Testing water question

[Smallreef41]

I tested my water after ten days and got very different results, I am wondering if this is good or bad?
Day 1 ph-8.2/ day 10- 7.8
Day 1 nitrite-0/ day 10- .25
Day 1 ammonia-.5/ day 10- 0
Day 1 nitrate-0/ day 10- .5
I have a ph buffer that says if you mix it in it brings it up to 8.3 should I put that in?

 

[Imbarrie]

Do not add a buffer until your tank stabilzes.
What size is your tank and what are you cycling? Live rock, live rock and sand, or just sand. Are you running a skimmer and doing any water changes?

 

[Smallreef41]

20 gallon live sand, my lFS said not to do water changes while its in cycle, should I be?

 

[Imbarrie]

You just put live sand in a tank with salt water and nothing else?
If you bought the "alive" sand that is supposed to be alive in a bag then you will still need something else like live rock to get a complete biological cycle.
Borrow a piece from an established tank or from the LFS and keep testing.
Weekly water changes will help during the cycle but at the end your parameters should be stable without them.

 

[TommyP]

Your pH would change during the day, depending on the light cycle and when you test it. Your lights should be off during your cylce period. What you can do is put a raw table shrimp in some pantyhose and drop it in your tank (this way it's easy to grab out) That and the live sand will help you build your BB. I wouldn't do water changes during your cycle just yet, wait for the ammonia to turn in to nitrites, then the nitrites turn into nitrates, then when you get a high reading do a wc.

 

[Imbarrie]

Stop! Do not put shrimp in there.
If you are relying purely on the "bacteria" that was present in the bag of "live" sand you will not be completely cycling the system and shrimp will encourage the wrong kind of bacteria.
You need real bacteria from live rock or sand from an established system. There is a lot of debate about live sand in this hobby and starting a system solely with live sand is not an ideal way to go.
JMO