Nitrate high on new cycling tank

wswensonjr · 08-09-2006, 03:56 PM

I just took my readings to day my tank has been cycling now for 9 days. So I thought for sure I would see some kind of nitrite reading and ammonia reading well there was none

. So I continued with my testing and found that my Nitrate level is high ??? Everything else seems to be in good terms though I know that my calcium is low.. Not Sure what to do if I should supplement or not??? Well I hope to get some good suggestions ..

Thanks everyone I have listed all the test results ( I can test for KH if I have to to help out and I can also test for Iron if needed) have no way of testing for Iodine right now though not sure if I should purchase this test or not??

Temperature: 80.4 F
pH: 8.4
Salinity: 1.025 SG
Alkalinity: ? meq/l
Calcium: 320 ppm
Iodine: ? mg/l
Nitrate: 5.0 mg/l
Phosphate: 0 mg/l
Nitrite: 0 mg/l
Ammonia: 0 mg/l
Oxygen: 8 mg/l
Carbonate Hardness: ? dKH

Covey · 08-09-2006, 04:13 PM

A little more info would be helpful like if you have a sandbed or how much liverock you added but generally if you don't have any ammonia or nitrite and the tank is producing nitrate your in pretty good shape now.

If you have a sandbed or alot of LR your nitrates should cycle to near zero in another week or two.

Duh never mind read your info at the bottom after posting.

How deep is the 80# of sand?

wswensonjr · 08-09-2006, 04:21 PM

Ya I have a sand bed the live sand is about 2-3 inchs and there is a mix of crushed coral in it that I used which equals about 1.5-2 inchs. But I know that everything that I have read said that your ammonia and/or nitrite levels should go up during cycling never have seen that?????

Thanks for the help everyone

amcarrig · 08-09-2006, 05:06 PM

Sometimes ammonia/nitrite/nitrate levels can rise and fall while we're busy sleeping so I would just leave things be for the time being and keep an eye on your levels to monitor what's going on during the cycle

wswensonjr · 08-09-2006, 05:11 PM

ok. thanks for the tips what about my calcuim level that seems to be low should I look at supplmenting or something?>??

Thanks for all the help Guys/Girls

amcarrig · 08-09-2006, 05:15 PM

Define "low" and I'll tell ya whether or not it's a problem

At this point in the game, your calcium/alk levels don't really matter. Once the tank stabilzes, you can monitor your ca/alk/mag levels to make sure that you have the ideal conditions for coralline growth.

wswensonjr · 08-09-2006, 05:26 PM

Right now its at 320ppm. I will definitly wait out to let it cycle but I have read that it should be between 400-500ppm. Is this right or wrong? Is 320PPM alright or does it seem low???

Thanks for the help

amcarrig · 08-09-2006, 05:30 PM

It is low but, like I mentioned earlier, because the tank is cycling, your levels are going to be out of whack for a while. Raising the alk/ca/mag levels at this time won't hurt but because the tank is still relatively new at this point, I wouldn't drive myself nuts over it

wswensonjr · 08-09-2006, 05:38 PM

OK thanks.. Should I look into getting a Mag test kit ???? Know I see some test kits that say ALk/KH are these two test relitive to each other ? are they the same test???

amcarrig · 08-09-2006, 05:45 PM

I would definitely buy a Mag test kit.

Kh/dkh test kits test the same thing in different ways. Kh tests carbonate hardness in milliliters and dkh tests in degress of hardness.

The only "combo" test kit that I know of is made by Seachem and it tests kh/mag/borate. If you already have a test kit for alk/kh, you can just pick up a mag test kit by Salifert to complete your "collection".