test levels HELP!!!

[ebauman75]

My tank's been up and running (finished cycling) for about a month, and I'm getting test results a little higher than I'm seeing they should be. my nitrite's stuck at .25ppm and my nitrate's stuck at 10ppm. Should I be content with this, or is there something I should do to lower these? I've got a 75gal w/ about 75 lbs rock (~50/50 live rock/tufa) about a dozen inverts (snails and hermits) two percs and two anthias. I'm doing 5-10 gal water changes weekly, and using marine buffer every other week. Everything else tests fine. KH 12, pH 8.4, ammonia 0, temp 78.4-79.5, specific gravity 1.023-1.024.

HELP!!!

[schmcc]

If your nitrite's are still present , you have not finished cycling. The nitrites will turn to nitrates in time.

[mg426]

what kind of test kits ??

[bertoni]

You might have a test kit problem, as suggested. If nitrite is present, it'll confuse the nitrate test kit, so the 10 ppm nitrate is likely a false reading. I had a tank that measured nitrite for years. Never did understand why, but nitrite is not toxic, so it can be ignored.

[ebauman75]

I just wasn't sure if these levels were low enough to live with or not. I'm using an API kit (ammonia, nitrate, nitrite, pH, & KH) not the dip strips. I've actually found that the dip strips run together in saltwater, which they don't do in a freshwater tank.
Bertoni, I thought nitrite was toxic, but nitrate was.

[serpentman]

I suspect the test kits as well. However, a couple of things to consider. When you say your tank has been up and running for a month, do you mean it finished its cycle a month ago or has it been a month since you added water? Was the LR cured when you bought it? How much/what are you feeding?

[ebauman75]

My tests all looked good on 2/10. The live rock was fully cured, and packed in water from the lfs. I'm feeding 1/4 cube each of mysis shrimp and cyclops on my lunch hour, then mid evening they get cyclop-eeze and super-soft with krill.

[bertoni]

Neither nitrite nor nitrate are toxic to most animals in saltwater systems. Hard corals can have some problems, though.

If you're planning on keep corals with skeletons or growing coralline, the Marine Buffer is a bad supplement. It adds lots of borate alkalinity, which displace carbonate alkalinity. Corals need carbonate alkalinity to grow their skeletons.

[joe click]

my tank cycled for a good 4 months before my test were good

[Frick-n-Frags]

also, what is the time frame between now and when you added the fish? I could see if all 4 went in within a week of each other that the tank is re-cycling, let's say if the fish have been in between 1 and 2 weeks you probably are seeing the nitrite spike.

also, in re-reading, it looks like you started the tank a month ago. a standard cycle takes like a month.
If this is the case, you may really just still be in the first cycle which would be stretched out if the fish were added later because they would re-spike the system.

why does everyone put a bunch of fish in their reefs right away?

[mwwhite]

Seems your specific gravity is a little low also. Normal sea water is 1.0265.

[ebauman75]

I fired up the tank, waited until the salt was good and mixed, and added the live rock about three days later. Then I used Bio-Spira in the amount recomended for 75 gallons. About a week later I added some hermit crabs and a few turbo grazers to keep the rock under control and waited until the levels looked right, about 4.5-5 weeks. Three Percs went in (one didn't last long, he became transparent and had what looked like bites out of his fins!), and two weeks later I added two Lyretail Anthias. Two more weeks and my levels are down to what my LFS says are "acceptable". I added a Midas blenny last night, and I don't think I'm adding anything else for a few months aside from some more cleaning inverts. I've been trying to keep my specific gravity in the higher end of the normal level range from 1.020 - 1.024 from what I've read. I'm not planning on adding any corals until it's been up for prob'ly about six months, and then I'm not adding much or adding it quickly. What I'm aiming for is basically a FOWLR tank with a few (+/- 5-6) corals. My concern right now is the fact that I can't seem to get the nitrate & nitrite levels down no matter how often I do water changes (currently 2.5 gallons every other day) and I want to make sure everything is perfect before I start to add my other fish (2 tangs & a flame angel) and the corals. Also, is there somewhere anyone would recomend I can find info on an overflow for a sump and info on sumps, like size recomendations for the sump based on the size of my tank?