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I forgot to add water conditioner in tap water..
08-03-2012, 05:04 PM,
#1
dinosb Offline
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I forgot to add water conditioner in tap water..
I am a newbie for saltwater aquariums, I've used tap water and mixed "instant ocean aquarium salt" and placed it in the tank, after 2 days, I've added live rock, now I've been reading a lot on how to do the nitrogen cycle, so I've added the "Instant Ocean Bio-Spira Start Up Nitrifying Bacteria Aquarium Additive" into my 6 gallon tank (Fluval Edge), now I realized that I forgot to add a water conditioner before doing all of this...can I add this after the fact? or do I need to start over? Thanks for the help
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08-03-2012, 05:36 PM,
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Ram Offline
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RE: I forgot to add water conditioner in tap water..
You forgot to use a water conditioner to remove the chlorine from the tap water? This could be bad. Sorry. Chlorine can even kill the fish. There is a good chance the live rock is not longer "live".

Did you use this Bio-spira? Since it is a live bacteria product, chlorine can kill them too.

You might have wasted money on the live rock and Bio-spira.

Since saltwater fish don't come in cheap, I could suggest you at least get a new bottle of Bio-spira, or Tetra SafeStart which is basically re branded Bio-spira.
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08-04-2012, 12:41 AM,
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dinosb Offline
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RE: I forgot to add water conditioner in tap water..
Thanks for the quick response. I've did some testing this morning and my levels are PH=8.0 , AMMONIA=0.25ppm, NITRITE=5.0ppm and NITRATE=5.0ppm, 2 days ago, before I've added the Bio-spira the levels are PH=7.8, AMMONIA=0.50ppm, NITRITE=0 ppm and NITRATE=0 ppm.
What does this mean? does it mean that I've still have bacteria in my system? are my live rocks okay? is it safe to add the water conditioner now? Thanks you so much.
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08-04-2012, 01:54 AM,
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Thor Offline
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RE: I forgot to add water conditioner in tap water..
Do you have fish already?
Or have you added any source of ammonia?

If you haven't added any ammonia or fish, then you should have 0ppm reading on ammonia and nitrite.

Water conditioner is always safe until you dump the whole bottle into the tank.
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08-04-2012, 02:06 AM,
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dinosb Offline
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RE: I forgot to add water conditioner in tap water..
No. I havent put any fish yet in my tank. I have live rocks and added the bio spira start up. Currently
doing fishless cycle, and forgot to put water conditioner, because i used tap water and mixed it with
Sea salt.
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08-04-2012, 03:07 PM,
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Thor Offline
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RE: I forgot to add water conditioner in tap water..
Have you been adding ammonia? Pure ammonia? Or fish food? Or any other source?

I have to know that because if you are adding ammonia then it looks like Bio-spira is working. If you haven't added any source of ammonia, it could be your live rock is rotting and producing ammonia.
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08-04-2012, 04:21 PM,
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dinosb Offline
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RE: I forgot to add water conditioner in tap water..
I have not added any ammonia or fish food in my tank. As of today,
I've completely removed all the water in the tank and replaced
It with salt water that I bought from my local fish store.
I've put back my live rock in the tank and recycled again with
Bio spira. How would i know if my live rock is still good?
should i keep it in or buy a new one? Thanks again.
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08-04-2012, 08:18 PM,
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Ram Offline
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RE: I forgot to add water conditioner in tap water..
Since you haven't added any ammonia at all, and you got a reading of ammonia and nitrite. My best guess is that the live rock is no longer live. All the organic stuff came with it are producing ammonia now because they are all dead from the chlorine you had in your untreated tap water.

On the other hand, you added Bio-spira a few days later. Chlorine in the water could be gone by then, thus Bio-spira might be working just fine. The reading of nitrite is an indication of an incomplete nitrogen cycle is underway.

If the above case is true, then you shouldn't have started over. Just wait for the tank to get cycled. Once you get 0ppm readings on both ammonia and nitrite, you may add a new live rock.
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08-05-2012, 11:33 AM,
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dinosb Offline
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RE: I forgot to add water conditioner in tap water..
Just finished testing my salt water again, the results are pH=8.0, AMMONIA=0ppm, NITRITE=0ppm and NITRATE=0ppm. Does this mean everythig looks good? Kids are excited to put some fish in the tank!! Like I said yesterday, I replaced my water and bought salt water from our local fish store, added Bio-spira in to it added small pieces of live rock (my local fish store gave me some small one's and they said to keep the one's that I have). Is there any way to place a photo here so I can post the test results?
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08-05-2012, 12:38 PM,
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Ram Offline
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RE: I forgot to add water conditioner in tap water..
You may use http://imageshack.us to upload your photos, then copy and paste the direct image location [img]direct image address[/img]

I usually would highly recommend a fishless cycle before adding fish, but since you have used Bio-spira, you may add very small load of fish after running 24 hours with the filter on. In a 6 gallon tank, you may add one small fish for now. Recommend something smaller than 3" long.
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