Probiotics ?

I have done some reading about the subject, and understand the concept.  But there really isn't anything that i could find about what to watch for during the first stages of starting.  I should of done testing before I started, but unfortunately I didn't.  So I don't have anything to base new test on. 
My set up is
29 BioCube
150 HQI
Tunze 9002 Skimmer
BRS dual reactor w/ biopellets and carbon
I started running biopellets 4/21/11, so it is very new, and probably won't show much change as of yet.   
 
3/5/11 Test                                                                 4/27/11 Test                                                                            Desired Levels
Ammonia- 0                                                                  Ammonia- .50                                                                          Ammonia- 0
Nitrates- 0                                                                    Nitrates- 0                                                                              Nitrates-0
Nitrites- 0                                                                     Nitrites- 0                                                                                Nitrites- 0
pH- 7.8                                                                         pH- 8.0                                                                                    pH- 8.2
Calcium- 440                                                                Calcium- 460                                                                           Calcium- 420
Alkalinity- 9                                                                  Alkalinity- 7                                                                             Alkalinity- 7
Magnesium- 1440                                                        Magnesium- 1160                                                                   Magnesium- 1260
Phosphate- 0  (w/ API)                                                Phosphate- 0.14  (w/ D-D test kit)                                         Phosphate- 0
A few things is that I am having trouble keeping my pH up.   I have been dosing with Aquavitro Balance, (5ml per day) to raise the pH, since it doesn't effect the Alkalinity.   My Ammonia is high enough to make me do a water change tomorrow, not sure what has caused this, haven't had any death of any kind, or anything out of the ordinary to indicate a problem.  4/23/11 I started dosing MicroBacter7 (6ml per day for the first 2 weeks then 5ml weekly after that) is the plan.  With the reading that I have done, it indicates that you could lose potassium.  So I am starting to dose with Kent Essential Elements (2.5ml per week) to boost potassium, to help prevent any problems in the future.   Not sure if there is anyway to test the Paassium to monitor that, will need to look into that. Currently my magnesium is a little low, and my calcium is a little high.   I will work on getting this corrected.  Currently viewing the tank that hasn't been any noticeable changes with the corals, but again this is still very new.  
My question is.   What should I notice when things are starting to go right/wrong, what should I watch out for.   And is there anything else that I should be paying attention to.  

 

If your nitrates and phosphates were already under control, then the biopellets are not really doing much for you. You should be able to do more feeding and stock more heavily than you have in the past, but ramp this up slowly giving the bacteria time to colonize the media.

--AJ

 

I wonder about the accuracy of that ammonia test, but if that is the case you may want to start skimming a little wetter to facilitate the removal of expended bacteria, unfortunately this means emptying your skimmer more frequently and is going to be more work.

Alk looks good, I hope you're using kalk or carbonate additive in addition to any calcium and magnesium supplements. For the most part measurements of mg, ca, and kH can be thought of as wholly independent of the probiotic system, other than the rapid assimilation of these elements by coral metabolism under ULNS. Although there is one caveat to that statement which is you should maintain kH below 9dkH to prevent "alk burn." A three part solution of additives is used in what's commonly referred to as the "balling method" where the incremental addition of mg, ca, and alk are complimentary to the ULNS for accelerating coral growth. Admittedly I haven't done a lot of looking into it so I can't comment on the specifics, but I've seen a lot of amazing tanks that attribute their success to this method. Ca, mg, and alk additives can be thought of as a staple of additives needed for sps tanks, with waterchanges providing most everything in the way of trace elements and some of the lesser macro elements.

There are potassium tests available, they are pretty spendy though. From everything I've seen potassium depletion is only an issue with zeovit systems, but I wouldn't be surprised to read otherwise, do you have a link to anything suggesting that potassium depletion occurs in modified bacterial driven systems?

If the observed raise in ammonia levels is accurate then you've already began noticing the right stuff. I've not read anything to suggest that this would be a consequence of probiotic systems, but it stands to reason, and I really think skimming a little wetter will aleviate this problem. If it's not described as a side effect elsewhere, it would seem that this observation is a revelation, and probably contributable to the size of the system, whereas this condition would pass by unnoticed in a larger system, and in general ammonia testing isn't part of the recommended base line for most bacterial driven systems.

The only real baseline measurements directly attributable to probiotic methods are phosphates and nitrates.

hope this helps,
-ANdy

 

Yeah good point, this system is going to allow you to feed more heavily, but give the system a good amount of time to start working well, despite the fact that you've already demonstrated that your phosphates are pretty low. You'll want to aim for less than 0.05ppm. In order to achieve this (assuming that the most abundant/efficient cultures assimilate more NO3 than PO4 in a single reaction) you'll need a measurable level of nitrate. That being said, again if you're using an API test kit, you'll want to pick up a more discrete Sailfert, LeMotte, or D&D kit to test NO3 down to the 0.05ppm level as well.
Of course, in order to facilitate the accumulation of some nitrates to drive these reactions, you'll want to gradually increase feeding. But first focus on getting those ammonia levels down, since they'll ultimately become nitrates. Again, I would recheck that and see if that measurement is accurate.

 

Did you change any water before test #2? Many salt mixes do have small amounts of ammonia when freshly mixed and not mixed up for a min of 12-24 hours with a powerhead ect.

 

My last WC was a week ago, and it mixes in a container for a few days before I do the WC.    
Also I retested the Ammonia with the same test kit (API) and got .25.   Now I am starting to believe that maybe my test kit has gone bad or something.   I will pick up a new test kit to check again.