HEEEELLLLLLPPPPP..... new set up nitrate level too high

i just set up a 120 with a sump and fresh tap water yesterday it has been cycling for about 24hrs i have added all the chemicals needed to lover all levels and condition the tap water but the nitrate level is at 10ppm what can i do or has the new tank not established what it needs ye.... there are no fish in the tank yet and didnt use any old tank water but i do have lava rock in my other sump system thats running if that will help at all

bump

Add filter media from an established tank in the sump. Any plants or is this saltwater?
Get some plants and dither fish in the sump to start cycling if freshwater.

i just added some of the rock that i had in the other system.... so how long would i cycle it now b4 addind fish

You can start with only 5 dither fish if your going for a fish cycle until you see nitrites, 0 ammonia and 0 nitrates. May be up to 4 to 6 weeks. Use filter material from your other tanks in the sump. Used filter floss, old carbon, anything old from the filter or swtich a whole filter without changing it first ( I would rinse them in old tank water to be you keep the bacteria alive)

hmmmm someone sacktap me if I am wrong...nitrAtes at 10ppm is not really to dangerouse for fish...nitrites it is...still not good but is it that bad???

I have not responded because not enough detail was provided. In Fresh 10ppm of N03- is Sweet. if you have a concentration of 10ppm of N03- then you either had the Fastest cycle known to man or you just swapped over a bunch or old Filter Media. Either way just keep an eye on it. Measure you Ammo. and N02- and N03- everyday. If Ammo. and N02- stay at 0ppm and N03- is staying at 10ppm of maybe climbing a tad bit is ok. Also test your Source water and see what the reading are out of it. That will give you a better idea whats going on.

nitrAte at 10 is just fine. You don't want it to go over 40 though.

if its only been 24hrs the tank hasn't had time to do anything.
What are you feeding the cycle with?
What all did you steal from established tanks?

You need good source of bactria. Your water is freaking out right now

all is well now the nitrite 0 ammonia 0 7.6ph and mitrates o im all good i used prime to condition the water stability for new tank setups and amquel plus to remove all amonia nitrites and nitrates i also added lava rock from the established sump

Is there a reason that you need to force the cycle to happen so fast?

yes i just got a bunch of breeders and dont have empy tanks they are crammed in a 30 about 20 of them

sounds like this tank hasn't even gone throw a nitrogen cycle. ammonian(h3/nh4+) should go up then down and be converted to nitrite(no-2) then no-2 gets converted to no-3. how could your reading be saying that. your sump hasn't had any time to build up nitrobactor or nitrosomonsas(spelling?) aka good bacteria.......

thats what the freswater test kit read so i dunno

tlc company has a product called start smart that is actually suppose to cycle a new aquarium in a day. I have some but have never used it. Aquarium fish international magazine tested it and they published in there magazine that in fact it did exactually what it said and they were impressed.

Are you putting discus in this tank?

Most all of those bacterial supplements are a waste of money.

nope the levels check out fine and the few fish i put in there are doing great so my test kit is reading zeros all the way across

Ok well I moved it to general, you had it in discus that's why I asked

keep up with testing and water changes.

As long as you test it regularly for the next month or two, you should be fine. If you use some water and decor from an established tank, that will help immensely.