Hi, I have change my Aquaone 620 tank to a salt water one, it has now been cycling for 8 weeks with coral rock in it (4 small pieces) I`m on rain water so nitrite level was 0 ppm on set up, at 3weeks it was between 0.25 & 0.50 going down to 0.25. and just sat on that for 3 weeks. I have done a 25% and 15% water change after 6 weeks but it goes back up to the 0.25 in 2 days. The PH is 8.2 and has not altered.

that sounds fairly normal to tell the truth, do you have any thing in the tank other than the stock tank/filter/light???

The tank runs it`s own filter system (wool & noddles) I have change 1 bulb to a blue marine and I`ve put a small skimmer in tank not sure if it will do any good.

go see Fay at the store.

lol, thats a good one steve, her location is waikato, fay is in port waikato.

any fish in there yet? what are your nitrites reading at?

No fish yet, nitrite sitting on 0.25 or just alittle under. I`m new to marine thought that i would give it a go as I have 4 tropical tanks.

dont change any more water untill the nitrites are at 0, just a waste of water.

i had the almost identical problem.i ended up doing a 100% waterchange and rinsed filter wool and media.(nitrites stuck at .50)they immediately dropped to 0.25 and then to 0 within 12 hrs.ive cut back on feeding and will lightly wash out filter media in aquarium water more often.

Well it looks like I will have to just play the WAITING game , if all else fails change water and wait some more :roll: . LOL Could it be that rain water is not as good as the Mighty Waikato River water :lol:

where abouts are you? is your tap water from the rain?

Yes my tap water is from rain and nothing is added to our water. I`m out the back of Huntly rural.

.25 nitrite is not a problem, any new tank will have some nitrite. and with a high ph it is not a major concern. do you filter you fresh water before adding it to the tank???

So will it be ok to put fish in it now or should I still wait? Don`t want to kill them. We have no filter system on our tap water.

you can add a fish or two, however using rain water is no good as it contains bactaria, and all the organics ,, need to get a DI unit.

Sorry for being so dumb, but what is a DI unit? And where do I get one?

de ironizer.It is always best to filter your water if you can for piece of mind.Sounds like it is coming along ok.Try adding one hardy community fish.A chromis or damsel.Damsel can get a bit stroppy towards other fish so i would go for the chromis.

Thankyou to all who helped me understand alittle more .

A rolling stone gathers no moss, but a sitting hen wears the feathers off it`s ---

Huntly is just down the road you would be welcome

You can get a DI filter in Auckland I would have to look it up Reef you know the name can you post.

Gizzygirl, are you, like I am, origionally from Gisborne?

Hi Fay, that would be great if you could tell me where to get a DI unit, Wasp no sorry lived in Huntly all my life. I Just picked up 2 hardy fish today so hope they go ok, still in bag have just added some water from my tank to them.

where did you get them from? didnt think there would be a marine store in huntly

Shot through to Hamilton after work went to Pet World. We have a pet shop in Huntly but he sells only Goldfish, plus a few things for Tropical.

good old petworld, what fish did you get?

Got myself 2 green chromis well it`s a start big $$$$ come next if this tank works out well for me.

nothing wrong with chromis'. they where my first marine fish (back when they cost 45$ each last year)