Day 10...

[tarrahsmom]

I am on day 10 of having my tank up and running. As you know I have aout 35lbs live rock and then about 80lbs live sand. I added a shrimp 3 days ago and my tank is still not doing anything??? I have been testing it every day (since day 3) and I have no ammonia readings? I know it takes a while but i was sure i would be able to see some change in the tests by now. I even added a cycle chemical on day 3 and nothing...i s this normal for a 100 gallon tank? Also when ever i try to move the rocks around it get so cloudy that you cant see what you are doing. Is this normal? I am trying to build a small cave in the corner but i cant even see to do it once I move a couple of rocks. HELP!!!

 

[tarrahsmom]

bump/ Anyone?

 

[tarrahsmom]

No one wants to talk to me today...

 

[chuckcac]

i've read that it takes a while to notice the ammonia... is the shrimp starting to 'rot' a bit yet?

 

[apycat]

i am at the same stage as you

i have been adding fish food and also have no amonia, whats going on :help:

 

[demartini]

just give your tank time. Maybe you have a lot of sand on your rocks? I'm not sure why the rocks are making your water cloudy when you move them. You can run come carbon in your filter... it well help clear your tank up.

 

[tarrahsmom]

I don't know but I am going nuts trying to figure it out!! I hope some one can help us out!!

 

[demartini]

no really, it takes time. your tank isn't going to cycle in a few days... just be patient.

 

[craig7220]

Some tanks take upwards of 8 weeks to cycle... Was that a raw shrimp that you added? If so, have you left it in the tank and whats it look like... normally when the shrimp starts to look hairy and begins to break down, you will begin to see the ammonia rise. It will happen....

 

[demartini]

You can try adding a shrimp or 2 more... your tank is pretty big.

 

[catawaba]

time
circulation
filtration

 

[tarrahsmom]

Well, I went home at lunch to check it out and the shrimp is getting a little bit hairy so that is good right?

 

[herefshyfishy]

yes... it will start to dacay, and this will give you an ammonia spike...

 

[cdangel0]

I would be curious to know what your other readings are. Nitrite and Nitrate specifically.
There have been rare occurences where a tank will only have an amonia spike, and a very small one for a day or so. This would be possible with the amount of LR and LS already in your tank, you may very well already have enough beneficial bacteria to be breaking down amonia.
I know it's not common and goes against everything else we read, but when I cycled my 92g I used about 10lbs of CC and 20 lbs LR from an exisitng tank and my amonia necer went over .25 and that was only for a day.
I may be off, but it's still something to consider.

 

[tarrahsmom]

That's good news! I am going to go get some more lr tomorrow.

 

[cdangel0]

More LR is always good

Have you been testing for Nitrite and Nitrate as well or just amonia?

 

[tarrahsmom]

I have been testing for them also.

 

[cdangel0]

Have you gotten any readings for them? Any Nitrite or Nitrate present?

 

[tarrahsmom]

I am at work now but have it wrote down at home. I think it was the nitrite thaat was .25 ppm

 

[gatorwpb]

My 65 cycled in 3 weeks using 105 lbs of cured LR and 80 lbs of LS.
I used the shrimp and took it out after 1 week. My ammonia never went above 0.50
But after 10 days, you could be into the nitrite stage of the cycle. Watch out for false readings on test kits. My Red Sea ammonia test kit looked like 0.25 even when it was zero.