Day 18 - Sunday 15th - Around 11am
I tested again for nitrites earlier this morning, still somewhere 0.5ppm and 1.0ppm.
I searched the forums to find out what other people had to say about persistent high nitrites levels when starting a new tank. Well, that's almost always the same story, they mostly all use uncured live rocks. Massive die-off creates a lot of amonia, nitrites, nitrates... The recommended solution is always the same:
- 1 - Patience - because cycling takes at least 4 weeks - often 6 weeks - instead of two or three.
and
-2- One or even two massive water changes - up two 50%.
This is a bit annoying for me because I got equipment to make routine water changes: 3 to 5, 4 gallons typically. Now I wonder how I will manage a 16 gallons water change. I will appreciate any suggestions.
I also a bit annoyed by how LiveAquaria.com present their products - not really noob friendly.
The picture below shows the rocks and on top of the "mountain" an almost white piece. This one I bought recently at the LFS. "Cured" obviously has very different meanings depending on where you shop.
Here is the pic anyway - I partially clean the front glass and you can see on the left of the picture the turf algae that seem to be willing to colonize the entire tank.
I will soon need the first workers of my cleanup crew to arrive to mow all this grass. But first, nitrites have to go down to zero ...
Here is now a closeup shot of one the rocks. I wonder what are these three green spot. Please ID them if you can. There is also a star like thingy on the bottom-left: Another tiny feather duster?
Thanks all for visiting!