quick cycle ?

[emonemo420]

at approx what point should my ammonia convert to ites....cause its at 8ppm if not more its very dark and my ites and obviously ates are at 0...so im not sure how it was the past few days since i havent been home but today like i said its 8..0..0 i have been adding bacter vita to maybe help it out since i have no LR or fish in the tank to build it...i am every 2-3 days throwing a small amount of fish food to also help but still nothing...ne ideas

[joander123]

since theres so much ammonia already, stop adding fish food.

You need a way for the ammonia to turn into nitrites, (Live Rock, or other biological filtration) otherwise the ammonia has no reason to convert, and will take a god awfully long time.

-Jay

[emonemo420]

i hate to do this but the only way i could do it is buy live rock for 8 dollars a pop...whats a good small amount i could use that will help til i get more

[joander123]

to be honest, id just wait until you can order a larger online bundle... live rock is going to have die off anyways causing another mini cycle that you have to wait through. 8 bucks lb is pretty bad, only reason i would ever do that is to add to the overall bio-diversity of the tank.

Trust me lol, just wait until you can get a good 50 lbs or so of LR in there... the cycle will then happen as you save money to buy more live rock and increase your numbers. A cycle shouldnt really be rushed... and plus what are you in such a hurry for? you dont really want fish in there until you have at least 50 lbs of LR anyways, so why not just wait and save money 8)

-Jay

[emonemo420]

im getting 50 pounds this weekend i hope for 2.50 a lb:drool: ...im just waiting for a response from this gentleman to find out if he left it in water still or if its dried out...if its dried out i got a few more offers as reserves... but thats coming soon plus a few more pounds from my friends tank:headbang2: ...cant wait...i have the patient of a 6 year old on christmas morning waiting for his parents to wake up...lol ....im trying i am (should of seen me with me 10 gallon FW lol i managed to wait 2.5 days before i added a fish)

[joander123]

i feel your pain 100 percent of the way 8). (if that even makes sense lol)

But yeah its hard... but hey look on the bright side live rock is fun to aqua scape with, and it has hitchhikers. Plus not to long after the liverock is in you can add a clean up crew and they are really cool too 8).

-Jay

[emonemo420]

oh as far as biological filtration etc...i added 2 cups of "live sand" and a cup or two of water from another tank ...will that help at all??

[Yuri De Lima]

You really are excited to get this thing up and running, I don't blame you.

I have been doing the same thing with my tank. I keep testing the water just to find out that it hasn't changed since the last time I checked (the day before), which sucks. And it doesn't help to come online browse around a forum and find an article about cycling a tank (which its point is to emphasize the fact that cycle will take time!) So I decided to mark my calendar the next time I will even think about doing a water test and decided to stay busy with another project.

So in a way, I feel your pain. Good luck.

Yuri.

[sharkmatt]

Hey,

I agree with Jo. It will take a lot longer to cycle without live rock although it should still happen eventually. Also like Jo said you'd end up with another mini cycle when you added the live rock anyway so it's best to get it in a.s.a.p. You've gotta splash the cash at some point lol! Thats what this hobbies all about..... isn't it? :confused:

Shark.

[SHK_ATK]

oh as far as biological filtration etc...i added 2 cups of "live sand" and a cup or two of water from another tank ...will that help at all??

ls yes as it has bb in it, water no since it doesnt

[Grins]

I hope you get the rock this weekend. I and most everyone else here can relate to the inpatient feelings of wanting the tank up and running. I have NEVER been known for my patience but this hobby is teaching it me without a doubt. If you had told me I'd be going through a fallow period in my display tank for 6 weeks a few months ago I'd have thrown up my hands and said no way. But here I sit thinking I might even go 8 weeks.