Cycling question?

T

Thresa

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Sep 15, 2004
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I'm an trying to cycle a 135 gallon marine aquarium. I put in two large coctail shrimp 19 days ago, and I never saw an ammonia spike. All I have in the aquarium now is lace rock and the shrimp. The highest reading that I got on ammonia was 0.25. I did have a nitrite spike, which maxed out my test kit. Nitrite is starting to come down now. Do I need to recycle the aquarium since the ammonia never spiked or what should I do?

Thanks for your help,
Thresa Aguayo
 
Well, 2 cocktail shrimp in a 135 isn't very much--I used 5-6 in a 120 and I was also introducing a bunch of established live rock. Adding more ammonia source would help, but you do have a small colony, so if you stock slowly, and with only small fish, the colony will grow fairly rapidly. For my own peace of mind, I would add some more ammonia, either cocktail shrimp or pure ammonia.
 
I used raw shrimp from the seafood market, not the cooked shrimp. Is that what you would recommend?

I added 6 more raw shrimp to my tank. Should I see an ammonia spike this time since I have already cycled it once and have some nitrifying bacteria in the tank.

Thanks for your help,
Thresa Aguayo
 
Raw shrimp is good. If you saw a big nitrite spike before, it sounds like the bacteria are there, because somebody was converting ammonia to nitrite. How old is your test kit?
 
I think that if you saw an off the charts nitrite, you must of missed the ammonia spike. You can't have a nitrite spike without the ammonia first. Your test must be faulty.:(
 
Same Issue

I'm currently cycling a 55 gal tank, added live rock about 3 days ago, not seeing much in the way of ammonia, but seeing a huge nitrite spike. I've been testing daily, and the test kit is new. I'm wondering if the pH is low in the tank - I hear that can reduce the ammonia. Mine was at 7.8, but trying to raise it to 8.2.
 
Raising the pH won't change the total ammonia, only shift the equilibrium from ammonium (NH4+), which is relatively nontoxic, to ammonia (NH3), which is bad. If your test kit only measures free ammonia, you may not see anything at low pH, but most measure total ammonia.
 
Not sure. It's more a shift in equilibrium than a conversion. The pK for the NH3-NH4+ equilibrium is about 9.5, so that the lower the pH goes below that, the more NH3 you'll have in solution. Can't tell you if a shift of 0.4 makes a significant difference.
 
No change

Just upped the pH closer to 8.2 (it was 8.0 before another dose of whatever the stuff is), and the Ammonia level didnt change. Still 0.25-0.5, and the Nitrite is 5.0+. Still confused as to why this is happening, as there has been no ammonia spike. Would getting curing rock (rather than uncured) make a difference in a new tank (lfs stated the lr was placed 11/16 in a tank for curing, and I added it to a new tank on 11/26)? If so, what should I be looking for - a new cycle to begin, or just all of the levels to drop sooner than before with no ammonia spike?
 
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