onux20 January 25, 2012 January 25, 2012 Sounds good to me. Maybe I can pick up a few more trockisms Water still reads 100ppm. My RO/DI water reads what looks to be 0-2ppm. a very slight hue. I give it a day or two more before i do another 20G on Friday. Maybe try putting some RO in a bucket with a piece of rock. Come back later and test to see if high nitrates are due to the rock?
onux20 January 25, 2012 January 25, 2012 there seems to be a film on top of the water that I cant seem to get rid of as well as massive amounts of small particles.Do I not have enough skimming of the surface of the water? I already have 2 - evo 750s at opposite ends of the tank I figured that would be enough. The film is due to poor surface skimming. Your overflows should be able to take care of that film. Adjust the flow pattern of your PHs. I had the same problem in my Solana. I had enough surface agitation but the pumps were working against each other and allowed the film to form and be "held" in the middle of tank. Ok, so it might not be debris off the rocks and stuff since it looks like its coming out of the returns, which would mean I have microbubble problems. I have a different skimmer, but when I see micro bubbles, it is usually an indication that I have some buildup in the air intake. A quick vinegar bath usually solves it.
.OptimusPrime. January 25, 2012 Author January 25, 2012 Well I did another 20G change. Time to wait and see what happens. I'll try and adjust the flow from the PHs like you said. Theres lots of chucks.. of stuff floating around that I would assume would skim into the overflow box and down to the micro sock that just doesnt seem to happen. They just float from side to side. Tested the water before I changed it. Both Nitrites and Nitrates were on the high end of the scale. I'm going to bang my head into the tank if I cant figure this thing out.
onux20 January 26, 2012 January 26, 2012 Well I did another 20G change. Time to wait and see what happens. I'll try and adjust the flow from the PHs like you said. Theres lots of chucks.. of stuff floating around that I would assume would skim into the overflow box and down to the micro sock that just doesnt seem to happen. They just float from side to side. Tested the water before I changed it. Both Nitrites and Nitrates were on the high end of the scale. I'm going to bang my head into the tank if I cant figure this thing out. If you still have nitrites, that means the cycle is not complete yet. Give it some more time.
onux20 January 26, 2012 January 26, 2012 (edited) oh dear god, please don't tell me that! I just burned thru your entire thread. You just started the cycle about a month ago. A tank can take 4-6 weeks ,or more, to cycle. So you may still be in the cycle. I woudl just test nitRITE until it reads zero. Once zero, then test your 'Trates. GL Edited January 26, 2012 by onux20
.OptimusPrime. January 26, 2012 Author January 26, 2012 Got it. Maybe I should get some LR to seed the dry since I'm still in cycle apparently. No harm done right?
onux20 January 26, 2012 January 26, 2012 Got it. Maybe I should get some LR to seed the dry since I'm still in cycle apparently. No harm done right? No harm but maybe an extended cycle. New live rock now will have some die off, which may cause a new spike in ammonia. Which could set your cycle back a bit. Just sit tight.
.OptimusPrime. January 26, 2012 Author January 26, 2012 Thanks for the help Guess its back to the waiting game. Still havent figured out the flow thing yet. Now all the film is on one side of the tank. Is there any reason why the overflow isn't skimming it away? Drain is a 1.5" full siphon. Too high water level at the teeth?
epleeds January 26, 2012 January 26, 2012 maybe point a powerhead towards the overflow. that way, most of the surface debris will go down the overflow to the sump.
.OptimusPrime. January 29, 2012 Author January 29, 2012 (edited) Figured out the overflow problem. No more film on top of the water :D Nitrate and Nitrate are still off the charts though. :( Happened to stop by a LFS to see what livestock they had and to retest my just in case my saliferts were wrong. They reported the same thing. High nitrites/trates. They actually suggested I buy a couple of cheap fish to toss in the tank to help get a bioload going. (Don't worry I didn't buy any, I know better than to use fish to help cycle) And also after a mishap this weekend, went and ordered my AVAST ATO. At least I have something to look forward to Edited January 29, 2012 by .OptimusPrime.
onux20 January 29, 2012 January 29, 2012 Figured out the overflow problem. No more film on top of the water :D What was the problem?
.OptimusPrime. January 29, 2012 Author January 29, 2012 What was the problem? I am assuming the water level in the overflow box was too high and water just flowed right one end and over and out the other without really being sucked into the drain. I dropped the water level a little bit to where its a tiny waterfall (if that makes sense) over the teeth. Its got a slight noise, but nothing I'm concerned with.
.OptimusPrime. January 31, 2012 Author January 31, 2012 (edited) Is it possible I don't have enough beneficial bacteria to help with the nitrites? I'm sure the 40G water change did nothing to help that cause either. <div><br></div><div>Is there a way to add more bacteria? I know you said LR will probably push back the cycle, but probably wont hurt either right?<br></div><div><br></div><div>Still trying to be patient and let the nitrites drop.</div> Edited January 31, 2012 by .OptimusPrime.
smallreef January 31, 2012 January 31, 2012 Have you tried a bottle of beneficial bacteria??? and Im going to say if all you used was dry rock ,, yeah I would add a nice big chunk of LR.. if your trites and trates are off the chart then it wont make a huge difference...
.OptimusPrime. February 5, 2012 Author February 5, 2012 So a week later and still high nitrite.. Think its time to dump all the water and start over and seed with a piece of giant LR... I am all outta ideas at this point.
Cliff Puckstable February 5, 2012 February 5, 2012 I don't see why you couldn't just stick a piece of LR in it now. What do you have to lose at this point?
.OptimusPrime. February 5, 2012 Author February 5, 2012 With the nitrite being so high...will it make any difference??
John February 5, 2012 February 5, 2012 Its only been two weeks, right? Be patient...it'll most likely happen overnight one day...no need to offset your progress...it'd be one thing if you were using cured rock/sand, but you're not and everything needs to 'seed'...I would add a piece of LR to help the process (or rubble rock or a cup of sand from another system).
.OptimusPrime. February 8, 2012 Author February 8, 2012 I'll hopefully be picking up some LR later this week. Do I just throw the rock in there? or would I have to do enough of a water change to get the nitrites to be back to acceptable levels before putting the rock in? I'd hate to spend money on good rock only for it go to waste.
trockafella February 9, 2012 February 9, 2012 Dont throw the rock in, you will break the glass.! Seriously, gently add it into the tank, all of it at once. Or gently put some in your sump too.
onux20 February 14, 2012 February 14, 2012 Depends...what is your nitrate reading? Looks like things are porgressing. Did you add more live rock?
.OptimusPrime. February 14, 2012 Author February 14, 2012 I should have checked before I left this morning but I forgot. I did end up buy LR from a fellow member. 15#s of the stuff, however my nitrite was coming down when I went to pick it up anyway. Last Friday it was 0.50ppm and then on Sunday before the rock pick up it was at 0.25ppm.
.OptimusPrime. February 15, 2012 Author February 15, 2012 Latest readings : Ammonia - 0ppm Nitrite - 0ppm Nitrate - 25-50ppm
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