Are these tests normal?

[abbeyspal]

I just did my tests on my 3 day old tank and my results all seemed too high to me. Nitrite was 2.0 nitrate - 10 ammonia - 8.0! And my PH was low at 7.8. Is this normal or am I doing something worng?

 

[Meloco14]

This is normal. While your tanks cycles your ammonia, nitrate, and nitrite all will peak then fall. This occurs because all the die off on the rock is being decomposed, and your beneficial bacteria stocks are rising to meet the demand. As soon as your tests indicate 0 the cycle has been completed. With the pH, sometimes it takes a while for it to stabilize. If it remains low by the end of your cycle you can get products to help raise it. Make sure you are using good water, like R/O water. Tap water can often mess with the pH, along with many other problems. Try a search about tank cycling, there are tons of threads on it. Good luck!

 

[abbeyspal]

Thank you for all of the good advice. I think I feel like a parent when they see their bay cough for the first time. It' like all of the information I have read and the countless hours of research has just up and left my head. I was just suprised to see the levels climb so rapidly. How often would you reccomend that i water change. I am afraid that I already had more critters on the lr die that should have. In a panicky rush I started to add some freshwater to the new tank instead of the saltwater I had just mixed up. DOH! I really don't don't think much could have survived the osmotic exchange. Any how tomorrow I am adding some more rock from my nano.

 

[Meloco14]

Haha I know what you mean. Don't worry, the most important components of the liverock, the bacteria and calcareous algae probably survived. Once you get your tank running if you want other surprises to pop out of your liverock you can always go to your LFS and look around and pick out a piece or two to add. As far as water changes, im sure people will give you different opinions but I would shoot for twice a week at least while the tests are still high. Once they are back down then you can go down to once or twice a week. Good luck and have fun with it. If you have any more questions post them here, thats what we're here for!

 

[ChrisRD]

Personally, I would do a fairly large water change to get the ammonia back down to reasonable levels.