HIGH AMMONIA LEVELS UPDATE IV

[nightrydaz04]

Well I checked my tank today ammonia shot down to .5ppm which makes me really happy. Nitrate levels however all the way upto 160ppm which is good news as well however I was wondering how long it takes the nitrates to turn into nitrites?

Tank Stats:
PH - 8.0 (little low I'm working on bringing it back up)
NO2 - 5
NO3 - 160
AMMONIA - .5 ( FINALLY )
Salinity - 1.021 (FIRM AND STEADY)

Should I do waterchanges(once every other day) to bring the nitrates down or should I just let it happen on it's own?

*celebrate
AGAIN MUCH THANKS TO CAMARO AND S. REEF FOR THEIR ADVICE HAS BEEN MUCH USEFUL TO HELPING MY SETUP MY TANK.

OH AND I'M ONE OF THE PEOPLE WHO LIKES BUBBLES IN THEIR TANK AND I DO BELIEVE IT HELPS KEEP THE ENVIROMENT JUST A LITTLE CLEANER AND HELPS PLANT LIFE AND BACTERIA GROW IN YOUR TANK... JUST AS LONG AS YOU DON'T OVER DO THE BUBBLE THING.

I'M THINKING OF BUYING 2 PERSICULA CLOWNS IN ABOUT A WEEK OR TWO DEPENDING ON HOW FAST MY NITRATES DROP OR SHOULD I INTRODUCE MORE AMMONIA INTO THE TANK ONCE IT REACHES ZERO BEFORE I PURCHASE THE FISH?

 

[wayne]

NItrites turn into nitrates , not vice versa. Good to see your ammonia going down. Your nitrates are very high though so a series of water changes are a good idea else you're going to get the algal outbreak from hell. There are denitrification processes, but frankly you're going to find them tricky to setup , and they take some time to get going well (months rather than weeks).
If I was you I would forget adding any fish for a month. You are going to get some algal outbreaks in the next few weeks, and adding fish now will just make them worse, and harder to deal with. Fish should go in when the tank is stable, and that doesn't mean when it's 'cycled'. If you want something to look at, add some snails and a few hermit crabs to help out with the algae.
Also spend the month doing the usual reading.

My opionion on bubbles is 'complete waste of time'

 

[nightrydaz04]

my liverocks were allready covered in brown algae which i've heard is a bad algae, you want the green algae, so i took my rocks out and shook off as much of the algae as possible leaving the green algae alone should i quit adding calcium and phyto-plex to my tank until after the secondary bacteria forms?

 

[1979camaro]

there is absolutely no reason to add phyto-plex...no doubt this is contributing to your nitrogen problems. i dont know what kind of green algae you have, but it probably isn't something you want unless it is a macro-algae. ideally you want some of the encrusting calcerous algaes and thats about it (unless you add some macros). the brown algae is probably diatoms, pretty normal part of the process...dosing calcium isnt necessary either, though it will help the good algae grow.

as wayne alluded to, nitrates do not "go down" on there own...water changes will be in order.....but, those nitrate levels may be innacurate because of the presence of nitrite in the system, so I wouldnt get all worked up about it yet...just wait out the ammonia and the nitrite then test for the nitrate. there is no reason to add more ammonia. and i too would wait for a while to add any fish, once your ammonia/nitrite zero out get the cleanup crew in there and see how they do

 

[nightrydaz04]

I have 3 different types of algae growing or i have brown, green, and a little purple.