curious

i just started a salt water reef tank about 12 days ago. Its 65 gals and has about 70 lbs of LR, but no sand yet. I've been curious about the ammonia and nitrites. I have been testing to see if the ammonia or nitrites have spiked yet, but so far the test has read 0 on both. I've talked to a few people about it; some say it wont spike or the spike won't be life threating because of the LR, others say give it time. I was just wondering if anyone had any advice on the matter. That would be great. Thanks.

 

WELCOME TO 3REEF!!!

Was your LR fully cured and purchased in your town vs shipped to you? If so, it's possible that you didn't have any die-off to trigger an Ammonia spike.

 

i'd say give it a few more days with constant testing, better to be safe than sorry...patience is a virtue.

 

Yes, the live rock is fully cured and i purchased it at a store. So because of this, nothing is going to fall off and die, and trigger the spike?

 

btw thanks for the quick responses.

 

I had this happen. I purchased fully cured Marshall Island, they wrapped it in damp newspaper, and I only lived 1/2 hour away from the store. I never had a spike that was big enough to register on my test kits.

You're NOT welcome. Just Kidding. ;D I have insomnia and I desperately want to get tired.

 

hmm, so how long would you say i should wait to put something in there if i still continue to see no signs of a spike?

Sorry to hear. Well you're probably at the right place if u can't sleep.
The internet. Where anythings possible.
hahaha

 

My suggestion to you would be to verify your test kits. Many LFS's will test your water for free. I would take a sample to the store you bought your rock from and have them verify your readings.

Then come back here and let us know if they are the same or different. Often, reagents in test kits go bad so whenever you test and get weird readings, confirming with another test kit is something that you will occassionally have to do.

 

i now have green algae growing on the glass. is this a good sign?

 

The algea is definitely normal. It is a sign of normal progression but I wouldn't take it to mean that your tank is acceptable for fish. Verify the tests and you can try like one fish if its good. Even if ammonia is 0 there still might not be much bacteria to handle a large addition of fish.