Cycle won't start!

[kadella]

Hi guys - I've had a 55 gal tank setup for about a month with LS & saltwater only.. During that time I was running 2 powerheads, emp 400 filter, & a heater. During that month all levels were zero - amm. trite, trate, ph 8.3. Salinity 1.025. I was waiting for my liverock at LFS to come in. Last Sat - 3/11 - finally got it & setup 50 lbs of cured rock in there - no dieoff, rock was only out of water for 10 min. Today is day 4, still no trace of ammonia or nitrites, trates.... Salinity remains at 1.025, and ph of 8.3. Did I miss a quick spike when I first put the rock in, I actually didn't test the water until the day after I put it in... I was trying to avoid the whole stinky shrimp thing... but I am being too impatient or should I just throw a few cocktail shrimp in there to make sure it spikes in ammonia? I posted before & everyone said I should be fine using LR to cycle- fyi - I am not running the aqua c. skimmer I have right now, looks like it is recommended to fire it up when you add livestock. Any help is greatly appreciated! Tx!

 

[fraggle_a]

Well, you can risk adding a Damsel or two. they will definatly poop and pee in the water for you.
That should kick things in gear for you.
But, keep an eye on them if the water starts to spike. We dont want floating fishies....
(plus, you can use the shrimp method. You can pull it out before it gets too nasty..lol )

 

[spanish dancer]

Shrimp, or no shrimp, a cycle is going to stink any way, so I would go with the shrimp. Being mean to fish by cycling with them is not humane, so please do not take that word of advice.

 

[jhebi]

Don't add any fish when your cycling, you don't wantthem to suffer.......If you don't like the idea of raw shrimp you can ghost feed your tank daily and see if the spike occurs....
IMO rwa shrimp works great.....Good Luck

 

[jerth6932]

Throw the dead shrimp in there to start off the cycle........ It's a stinky job .... but someones gotta do it!!!!! It will get ya going in the right direction!!!

 

[oceana]

Originally Posted by kadella
Hi guys - I've had a 55 gal tank setup for about a month with LS & saltwater only.. During that time I was running 2 powerheads, emp 400 filter, & a heater. During that month all levels were zero - amm. trite, trate, ph 8.3. Salinity 1.025. I was waiting for my liverock at LFS to come in. Last Sat - 3/11 - finally got it & setup 50 lbs of cured rock in there - no dieoff, rock was only out of water for 10 min. Today is day 4, still no trace of ammonia or nitrites, trates.... Salinity remains at 1.025, and ph of 8.3. Did I miss a quick spike when I first put the rock in, I actually didn't test the water until the day after I put it in... I was trying to avoid the whole stinky shrimp thing... but I am being too impatient or should I just throw a few cocktail shrimp in there to make sure it spikes in ammonia? I posted before & everyone said I should be fine using LR to cycle- fyi - I am not running the aqua c. skimmer I have right now, looks like it is recommended to fire it up when you add livestock. Any help is greatly appreciated! Tx!

It is very possible you misssed the cycle. If you have enought live rock and sand it is also possible to avoid a large cycle all together. its not recommended but it can and does happen. IE: if i took all my rock and sand out and put it into a new tank i would have a very quick and small cycle. so small in fact i would not even pay it any attention.
in short if your tank is stable for that long i think its safe to say your ready to add stock to the tank

 

[kadella]

Thanks everyone! I would never subject fish to a cycle as I do believe it damages their organs. I will be getting some shrimp cocktail for lunch today & saving a few for my tank! LOL

Here's a good one for ya - I got a foot long fire worm in my live rock, can he live through the cycle? He's cool looking!

 

[kadella]

Ok, now I'm confused.. Say my tank did go through a quick cycle in a day or so & I missed it - yes it had been established a month or so before I added LR to it.. Levels were checked weekly, always at zeroes. Say it did cycle that quickly, am I going to harm anything by restarting another cycle with a shrimp just to make sure it's cycled? Tx!

 

[oceana]

Originally Posted by kadella
Ok, now I'm confused.. Say my tank did go through a quick cycle in a day or so & I missed it - yes it had been established a month or so before I added LR to it.. Levels were checked weekly, always at zeroes. Say it did cycle that quickly, am I going to harm anything by restarting another cycle with a shrimp just to make sure it's cycled? Tx!
nope you wont.
how much rock?? how much sand?? i guessing you have no need to the shrimp.
if you added good live sand there was more then enough junk in there to start your cycle. i would give it say till the end of the week with the rock in tehre and if the levels all remain solid go for it. try using more then one test kit as well. kits can and do go bad. try to use two different brands. salifert is the best IMO unless you jump up to the VERY expensive lab quality stuff which IMO is a total waste.

 

[jerth6932]

Originally Posted by kadella
Ok, now I'm confused.. Say my tank did go through a quick cycle in a day or so & I missed it - yes it had been established a month or so before I added LR to it.. Levels were checked weekly, always at zeroes. Say it did cycle that quickly, am I going to harm anything by restarting another cycle with a shrimp just to make sure it's cycled? Tx!
You will not "Start" another cycle, but what you would do is help your tank build up some more benifical bacteria, that you would have to have more waste to create, and that is what the shrimp would do. While you watch the tank this week, I would just toss one shrimp in there for like 2-3 days......
Just make sure you are using a good test kit.... alot of people get the bad stuff and never get proper readings!!!

 

[dischirm]

IMO if you were waiting for the LFS to get in the LR, then it is not cured. It had to be shipped to the LFS just the same as shipping it to you. I bet if you wait a few days then you will start to see the levels increase as your cycle starts.

 

[ophiura]

There is no harm whatsoever in adding food or a shrimp to the tank...far more can be lost, IMO not doing it.
You may have missed your cycle or you may simply have really not had enough die off to cause an ammonia spike.
I would at the very least feed the tank as you would with a fish in it to see if anything happens.
But personally, I would throw some dead shrimp in there and see what happens. If it is cycled, it is cycled...and you will see little if any reaction. If it is not...well it is better to find it out now than with fish.

 

[kadella]

Copy that - I was confused & I guess expecting more of a reaction from my LR & LS, even though it was well aquacultured/cured. I will add 2 shrimp tonight & leave in till the weekend, that way I don't assume it has cycled or not! Thanks for all your insight guys! This is my first tank, so I'm being overly cautious! :thinking:

 

[ophiura]

IMO, there is no such thing as overly cautious in this hobby

Patience is critical to success, so clearly you have set off on the path to great success in the hobby

 

[jhebi]

Also remember sometimes cyclying may take days, weeks or month, you have to be patient and be certain that you fully finished your cycle....

 

[yimmy]

I'm a lucky one who had a tank which cycled in 2days...I waited 2 1/2 weeks though to make sure. What I did to cycle my tank is putting in a nasy piece of uncured LR. Someone at my LFS was talking about this...not sure how true...but they put in 1in of LS and 3in of dead and it smuthered the LS and kicked the cycle

 

[kadella]

Thanks again guys, the remaining 2 shrimp from my lunch just went in my tank... I'll check some stats in a few days & see if I get any readings... I wonder how long it will take for me to get an ammonia reading after putting those shrimp in there, it's a 55 gal so may take at least a few days, I would guess? Well, if it takes a year to get this thing cycled, so be it - I'm not adding anything 'til I'm certain it's safe! I'll keep ya posted! Tx!

 

[kadella]

Hi Everyone - just wanted to give an update on this - well my DT after 4 days of having a rotten shrimp in it- is finally reading .25 ammonia, seems to be maxed at that reading - I am definitely thinking the tank cycled with LS unnoticed by me, as I didn't think LS would start a cycle.. The tank was setup w/LS only for over a month before I added the cured LR. :notsure: Otherwise, my ammon would be at least >1 ppm I would think. I also dropped some shrimp in my QT and this tank is now cycling well along w/a couple pieces of LR. Here's my new problem - I took the shrimps out of both DT & QT tanks and now there is bits of shrimp everywhere! I didn't realize they would just dissipate when I moved them. My powerheads blew most of the gunk to the filters, but what about the rest of it? I know it's there! Is there anything I can do? Help!

 

[oceana]

Originally Posted by kadella
Hi Everyone - just wanted to give an update on this - well my DT after 4 days of having a rotten shrimp in it- is finally reading .25 ammonia, seems to be maxed at that reading - I am definitely thinking the tank cycled with LS unnoticed by me, as I didn't think LS would start a cycle.. The tank was setup w/LS only for over a month before I added the cured LR. :notsure: Otherwise, my ammon would be at least >1 ppm I would think. I also dropped some shrimp in my QT and this tank is now cycling well along w/a couple pieces of LR. Here's my new problem - I took the shrimps out of both DT & QT tanks and now there is bits of shrimp everywhere! I didn't realize they would just dissipate when I moved them. My powerheads blew most of the gunk to the filters, but what about the rest of it? I know it's there! Is there anything I can do? Help!

your filters will take care of it. toss in a few hermits they will have no problem helping you out with it

 

[kadella]

Thanks Oceana- I was hoping for that - I got 5 hermits with the LR - so they should be having a feast today then! Sorry I am still learning this whole bacteria/cycle process - I thought that stuff was so foul, nothing would eat it! I least now that both tanks finally registered some ammonia, I can now relax & wait for it to cycle!