Look at my Readings :|

So I just completed my cycle. I have three test cases of nitrates. two test cases come from two different API kits. The third test case is from reefmaster kit.

One is showing 80 PPM, the other two are showing roughly 10 PPM.

I add ammonia each time I get a nitrite reading of zero. I know people usually stop after a nitrite reading of zero has been accomplished, but I'm not ready to put livestock in yet, so I needed to continue feeding the nitrogen cycle. I belive one of the test cases is for freshwater, but will that cause an offset by that much? 80 PPM?

 

Not quite sure what you are meaning by that . . . are you saying you are feeding your tank while it is cycling? If so you might be overdoing-it.
You would only need a small ammount of organic matter to decay to produce ammonia to jump-start your cycle.

How old are your test kits? They usually have expiration dates on them. . . .

 

One of the API test kits are bad. Which ever the one that matches the reef master is correct. I had an old API test kit kept saying my nitrates were high then I went to a LFS and found out my nitrates were actually 20-30 ppms. So whatever is giving you a high reading more than likely is a bad kit. Plus once your ammonia and nitrites are zero you dont have to feed the tank. Brightwell Aquatics makes Reef Bio Fuel so you can feed the bacteria. Putting food or ammonia in the tank is a new science to me.

 

well i dont think you have to feed your bacteria. if you put some food in there to decay you should be okay for a source of nitrogen.

I would go with the two saying 10ppm, the 80 ppm is really high and since its the odd one out, the test may be old.

Additionally, if the reefmaster and the API are matching up at 10ppm that is really good. two separate tests from different brands showing the same value shows some fairly reliable validity.

 

No, I am saying i am feeding the tank after the cycle is complete because there is no livestock and will not be for a while. If i dont add live stock until a month from now, then I would assume I would be going through a mini cycle when the fishes are in, right? I purchased the test kits brand new.

Good news for me

Should I proceed with a 50% water change, then add my CUC?

 

That is your call. 10 ppms are still safe. Everyones goal is 0 nitrates.

 

should i turn on my skimmer now ?

if it will be several weeks until i purchase livestock, should i continue dosing ammonia to keep the bacteria alive ?

 

No your tank is already at or near 0. I think now is when you can add your cuc then turn on the skimmer.

 

If you keep dosing ammonia, you're going to run into algae issues with no CUC.

 

if i dont dose any ammonia , i will encounter one or two mini cycles when i finally do get livestock , right ? i dont know when ill get the cuc as i still need to prepare my tank setup etc.