Hi guys,
i’m on my 4th week of cycling my Reefer 170 (43g) and I’m using Red Sea Mature pro reef kit to cycle. The kit recommends to use life rocks but i have dry rock in my system. I do have Caribsea live sand though (which i rinsed).
The kit promises a complete cycle within 3 weeks if you’re using life rock but will take longer with dry rock and I’m okay with that. Since week 2 i have almost no change in Ammonia, Nitrite and Nitrate.
From day 14 to day 25 Ammonia stayed at 0.1ppm, Nitrite 0.1ppm and Nitrate somewhere around 35-50ppm (it’s hard to tell sometimes).
i do 5% water change weekly as recommended by the program. After water change today,
I tested my water again and Ammonia is somewhere between 0 and 0.1ppm, Nitrite 0.2 ppm and Nitrate 35ppm.
The kit makes you dose Nopox, which i do daily. But my nitrate hasn’t shown any sign of change. I read that the denitrifying bacteria uses both nitrate and phosphate to break down nitrate. I have 0 phosphate in my system. Could that be the reason??
My second concern is that i also read that if you have 0 phosphate, dino will take over, which i really don’t want in my new tank.
I have bacterial bloom which starting to clear up, and i started noticing very small brown patches here and there on the sandbed.
i’m really hoping it’s diatom bloom and not dino.
Would you guys recommend to somehow add phosphate to the system? I have frozen food and maybe i could take the liquid that defrosted from it?
By the way, this is my tank and my sump:
Thanks for all the help!
i’m on my 4th week of cycling my Reefer 170 (43g) and I’m using Red Sea Mature pro reef kit to cycle. The kit recommends to use life rocks but i have dry rock in my system. I do have Caribsea live sand though (which i rinsed).
The kit promises a complete cycle within 3 weeks if you’re using life rock but will take longer with dry rock and I’m okay with that. Since week 2 i have almost no change in Ammonia, Nitrite and Nitrate.
From day 14 to day 25 Ammonia stayed at 0.1ppm, Nitrite 0.1ppm and Nitrate somewhere around 35-50ppm (it’s hard to tell sometimes).
i do 5% water change weekly as recommended by the program. After water change today,
I tested my water again and Ammonia is somewhere between 0 and 0.1ppm, Nitrite 0.2 ppm and Nitrate 35ppm.
The kit makes you dose Nopox, which i do daily. But my nitrate hasn’t shown any sign of change. I read that the denitrifying bacteria uses both nitrate and phosphate to break down nitrate. I have 0 phosphate in my system. Could that be the reason??
My second concern is that i also read that if you have 0 phosphate, dino will take over, which i really don’t want in my new tank.
I have bacterial bloom which starting to clear up, and i started noticing very small brown patches here and there on the sandbed.
i’m really hoping it’s diatom bloom and not dino.
Would you guys recommend to somehow add phosphate to the system? I have frozen food and maybe i could take the liquid that defrosted from it?
By the way, this is my tank and my sump:
Thanks for all the help!
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