been cycling my new 10 gallon, have live rock and live sand, been going for about a month. after running the tests over the past few days, ammonia is around .5ppm, nitrite is zero, and nitrate is high at 80ppm. is that odd? from researching all this, i found it odd that ammonia and nitrate exist, but nitrite doesn't?

ive got a few critters crawling around, turbo snail, emerald crab, and a Nassarius. also spotted a worm and a really small green snail. also have brown algea forming but not getting out of control.

what are my options to lower the 2 chemicals in order to start throwing coral in, ive got the ph and salinity under control, have a 50/50 light and temp is roughly 76-82(have a fan as well for when it gets high).

i'm willing to sit here and wait, but with these levels, how long would you suggest that it should take before i look toward methods to lower it. some people say do water changes, others say sit and wait for it to cycle itself.

Your nitrate levels are much too high for Coral. The common and easiest way to lower nitrate is through water changes. The ammonia levels are either due to your tank cycling still in process or you have lots of decomposing organic matter. If you have detectable ammonia and nitrates then you must have nitrites. For ammonia to be transformed into nitrate it must first be passed through the nitrite stage.

Get a 2nd test done with a different test kit, go to a decent LFS and they will do it for free or for a small fee.

.5ppm of ammonia and no nitrites mean you possibly have a spike. Check it again in a day or two. Did you just add some new inhabitants? How much live rock do you have?

Your nitrates are too high. Do a water change of at least 50% today, then another 50% tomorrow. You'll want to keep them below 20ppm. Get either some macro algae (like chaetomorpha) in your tank or in a clear HOB with another light. They will help scrub some of those nitrates out of your tank. This is also the source of the brown algae, it will start to form if your nitrates and phosphates get too high.

You cant put corals in until you get the nitrates under control. You'll also need to get a test kit to look at calcium, phosphate, nitrate, KH and magnesium levels. These are very important to keep corals going. Calcium and magnesium are good, phosphates are bad. what kind and how many watts is that 50/50 light? You'll also want to make sure the temp stays at a constant 78F if you can.

the best thing to do right now is to just do the water changes over the next two days and then test again after 48 hours to see where you stand. If your ammonia is down and your nitrates are low, then you can start adding coral if you have the right lighting. If you ammonia and nitrates climb back up, you'll need to wait longer.

I think you should go and really test different things like what verdifer said. It's really best to try different things.

also, be sure to ask somebody you know who hass some experience to go and check it out in real time.

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