please explain my readings

I filled the tank on Saturday (6/14) with a mixture of tapwater and IO, added sand (Caribsea Ocean Direct, pre-rinsed with tapwater) and live rock (~25-30 lbs....had another large piece that I added a couple of days ago, bringing the total to around 45 lbs.) that was not pre-cleaned. I have since topped-off with around half a gallon of RO/DI water (now that my unit's working). Also this morning, out of fear, I moved around half the live rock back into the curing tub. I went home at lunch, stopping by the LFS to look for the API master test kit, which they did not have. I instead purchased the API tests individually: ammonia, NO2, and NO3. Here are my readings:
Ammonia: ~.375
NO2: off the charts, > 5 and very purple
NO3: ~15
What am I looking at?

 

Looks like your tank is cycling. Wait until your amonia is at 0 and your nitrites are at zero and it's cycled.

The sand that you rinsed. It wasn't live sand was it? If it was you may have washed away many of the benificial critters that live sand adds.

 

So did I miss the ammonia spike? I didn't expect it to happen so quickly, or I'd have bought the test kits sooner.

The bag was labelled "live", but how could it be, really? It'd been sitting on the shelf for God-only-knows how long.

 

Yea I'd say you missed the amonia spike. There is still some in the system though and if you get any die off from the rock it will continue to be in there until the system catches up and can handle it all. Just the waiting game. ;D

That live sand can stay alive for a really long time provided it stays wet in the water it came in. It sounds like you put some live rock in your tank as well so all is not lost. Just sucks to pay that much for sand and rinse all the good stuff away. oh well we live and we learn right? ;D

 

you might have some problems with the tapwater that you added? Esp if you are going to add corals down the line...copper, heavy metals, etc depending on where you live. I have heard of people just adding tap to their tanks and adding something to it (I think Prime...dont quote me) to remove the metals, but not sure what or how effective. Hopefully somebody else can chime in. You will also no matter what have algea bloom at end of cycle, everybody does, but yours might just be a little worse and last longer due to tap.

One thing you can do to "restore" your sand, is go to your LFS and ask for a cup of their sand from one of their tanks and this will seed your tank nicely. I would still do this even though you have live rock, IMO.

I am still fairly new at this (a little over a year) so if someone else gets on and says something different, listen to them but that is what I would do.

 

I agree with Schackmel. Why would you use tap water(TW) when you had R/O water available? Also, the rinsing of the LS was a no-no. You just might go through a full blown cycle that CAN last up to 12 weeks. If you get a chance read this web-site, its very helpfull. Saltwater Aquarium Setup Guide Luna

 

I used tap water because I didn't have RO/DI water available at the time...tried to imply that in the OP. I may or may not suffer for it later, but I'm not overly concerned about it, especially considering I can now readily produce more than adequate amounts of RO/DI water. Also, I find it hard to believe the the sand I purchased could still contain living nitrifying bacteria after being sealed in a bag at room temperature for months (at least). At any rate, it looks like I'm OK, thanks for the responses guys! I was surprised that the ammonia spike had come and gone so rapidly, and wanted some other points of view.

By the way, I checked the tapwater for NH3 and NH4 and it was undetectable for both.

 

Doesn't matter if you think it still has bacteria or not. It did and you just ran it down the drain. Need to slow down my friend as it seem you are getting in a hurry with things that will only cause you problems and heartache down the road. Like to see you stay with the hobby and not get frustrated and give it up later.

 

Amen bro.