr1014

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I don't want to get into a definition of cycled debate here, but the OP can add fish safely. Ammonia is being processed. Nitrite will catch up, but is not harmful to marine fish.

Dr Tim's, Bio-Spira and Fritz all work well and have been vetted by this community in many threads.

I really wish Brandon didn't leave, he had no peers in his passion for cycling science and progressing/challenging the traditional thought processes. I have neither the time nor ambition.
He left? I thought his posts were intriguing.
What a shame. I would rather read his posts than some of the cut and paste stuff I've seen.
 
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vetteguy53081

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tharbin

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First, welcome to R2R!

Next it reads like your tank is cycled. The API kits are actually pretty good but they are not very granular and the results can be hard to read against their color cards. From your readings it is clear you are processing ammonia and nitrite. I would recommend a water change, just to bring the nitrates down some. Maybe a 25% and then another 25% three or four days later. Like it was said above you cannot accurately measure nitrate while there are still nitrites.

I would strongly suggest you do not start with your tank with an expensive and sensitive fish like a yellow tang.
 
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