Does Ammonia always spike?

[hrlygma]

I set my 120 up on Sunday, using ro water. I have about 110 lbs of live rock and base rock mix. The lr was almost completely cured (I did it myself), and 80 lbs of fine sand mixed with 32 lbs of live aragonite. No lights on, shrimp in a knee high since Sunday. My ammonia is at 0 while my trates are 50 and trites are 1. Did the live rock mix make me bypass the ammo spike or is it too soon to tell?
Also, even though the tank has only been up for two days, hubby decided it had to be moved next weekend. With the canopy etc he feels it is too massive for where we put it. Can I just empty water and rock into trash cans, move the tank and reuse the water? We are only moving it a few feet and can slide it on the hardwood floors to a place up against a wall. Right now it is being used as a room divider and hubby doesn't like so much line-of-sight blockage between kitchen and living room. Guess he wants to watch me cook when he is able to convince me to do so!

 

[nanahugs]

My amonia never spiked and it has been up and running since November. My husband is a big fan of "cycle" so we think this stuff might be why. Our tank is currently fully stocked, we only need to get a few more corals. I have a 40G by the way.

 

[hrlygma]

Thanks. I don't plan on putting much of anything in for awhile--I want to make sure everything is where it's going to be and the aquascaping is done. However, I do have two anemones and a mated pair of clowns that have been in a qt for about a month (I am switching from a 29 gal to 120). I'd like to get them into their new home asap but won't do it until I am sure we are finished cycling.

 

[fraggle_a]

Id just get some of those pads and slide the sucker on the floor with just taking 50% of the water and 50% of the rock out.
My tank has been up 5 days and in the last 3 the ammonia levels have spiked drasticaly. The first 2 days the ammonia was bearly visible. With that much live material in the tnak you would benefit from the cotail shrimp trick. Just drop a dead shrimp in there and let it decompose. That will give you the ammonia you need to trigger the cycle.

 

[nrage]

Originally Posted by nanahugs
My amonia never spiked and it has been up and running since November. My husband is a big fan of "cycle" so we think this stuff might be why. Our tank is currently fully stocked, we only need to get a few more corals. I have a 40G by the way.
I use the cycle stuff too, and a couple of my friends used it and highly recommended it. My tank has been running for about three weeks, and the levels have remained constant.

 

[fraggle_a]

Cycle is wonderful stuff.
Ill keep using it once my tank is established. But I might back off on the dosage and monitor the levels for a while. I dont want to end up 'relying' on it to keep things happy.

 

[nanahugs]

Fraggle, My husband just puts a couple caps of cycle in our Emporer filter chamber, (sometimes directly on the pad,) after every water change. We also have a 40G tank and we preform our water changes every other Sunday like clockwork, 25%. Our levels have remained constant for the last two months, never flucuated. We also have also not lost any fish to date.

 

[hrlygma]

Fraggle, I mentioned to him before the tank was set up that we needed to put those pads on the bottom of the cabinet, but he thought not. It sure would have made things easy. Now we have to get it empty enough that he and my son can lift one end while I get the pads under there.
Hmmmmm. Car jack?

 

[cain420]

my tank cycled in a week and a half.. well, a week, but i kept testing for another half week, then added fish after the 2 week mark when amm was 0, nitrites were 0, and nitrates were 2.5...
i used the liquid bacteria starter made by proquatics and biozyme made by aquarium products.. had 56lbs of cured lr, and 16lbs of established rock... added less then the recommended amount of each when i first set the tank up, and have not added it since..have done 1 waterchange of a little over 10% and all levels are 0 to date... i personally want the tank to rely on itself and not a chemical that u add... jmo that it is better the tank handle its own waste...

 

[fraggle_a]

car jack and skateboard?. that sould move it fine! LOL
Cycle and other bio enhancers are great, but you can overdose with them. So try to be careful with it. After every water change and I was advised 'when you add a fish put a very small dose of cycle in too'.

 

[hrlygma]

Fraggle, I have both the jack and the board. Fun times on the way!
I ordered Cycle today after checking levels again. Still 0 ammonia. I have a very bad habit of rushing into things and don't intend to do it this time. I am willing to wait. Maybe when I take the rocks out to move the tank, putting them back in will start the cycle.
I would feel a lot better if it would go through a hard cycle; I feel like I would always imagine it lurking in the shadows, waiting for me to put my first corals in!
Thanks everyone for all the help.

 

[nrage]

Originally Posted by Fraggle_a
car jack and skateboard?. that sould move it fine! LOL
Cycle and other bio enhancers are great, but you can overdose with them. So try to be careful with it. After every water change and I was advised 'when you add a fish put a very small dose of cycle in too'.
I was under the impression you can't overdose with CYCLE--I believe it even says so on the box and in the enclosed pamphlet.
That being said, I only put what is recommended in the tank....it is too expensive to just dump bottles in at a time....