getting ammo higher for cycling

swim

swim

Member
Hey I am coming up on 2 weeks and I cant get my Ammonia up, its at .50 for the past 2 weeks, I added one shrimp, then it was gone in week, so I thought it would be high, it wasnt, so I added another one, still nothing, anything else I can try. or should I just be patient!!! thanks alot for the help, My heart goes out to the family with the 160g blowout!!! Thats too bad!!!
 
teen

teen

Active Member
try adding 2 shrimp at the same time if both fish have already dissapeared. was the LR cured or uncured? any nitrites yet?
 
swim

swim

Member
Live rock was cured, no nitrites yet, No fish yet either. Just starting to question everything because its going against everything that I am reading. I just need to be patient I think. Thanks
 
engineer

engineer

Member
Well IMO you need something in the tank to cycle, whether it be fish shrimp, or what have ya. A lot of people on here say, because of the die off of the LR it will provide enough stuff to cycle, I DONT buy it. No matter what you hear or read there will be tons of people going each way. I cycled/cured my LR first with 3frozen silversides then 3 damsels, all went well. You do what you feel like going with, but being patient is still a virtu no matter which tricks you try!!!!
 
G

g_d

Guest
If the LR was cured, then .5 might be your spike. It should start going down.
 
swim

swim

Member
Really, so I guess the ammo doesnt need to go up that high for it to start, I start watching the nitrites closer and see what happens there, I suppose if it does go through a small cycle then i will just start really small like 2-3 small fish and go from there, I was under the impression that I needed to get the ammo up to like 5! but I guess thats not always the case. Thanks alot, anything else you think of let me know. This forum is such a help!
john
 
engineer

engineer

Member
There really is no set # for the ammonia to reach, each tank is differentif you test it regularly you will see an influx on ammonia until peak(@ whatever), then start to decline. As long as ammonia & trites are 0 and trates are as low as possible.
 
gatorwpb

gatorwpb

Active Member
I have a 65 gal with 105 lbs of cured LR, 80 lbs LS. I used one large shrimp and my ammonia never went above 0.5. I barely ever saw nitrite. If you have precured rock and live sand, your levels wont get as high, because you have a good amount of beneficial bacteria already. Just wait for the ammonia and nitrite to read zero, and nitrate less than 20ppm and youre GTG.
 
teen

teen

Active Member
there is such thing as a mini cycle. its better than no cycle, and if you dont want to try and cycle over again, make sure you take it even slower than normal.
 
slugg3r

slugg3r

Member
If the LR is precured it sounds like it already had enough bacteria to keep the tank from cycling very much. IMO if you have already had two shrimp rot away and your amonia and trites are 0 and stable then you are ready for some small bioload. Just keep it small and add slowly.
 
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