New tank syndrome - help!

[cocosreeftank]

Hi guys!
Complete newbie to the reefing hobby.. I bought a Red Sea max nano 75ltrs 26 days ago cycled with Red Sea mature starter and everything went well.. brought a water sample to the shop I bought the tank off of and my water was good and cycled for its first CUC.. I got two shrimp and a red legged hermit crab. Everything was great for a few days and then bam shrimp died suddenly nitrites spiked and when I brought the shop the sample to get advice they said it was going through another mini cycle.. add more bacteria from the Red Sea starter kit the nitro bac and bacto start, stop using no pox and stop the kh coralline gro… it’s been 5 days and my ammonia is gone to 0.8 nitrites like 0.25 .. any ideas on what to do my poor little hermit crab ‍ wait it out or keep doing big water changes? Thanks in advance

 

[revhtree]

Welcome to your new home for saltwater reef aquarium resources and fun! Welcome to the family!

 

[vetteguy53081]

 

[WalkerLovesTheOcean]

Welcome to Reef2reef! Your tank is still really young, so I'd say you should've waited another month or two before getting shrimp. Does the crab having anything to feed off of? Keep doing water changes until ammonia and nitrites lowers to zero, then you can get your first fish or two. Good luck and happy reefing!

 

[vetteguy53081]

Hi guys!
Complete newbie to the reefing hobby.. I bought a Red Sea max nano 75ltrs 26 days ago cycled with Red Sea mature starter and everything went well.. brought a water sample to the shop I bought the tank off of and my water was good and cycled for its first CUC.. I got two shrimp and a red legged hermit crab. Everything was great for a few days and then bam shrimp died suddenly nitrites spiked and when I brought the shop the sample to get advice they said it was going through another mini cycle.. add more bacteria from the Red Sea starter kit the nitro bac and bacto start, stop using no pox and stop the kh coralline gro… it’s been 5 days and my ammonia is gone to 0.8 nitrites like 0.25 .. any ideas on what to do my poor little hermit crab ‍ wait it out or keep doing big water changes? Thanks in advance

Sounds like you may not have been properly cycled. You want to add ammonia chloride to the empty tank then begin testing with reliable kit. Ammonia will rise, then fall. When ammonia is .025 or below for 5 days straight and nitrate is 20 or below 5 days straight, you are then cycled.

 

[kvansloo]

Hello, and Welcome.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Hi guys!
Complete newbie to the reefing hobby.. I bought a Red Sea max nano 75ltrs 26 days ago cycled with Red Sea mature starter and everything went well.. brought a water sample to the shop I bought the tank off of and my water was good and cycled for its first CUC.. I got two shrimp and a red legged hermit crab. Everything was great for a few days and then bam shrimp died suddenly nitrites spiked and when I brought the shop the sample to get advice they said it was going through another mini cycle.. add more bacteria from the Red Sea starter kit the nitro bac and bacto start, stop using no pox and stop the kh coralline gro… it’s been 5 days and my ammonia is gone to 0.8 nitrites like 0.25 .. any ideas on what to do my poor little hermit crab ‍ wait it out or keep doing big water changes? Thanks in advance

Also wait it out- you can focus on water changes when tank is cycled and bioload increases when fish are added

 

[DDenny]

 

[cocosreeftank]

Welcome to Reef2reef! Your tank is still really young, so I'd say you should've waited another month or two before getting shrimp. Does the crab having anything to feed off of? Keep doing water changes until ammonia and nitrietes lowers to zero, then you can get your first fish or two. Good luck and happy reefing!

Hi thank you for responding! Yea I’m probably being a bit impatient.. I was following the Red Sea starter kit program which said if the water parameters were right to add Cuc and my ammonia and nitrites cycled to zero so I thought was safe but I obvs messed up there seeing as it all spiked again.. there’s algae in the tank he seems to eat really well every day and is quite active I also bought frozen invert food in case he doesn’t eat and the tank has these Amphipods in it swimming around ! Thank you for the advice

 

[Raazka]

Nitrites aren’t toxic in saltwater but the ammonia definitely should be the culprit in your shrimps’ death. It looks like you’ve stocked up too fast and didn’t actually test to see if your tank was truly cycled.

Continue daily water changes to bring down ammonia as close as possible to 0, bring back the hermits to the store and use Dr. Tims ammonium chloride to test your cycle (using the recommended dosage, bring ammonia to 1-2 ppm. Test your water 24 hours later, if the ammonia goes back down to 0, your tank is truly cycled and can handle some livestock. If it doesn’t go back down in 24 hours, wait until it hits 0 and them redose again to 1-2 ppm, rinse and repeat until it disappears in 24 hours). Do not add back any shrimps or hermits until 1-2 months; shrimps are a bit more sensitive than fish and need stable parameters, hermits are clean-up crew and need “dirty” tanks, new tanks don’t have anything in them to feed on.

 

[paragrouper]

 

[Brisk]

Welcome!

 

[zheka757]

Welcome to R2R!

 

[Ocean_Queenie]

Hello & Welcome!

 

[1112-425XL]

 

[Gman83]

Welcome!

 

[CO2TLEY]

 

[PharmrJohn]

Hi thank you for responding! Yea I’m probably being a bit impatient.. I was following the Red Sea starter kit program which said if the water parameters were right to add Cuc and my ammonia and nitrites cycled to zero so I thought was safe but I obvs messed up there seeing as it all spiked again.. there’s algae in the tank he seems to eat really well every day and is quite active I also bought frozen invert food in case he doesn’t eat and the tank has these Amphipods in it swimming around ! Thank you for the advice

Yeah. The most important lesson you've learned here is not to rush. Go slow is the saying of choice and it's no joke. When I cycle my next tank, there will be no fish for about 10 weeks. Inverts will go in at 8 weeks. Lights will be off x12 weeks. The idea is to have a tank that has nitrifying bacteria everywhere so livestock additions do not tax the ecosystem to any great degree. Also, I'm aiming for NO ugly phase. Basically, I want my cake and eat it too.

 

[PharmrJohn]

LOL, almost forgot! WELCOME!!!!

 

[Fish Think Pink]

Hi guys!
Complete newbie to the reefing hobby.. I bought a Red Sea max nano 75ltrs 26 days ago cycled with Red Sea mature starter and everything went well.. brought a water sample to the shop I bought the tank off of and my water was good and cycled for its first CUC.. I got two shrimp and a red legged hermit crab. Everything was great for a few days and then bam shrimp died suddenly nitrites spiked and when I brought the shop the sample to get advice they said it was going through another mini cycle.. add more bacteria from the Red Sea starter kit the nitro bac and bacto start, stop using no pox and stop the kh coralline gro… it’s been 5 days and my ammonia is gone to 0.8 nitrites like 0.25 .. any ideas on what to do my poor little hermit crab ‍ wait it out or keep doing big water changes? Thanks in advance

Welcome! Glad you joined. The magic in this hobby is patience and going slow. I'm sure it will all work out.