Nitrite @ .05... time for clean-up crew?

Hey folks,

So I am just hitting week three of a new 95g setup. Live rock was added on day 2. I did not start taking amonia/nitrite/nitrate readings until a week later. As such I *think* I missed the amonia spike... it did register the first time I tested and has now dropped to 0. Nitrite is also on it's way down - currently at 0.05 and holding since Jan 1st. I did see nitrate spike and it also has calmed down to 2.5 currently.

My question is... can I add some hermit crabs and maybe a peppermint shrimp (aiptasia problem) or should I wait for nitrite to bottom out? I am seeing some hair algae starting to grow.

Thanks in advance!

 

When in doubt...wait a bit! Most invertebrates anre very sensitive to nitrites and to a lesser degree, nitrates. It is better to wait and continue to monitor your parameters, and don't really worry about the hair algae, for the time being you can always use a tooth brush and rid the algae for now! Another thing is the fact that hair algae is not very tasty and appealing for most fish and inverts, so the tooth brush alternative works very well.
Monitoring your nitrates and phosphates as well will help also.

 

I waited 48 hours with no signs of Nitrites