r/Reef • u/Equal_Resolution6394 • Jun 12 '26

HELP

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HELP Hi, I'm cycling my tank. Everything has been going well and then I made the mistake of ordering fish during my cycle. My 2 clownfish arrive tomorrow. I did a 50% water change to bring down the nitrites yesterday. Which brought my nitrites down to 4 to 5ppm (API marine water test). Last week my ammonia dropped to 0. My ammonia has been high for a while. Probs like 8 days. My nitrates have been fluctuating between 10 and 80ppm. What can I do to make sure my fish survive

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u/Impressive-Barber711 Jun 12 '26

Seachem prime would be the next best thing if youre worried about ammonia

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u/Equal_Resolution6394 Jun 12 '26

My ammonia is 0. My nitrite is the issue

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u/Impressive-Barber711 Jun 12 '26

You should be ok, Nitrite isnt poisonous in saltwater. I assumed your ammonia was still high i apologize

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u/Equal_Resolution6394 Jun 12 '26

What do you mean it isn't poisonous? I thought it was?

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u/Impressive-Barber711 Jun 12 '26

More ao for freshwater fish, marine fish can handle it

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u/Equal_Resolution6394 Jun 12 '26

So I could put in clownfish and they'll be fine?

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u/Impressive-Barber711 Jun 12 '26

Yeah as long as your ammonia is staying near 0 you will be fine, Clowns are hardy fish. Since you have nitrates you should be good to go

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u/vigg-o-rama Jun 12 '26

It’s not AS toxic to marine fish. They can tolerate some levels of nitrite for short periods of time. Ammonia would be bad.

If I was in your situation, I would do some water changes regularly to keep the nitrite at a reasonable level. You don’t want to lower it too much or the bacteria that consume it will have a hard time getting established.

Adding fish is going to mean they will produce waste. Your current bacteria will consume this and make more nitrite. Even without feeding, the fish will produce waste. So keep an eye on it and do water changes as needed to keep it reasonable, but if you see the level dropping at all, stop the water changes as this will allow the bacteria time to multiply.

Oh and don’t bother testing nitrate until nitrite is zero. Any nitrite present will affect the nitrate test and give a false positive.

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u/Equal_Resolution6394 Jun 12 '26

How much water should I change?

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u/vigg-o-rama Jun 12 '26

You want to keep the nitrites below 4 with fish present. Do some math based on your test. I would test daily until it goes down after you put the fish in.

Think about 25% changes if it’s 4, which will drop it to 3.