Wolfpackfish
01/31/2014, 10:10 PM
I set up my 34g RSM a week and a half ago. I put 2 bags (40lbs) of Arag-Alive fine sand and about 10lbs of dry crushed coral.(I'm planning for having a jawfish). I also have put in 13lbs of live rock in that I got from my lfs. When I first set up my tank, my lfs gave me 34 gallon's worth of his tank water from different tanks in his store so I would be "ready to go".
5 days ago I did a 10 gallon water change after I had a green algae outbreak. My water chem kit (API) was coming in the mail and just received it this week. I tested it today and Ammonia is fine, but Nitrates are way over 40ppm and in the past few days I have had brown algae go crazy in my tank . I know I don't have a faulty test kit because I got 5 gallons of freshly made saltwater from my lfs today do an another water change and I tested that water before I did the WC and the fresh made saltwater read 0 nitrates.
So my thoughts are that since I put in "Ready to go" water and then added 40lbs of live sand(probably should have done less live sand and more dry, my mistake, been out of the hobby for 5 years) and added live rock, that I super charged a cycle? My other thought is that something died in my LR? Like I said I did a 5 gallon change today. Should I wait maybe 4 or 5 days then do another 10 gallon change? I also added 10 more pounds of LR today(bringing my total to 23lbs).
This is my first Nano tank, I got out of the hobby 5 years ago and before then I had a 75 gallon tank so I am still learning how quickly things fluctuate in a Nano setting.
Any help is appreciated
Ben
5 days ago I did a 10 gallon water change after I had a green algae outbreak. My water chem kit (API) was coming in the mail and just received it this week. I tested it today and Ammonia is fine, but Nitrates are way over 40ppm and in the past few days I have had brown algae go crazy in my tank . I know I don't have a faulty test kit because I got 5 gallons of freshly made saltwater from my lfs today do an another water change and I tested that water before I did the WC and the fresh made saltwater read 0 nitrates.
So my thoughts are that since I put in "Ready to go" water and then added 40lbs of live sand(probably should have done less live sand and more dry, my mistake, been out of the hobby for 5 years) and added live rock, that I super charged a cycle? My other thought is that something died in my LR? Like I said I did a 5 gallon change today. Should I wait maybe 4 or 5 days then do another 10 gallon change? I also added 10 more pounds of LR today(bringing my total to 23lbs).
This is my first Nano tank, I got out of the hobby 5 years ago and before then I had a 75 gallon tank so I am still learning how quickly things fluctuate in a Nano setting.
Any help is appreciated
Ben