Urgent Tank cycled out then ramped up on nitrates adn nitrites AGAIN?!?!

I just got my 75 gallon reef tank transffer thru its cycle (2 weeks since i had established rocks and sand from my other tank)i put in an emerald crab and 2 solid blue damsels and that night my nitrites and nitrates both shot off the chart. i understand each critter is a mini cycle but this is insane and the readings ahve ben there for 2 days now. 25% WC each day with RO water from wal-mart and mixed at my home. please some one tell me where i had a memeory laps and homered my tank.

 

There wasn't enough bacteria developed to handle the load you added to it.

 

You don't really give enough info. for us to help.

You transferred some live rock and sand from your other tank but did you then feed it some ammonia to make sure the tank was cycled? What have you done in the last 2 weeks since the transfer?

 

Most tanks even with LR and sand take longer than 2 wks to fully cycle. Even then you should only add one fish per week while you monitor your params to make sure your tank is handling the bioload before you add another fish/critter. Chances are your tank wasn't/isn't finished cycling or your just experiencing a mini cycle. Either way continue testing until all levels are 0 before you add more livestock. Also we can be of more assistance if you give us a complete run down on your system and it's history.

 

It's tough to rush a cycle. It's not that the bacteria dosn't grow fast, it's that the bacteria is somewhat sensitive to environmental variation and populations of different species grown and then crash. So, you can get good readings, and then all of a sudden, you bacterial population is done for. It's not until the water chemistry and proportions of decaying organic material, in the water column reach steady levels that the bacterial populations stabilize. Once this happens, your tank is more able to adjust to additional bioload. This takes at least a month to start to happen, and really, a few months to really start to become stable. 6 months to a year is typical to reach optimal stability. This does not matter what your test kit says your ammonia, nitrite and nitrate are at. That has very little to do with how adapted and stable the bacterial populations are. it only means that at least for the momment there is bacteria processing waste, but that dosn't mean it will be the case tomorrow.

 

sorry for the delay in response, ive been doing 25 gallon water changes each day since my post and its gone down slighlty ( still not perfect). But for system run down and history i set up my new 75 gallon standard with an eclipse bio-wheel 600 canopy (bio-wheels removed) and a 4 bulb T-5 fixture w/ 2 - 10k's and 2 453 nm actinics. I pullled the 110 lbs of LR from my 55 that was running for a year and then bought new "live" sand 45lbs of it. let it all run for about 18 days. All my levels went way up and stayed there then the ammonia fell to 0 , shortly after the nitrate and nitrite levels fell to 0 ( at the same time) so i wen the next day to the LFS to pick up a emerald crab and some snails (snails were not available so i ordered them) and bought one blue damsel total of 2 critters. That very night my nitrites and nitrates went off the charts and there they remain. i have since done a daily 25 gallon water change and added a bottle of bro-spira on the day the critters went in just for good measure. Ok i hope thats enough info if not let me know. TY and god bless.

 

what is "off the charts?" Do you have a number for your nitrates? Did you by chance feed the fish too much after adding it? With all that LR from your other tank, this surprises me as well. How are the animals handling it? Are they showing any signs of stress?

 

"then bought new "live" sand 45lbs of it."

I assume this is the stuff in the sealed bag? Adding that "live-sand" to a running system will definitely spike your parameters. The bulk of the bacteria and organisms in the sand cannot live in a sealed bag, through shipping and storage. It's possible there is something living, but you are mostly adding dead, decaying organics. This should never be added to a running system. Also, as I said, cycling is about bacterial stability. When you go around changing things, you are destabilizing your system. Doing 25% water changes every day, can destabilize your system. Your tank is very fragile right now. You need to stop messing with it and let the cycle finish naturally.

 

ok the "bought new live sand" was i didnt transfer any sand from the 55 i just bought new sand and yes its in the sealed bag. I didnt add it to the system after it was running i started it with the live sand and old rock. Now by of the charts i mean the current readings are: PH-8.0 ammonia-0ppm nitrite-2.0ppm nitrate-40 ppm , but ill leave it alone if thats whats needed. the critters are acting normal and healthy and eat anytime i put food in, for the duration of this tank i feed every other day an extremely small amount that i can see get eaten in less than 2 mins.

 

Those numbers are not really off the charts, your tank just reacted to the new additions and it needs to stabilize. Reduce feeding to once per day and 10% water changes weekly to allow it to stabilize. One question: What are you feeding your fish and how often? If feeding frozen, rinse in ro/di before adding to the tank. Also many flake and pellet foods have high nutrient and phosphate levels. It seems you are knowledgable since you had a 55g so I hope this helps. I would relax a bit and monitor things for a week or so if the animals aren't showing any neg signs. JM2C