Cycle

BlackbMagic

BlackbMagic

AC Members
Sep 21, 2007
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I am 12 days into the cycle of my new tank its a 55 gallon 45lbs of live rock from live aquaria and 15 lbs base rock..There are no lights and the tanks in a pretty dark corner..The highest the ammonia levels got so far was 0.5 and within the past few days its stayed around 0.25... nitrites hit about 1ppm on the 6th day and now are staying around 0.2ppm...Ph stays around 8.1 alk is around 2.9 and nitrates about 5.0ppm...salinity is around 1.023... Do these readings seem ok for a cycling tank...should my ammonia be higher..should I add ammonia? Im not exactly sure if my tank is correctly cycling
 
Howdy! I can't speak with much authority on whether or not your tank is cycling properly.. but if you want to jumpstart the cycle, you can add PURE ammonia, or do the prawn w/ pantyhose method that's been described on this forum. I believe the live aquaria rock is so-called "pre-cured", though I don't know how cured they really are. That could explain the short cycle and why your peak wasn't real high.

How do you like the rock from live aquaria? I was considering that myself a few weeks ago. Also, I don't know if anyone has mentioned it already, but your choice of fish might be a little overkill for a 55 gallon. The Hippo Tang gets very large (100 gallons minimum), and putting TWO tangs in that size tank would most likely not go over well, unless they are both very small and you plan to upgrade your tank size in the near future.
 
BlackbMagic said:
I am 12 days into the cycle of my new tank its a 55 gallon 45lbs of live rock from live aquaria and 15 lbs base rock..There are no lights and the tanks in a pretty dark corner..The highest the ammonia levels got so far was 0.5 and within the past few days its stayed around 0.25... nitrites hit about 1ppm on the 6th day and now are staying around 0.2ppm...Ph stays around 8.1 alk is around 2.9 and nitrates about 5.0ppm...salinity is around 1.023... Do these readings seem ok for a cycling tank...should my ammonia be higher..should I add ammonia? Im not exactly sure if my tank is correctly cycling
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I would say that the ammonia source has not really gone high enough due to the lack of die-off from the live rock. I would put in there a raw shrimp or prawn, and let the ammonia get up to around 3 - 5, then remove it...otherwise, you going to be starting off with a very low level of bacteria in the tank.

I agree on the comment noted above about the tangs, personaly, i would not put either in less than a 75gal tank...

Niko
 
Its kinda ridiculous I figured 45lbs of uncured liverock would be enough to start the process...Guess not...should the ammonia have spiked already if it was enough, should I wait or should I add the shrimp now. I was hoping I didn't have to go with the shrimp I didn't want to stink up my bedroom..Oh well
 
I would think its uncured I got it from live aquaria 2day mail maybe the rock just sucks and there was just not enough life on it
 
BlackbMagic said:
Its kinda ridiculous I figured 45lbs of uncured liverock would be enough to start the process...Guess not...should the ammonia have spiked already if it was enough, should I wait or should I add the shrimp now. I was hoping I didn't have to go with the shrimp I didn't want to stink up my bedroom..Oh well
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BlackbMagic said:
I would think its uncured I got it from live aquaria 2day mail maybe the rock just sucks and there was just not enough life on it
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Due to the size of your ammonia spike, i would suggest it was partially cured. With that ammount of "uncured" live rock, i would of expected a peak of at least 3 or so...

Niko
 
I am now 26 days into my cycle and my params have now been consistently sitting around .25 ppm for ammonia as well as my nitrites around .1 ppm and nitrates 5.0 ppm for the past almost 3 weeks.. my ph is 8.1 and alk is 2.8 Sg is 1.022-1.023 and temp has been 78 but recently turned it up to 82 because i hard it promotes more bacterial growth a little higher.

But Its seeming as if i am at a stand still. I have gotten a bit discouraged and started to add biozyme and am thinking about adding biro-spira instead to get things moving.

Will adding a piece or 2 of already seeded live rock from my lfs help get things moving faster? or do I have to re cycle pretty much and just add a couple of small shrimp to boost my ammonia levels more? Im lost here guys give me a hand lol
 
I just went out and got an api test kit for ammonia and it is reading 0ppm while my red sea was reading .25..I was told by a fellow reefer that his red sea test kit reads .25 for ammonia and .1 for nitrite when they are both actually 0. Now if this is true for me my readings would make allot more sense and fit..Im am going to continue testing for a few more days to make sure then do a decent water change before i start to add any livestock.
 
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