weird cycle - is this ok?

H

HkySk8r187

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Oct 18, 2004
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All water parameters were at 0 (ammonia, nitrite, nitrate) so I put about 35 lbs of fiji LR in my 24g tank. The tank then had the LR I put in, and 20lbs of LS and that's it.

I was expecting a normal cycle of only ammonia rising but instead I did the readings today and looks like ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate all went up, especially nitrate.

It's only been one day, is it normal to have these readings already? I was under the impression that only the ammonia would rise first. Confused...:huh:

Ammonia: 0.25
Nitrite: 0.25
Nitrate: 20
PH: 7.8
Alkalinity: normal
Temp: 79.9F
SG: 1.023
 
If your liverock was kept fairly wet, it might have had a good colony of bacteria deep inside of it, so you got a jump start!
Had you just set up your tank, or had it been running for a while before you got the rock?
 
I put the water and sand in on a thursday, and on the following saturday put in the rock. So, 2 days it was up before i put in the rock. I got the rock from a LFS where it was kept in water, it was only out of the water for about an hour while I drove home and put it in. It had wet newspaper over it durring that time.

Here is a link to my thread over at nano-reef.com. I'm doing a day-by-day thread on my tank.

http://www.nano-reef.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=61731
 
So, my ammonia has been at 0.25 ever since the rock went in, the nitrite .2 to .5, and nitrate went from 5 to 35 since rock was added. I'm not sure if my tank is cycling or not. Should I add a better source for ammonia such as a frozen shrimp and let it rot?
 
I think you will probably want a higher level of ammonia than that-mostly, I've heard around .5 or so. You might want to add either straight ammonia, or just throw in some shrimp. If your rock has critters, the shrimp is liable to bring them out!

'Fraid I don't know how much ammonia to add to bring it up to the .5 level...
but do make sure it is pure ammonia-no added soap or cleansers.

I have no experience with live rock cycling myself-if I'm giving bad advice, someone please let me know!
 
I'd say there's no need to add ammonia. The live rock is already seeded with bacteria. That's why it's live. If you are getting nitrate production, there are already bacteria taking the ammonia from the dying stuff on the rock and oxidizing it.

I'd suggest waiting for the ammonia and nitrite to go to 0, then do a few water changes to bring the nitrate down, and start adding livestock.

If you are worried that the tank isn't ready for livestock, add something like a small blob of frozen food. If the ammonia doesn't go up, you're cycled and ready.
 
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