Cycling Question

cdangel0

Member
Filled my new 92 gal tank last Sunday, used about 5 pounds of crushed coral from my old tank, as well as a chunk (about 7 lbs.) of live rock. My Ammonia has been at about .25 ppm for 3 days now, with Nitrites at .25 ppm as of yesterday, Nitrates are at 20 ppm today.
Is this normal? I am used to seeing the ammonia drop to 0 before I see any increase in Nitrites, and likewise for Nitrates.
Can I assume that my ammonia is not going to spike because I used the items from my other tank which already had the bacteria on them?
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks,
craig
 

keith burn

Active Member
I Have Found With New Setups With Good Stuf From Old Tank, It Slows It But Will Not Stop It .
Test For Ammonia After 3 Day Of New Setup If No Spike Test Every 5 Days Ontel All Tests Are 0 For 2 Tests And Run With It.
 

cdangel0

Member
I know I need more rock - my question was is it normal to start getting nitrates while still having detectable amonia?
 

apolyom

Member
well what i would like to know is that my tank has been sitting on 0.25 ammonia for about 3 weeks now..... trites and trates both 0. i have added more rock and still no change in any of the levels.
is this normal?
 

cymbal67

Member
ohh. sorry maa baad. hell i dont know about that. i stopped trying to figure out what is normal. there is too much variability in this hobby for something to be normal. other than fish swim in water not air.
 

cdangel0

Member
No problem. I'm just used to seeing the ammonia spike, then drop to zero as Nitrites start to increase, etc. I can't think of any time I have seen Nitrates present at the same time as ammonia (while cycling anyway).
I did add another 10 lbs. or so of live rock, just because I HAD to add something. Ammonia did shoot up to 1.0 last night, so it looks like everything is moving along now, hopefully it will finish soon, wife is already shopping for new fish.
 

clintjj

Member
The new rock you added made your amo. go back up. Feed you tank just as if you have fish in it and within a week every thing should be perfect. two at the most
 
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