2 weeks and no change???

[natejsan]

it has been two weeks exacty since i started running my tank....my ammonia has been at .50 ppm for exactly one week with no change...i have 25 lbs of live rock,many pods in the roc,a complimentary anenome with the rock, and everything looks fin...nititre,nitrate,ph and salinity...is this normal...have i started the cycle? can someone tell me what is going on?

 

[natejsan]

should i add some damsels........crabs??????

 

[kogle]

If your amonia is at .5 don't add any live stock. Amonia levels that high could kill anything you put in there. I'd wait a few weeks and see what happens.

 

[bigarn]

If the ammonia is at .5 and you haven't registered nitrites yet,your tank is still cycleing.

 

[natejsan]

so the cycling period could take a few more weeks...will i see a spike in nitrite levels????what level should i expect?? and how long will the nitrites take until they turn into nitrates...is this an overnight thing or will i notice it over a couple of days?

 

[big911dog]

you will see a spike and recession in ammo, then nitrites will do the same. there is no way to predict the spike levels. what ur waiting for is the ammo and nitrite levels to zero out after their spike. then the cycle is done. do a 20% (generally) water change and ur ready.ur probably looking at another 2-3 weeks.

 

[shnabbles]

Damsels are usually hardy enough to survive the ammonia spike as long as it doesnt GET to HIGH! .... Alot of people dont recommend this method anymore but at least youll have something in the tank to look at.

 

[big911dog]

ONE of the problems of using damsels for the cycle is the water changes u'll have to do to keep the poisons in check. Those same water changes will prolong the cycle.

 

[natejsan]

WILL THE NITRITES SPIKE AS THE AMMONIA SPIKES OR WILL IT DO IT TOGETHER??????AND THE SAME FOR THE NITRATES...SHOULD I EXPECT TO SEE AMMONIA AND NITRITE/NITRITE AND NITRATE AT THE SAME TIME? IS THAT POSSIBLE?

 

[bigarn]

Originally posted by natejsan
WILL THE NITRITES SPIKE AS THE AMMONIA SPIKES OR WILL IT DO IT TOGETHER??????AND THE SAME FOR THE NITRATES...SHOULD I EXPECT TO SEE AMMONIA AND NITRITE/NITRITE AND NITRATE AT THE SAME TIME? IS THAT POSSIBLE?
Your ammonia will spike and go to 0 as it releases nitrite. The nitrites will spike and go to 0. After this you can do a 10% water change with RO/DI water to bring your nitrates down to 20 or less, at which point you can add inverts.

 

[natejsan]

NOW WHEN YOU SAY INVERTS , WOULD THAT BE THE LOGICAL THING TO ADD TO THE TANK FIRST?SAY CRABS AND TURBO SNAILS?THEN ADD FISH OR WOULD IT BE SAFE TO ADD THE FISH AFTER CYCLING?

 

[bigarn]

Originally posted by natejsan
NOW WHEN YOU SAY INVERTS , WOULD THAT BE THE LOGICAL THING TO ADD TO THE TANK FIRST?SAY CRABS AND TURBO SNAILS?THEN ADD FISH OR WOULD IT BE SAFE TO ADD THE FISH AFTER CYCLING?
Inverts first...wait a couple of weeks to see if all goes well with them,and your parameters stay good. If so..you can add fish.

 

[hagfish]

If you haven't done so, you might want to do some research to see what kind of anenome that is. If it's aipstasia (sp?) then you'll want to get rid of it.