pH and Nitrites issue

[LifeOfAquatics]

Hello, so I recently set up a 5 gallon nano saltwater (in one month I’m upgrading to a 10 gallon and after that im probably going to upgrade again). I bought tetra’s 5 in 1 test strips just to see when the nitrogen cycle was over. I bought live sand and live rock and used dr Tims one and only at the beginning of the setup 2 days ago. I also ghost feed. For the past two days, the ammonia has been at .25 and alk is ~300. However, the things that confuse me are the ph and the nitrite. The ph on the strip is a pinkish color. The only colors for the ph chart are orange to red. I looked online and other color charts have pink as 8.4 to 8.8. looking at online charts, I would say my ph is abt 8.4 but I wouldn’t rule out 8.8. I also got my water pre mixed from my lfs. Should I go with the online color comparison because my bottle doesn’t have a pink ph. Also, I dont have any nitrites but have had 20 nitrates. how is this possible? Shouldn’t nitrites come before nitrates? could it be because I added dr Tims nitrifying bacteria? Thanks!

 

[Saltyreef]

Your tank is cycled.
Ditch the strips, dont chase Ph right now.

Focus on salinity and temp right now and keep them as stable as possible until you start to get corals. Then youll want to start focusing on your alk cal and mag keeping them as stable as possible with scheduled water changes

A 30 gallon all in one tank would be a great to learn on for a while instead of constantly upgrading.

Get yourself a 29g biocube and call it a day

 

[LifeOfAquatics]

Your tank is cycled.
Ditch the strips, dont chase Ph right now.

Focus on salinity and temp right now and keep them as stable as possible until you start to get corals. Then youll want to start focusing on your alk cal and mag keeping them as stable as possible with scheduled water changes

A 30 gallon all in one tank would be a great to learn on for a while instead of constantly upgrading.

Get yourself a 29g biocube and call it a day

Really? My tank is cycled? Are you sure? I don't want to lose any fish that I put in if it is cycled. I thought ammonia and nitrites were supposed to be 0 in order to consider a tank cycled? My ammonia is still at .25. Could this be because I ghost feed? Yes, I understand the don't chase numbers part, but I was worried that in case my pH was 8.8 it would be too high. Also, if my tank is cycled, should I perform a water change since I have 0.25 ammonia and 20ppm nitrates?

 

[LifeOfAquatics]

Your tank is cycled.
Ditch the strips, dont chase Ph right now.

Focus on salinity and temp right now and keep them as stable as possible until you start to get corals. Then youll want to start focusing on your alk cal and mag keeping them as stable as possible with scheduled water changes

A 30 gallon all in one tank would be a great to learn on for a while instead of constantly upgrading.

Get yourself a 29g biocube and call it a day

Also, I made a new post continuing off of this one, could you please look at it? Thanks!

 

[Suohhen]

Really? My tank is cycled? Are you sure? I don't want to lose any fish that I put in if it is cycled. I thought ammonia and nitrites were supposed to be 0 in order to consider a tank cycled? My ammonia is still at .25. Could this be because I ghost feed? Yes, I understand the don't chase numbers part, but I was worried that in case my pH was 8.8 it would be too high. Also, if my tank is cycled, should I perform a water change since I have 0.25 ammonia and 20ppm nitrates?

Yes the ammonia could certainly be from ghost feeding or the live rock and sand. If I am understanding correctly the tank has been up for 3 days? The one month thing threw me off at first but yeah with live rock and sand it very much depends on the condition. Most bagged live sand is simply sand that has bacteria added to it so that is not likely to be a cause of ammonia unless you didn't use the bagged stuff. Rock on the other hand can have significant die off of it comes from the ocean, however even rock now a days is usually just dry rock that has been aquacultured. So your tank likely has a sizable amount of biological filtration, however ghost feeding takes a few days to produce ammonia so you are basically at the beginning of the 'ghost feeding cycle'. I think most people recommend to take the shrimp out once you reach somewhere around what your seeing in ammonia. The issue is those test strips are not reliable at all.
I personally would play it safe and pull out the food and then wait a few days for the cycle to finish and then dose Seachem Prime when you add fish to insure that the water is safe. Also consider buying better test kits, testing is very important in this hobby.

 

[LifeOfAquatics]

Yes the ammonia could certainly be from ghost feeding or the live rock and sand. If I am understanding correctly the tank has been up for 3 days? The one month thing threw me off at first but yeah with live rock and sand it very much depends on the condition. Most bagged live sand is simply sand that has bacteria added to it so that is not likely to be a cause of ammonia unless you didn't use the bagged stuff. Rock on the other hand can have significant die off of it comes from the ocean, however even rock now a days is usually just dry rock that has been aquacultured. So your tank likely has a sizable amount of biological filtration, however ghost feeding takes a few days to produce ammonia so you are basically at the beginning of the 'ghost feeding cycle'. I think most people recommend to take the shrimp out once you reach somewhere around what your seeing in ammonia. The issue is those test strips are not reliable at all.
I personally would play it safe and pull out the food and then wait a few days for the cycle to finish and then dose Seachem Prime when you add fish to insure that the water is safe. Also consider buying better test kits, testing is very important in this hobby.

Yea I'm definitely getting better test kits, i just bought cheap ones to start off with. Also, I'm not using shrimp to ghost feed. I'm using some of my freshwater fish food, flakes. I looked online and have heard that it is safe and that i should be fine, i plan on switching to actual saltwater food when i get my fish. also, could you check out my other post? the one about cycling. I want to get some more opinions on my tank parameters.

 

[Saltyreef]

You may be getting false positive from ammonia strip.
If youre registering nitrates. Your cycle is established. Forget about the ammonia test now.

 

[LifeOfAquatics]

You may be getting false positive from ammonia strip.
If youre registering nitrates. Your cycle is established. Forget about the ammonia test now.

could you check my other post because a lot of people are saying that my tank is not done cycling.

 

[Suohhen]

could you check my other post because a lot of people are saying that my tank is not done cycling.

I don't think anyone is saying that. I am certainly not saying that. What I am saying is that none of us can be sure because of the variables involved which is why we test in this hobby but the test kit your using is known to produce false positives. So you should be safe to add fish right away but I am a believer in offering options rather than direction. So what you do it ultimately ultimately to your level of comfort. Like I said I would personally wait a few days and I always use prime when adding fish to a new tank but that is just me.

 

[Saltyreef]

could you check my other post because a lot of people are saying that my tank is not done cycling.

Honestly, youll need to do some research for yourself too.

Ditch the strips & get some good test kits.

If you used live sand & live rock, the tank doesnt need to even be cycled.
The dr tims helped even more if there was any loss in biofilter.....

 

[Suohhen]

Honestly, youll need to do some research for yourself too.

Ditch the strips & get some good test kits.

If you used live sand & live rock, the tank doesnt need to even be cycled.
The dr tims helped even more if there was any loss in biofilter.....

Turns out what they bought is LiveReef dry rock. But yeah I agree and this underscore the importance of reading up on the basics because clear communication is essential. Also it is important to only create one thread for each issue because having multiple threads often leads to confusion and conflicting advice. It is great that you are seeking advice, this is a great community.