HELP!!! Cycle.........

speedracered

speedracered

Member
today is the 6th day into the Cycle with the shrimp still at the bottom of the tank. I have 20LBs of LR, 30 LB base rock with 60LB LS. Ive been testing my water parameters. I guess my Ammonia was never reading correctly, which I thought it was. So I took my water to a LFS to get it checked. They tested the water for me and the ammonia was at 0. but the nitrites and nitrates were really high. PH is also fine. Can Ammonia Spike up and back down in 5 days? what should I do. My LFS said do a 50% water change, and just throw some green Chromis in and start from there.
PLEASE do not read this and not respond. Offer a fellow SWF.com buddy some help./
 
saltcreep

saltcreep

Member
Using live sand and live rock can really speed things up. If you only use shrimp, as I did in my latest tank cycle, it is possible to have a short am spike and then wait for the nitrates and trites to settle out. I find the longest part is Mitrate/Nitrite. My amon spikes usually only last a few days. I think this sounds normal. Maybe someone else has a diff opinion but I think you are on your way.
 
bigarn

bigarn

Active Member
It could be possible that the ammonia level never spiked at all. My nephew has a 29 gallon and after weeks of cycleing the ammonia always read 0.....I honestly can't explain why the Nitrates and Nitrites are high but I'm sure someone on this forum can.
AS far as a 50% water change.......I won't steer you in the wrong direction,but they have to come down. Again...someone else can explain better.
By the way...my nephew also had a shrimp in his tank for 3 days.....results: Ammonia 0.
:D :D
 
saltcreep

saltcreep

Member
NO WATER CHANGES!!!! Wait for the cycle to complete! If you start water changes to soon it will throw the cycle off and prolong it. Stick with the shrimp and let it cycle. One thing we do now is to take used media out of a cycled tank and " clean it " in the new cycling tank. This adds tonsof denitrifing bacteria into the tank and will help it cycle.
 
speedracered

speedracered

Member

Originally posted by saltcreep
One thing we do now is to take used media out of a cycled tank and " clean it " in the new cycling tank. This adds tonsof denitrifing bacteria into the tank and will help it cycle.
thanks, I dont understand this part. what should I do?
more replys the better
 
bigarn

bigarn

Active Member
My nephew did what you did....He took a water sample to the LFS and they confirmed the ammonia was 0. A few days later he added a small clean up crew. They did fine.
He had a thread on here a few weeks ago and got a lot of good responses about this. Can you check it out?:D
 
bsktmom

bsktmom

Member
As "saltcreep" said Do Not do any water changes until your nitrites are 0 and nitrates are under 20. Also, do not put any livestock in until you reach the above levels. I know how hard it is to watch an aquarium with nothing but rocks in it. But it is worth it to take it slow. Good Luck.:joy:
 
saltcreep

saltcreep

Member
What i do is take a filter bag off of a system that is cycled and squeeze it in the new tank. Some filters use cotton and you can use this also. Your LFS should be able to get some for you. Just ask for a little " Used Filter Media" and they should be able to get some for you. Your amonia spike most likely happened quickly. I still think you are fine. Just need to wait it out. The fact that you have Nitrate / Nitrite happening is a part of the cycle and can take up to three weeks to settle out. That is why I use dirty filter media from my other tanks and rinse them out in the new tank. This has shortened my cycle times to two weeks.
 
bigarn

bigarn

Active Member
I think it was under New Hobbyists.....Tank cycled without ammonia spike?.....Something like that.:D
 
speedracered

speedracered

Member
Thanks for the great info so far guys

I wont do a water change as instructed. Dont want another cycle to start. Ill wait another week and see what happens.
 
saltcreep

saltcreep

Member
You will be fine. Did the filter media make any more sense to you? I really do not know how to explain it better. I would give you some if you were local.
 
speedracered

speedracered

Member

Originally posted by saltcreep
You will be fine. Did the filter media make any more sense to you? I really do not know how to explain it better. I would give you some if you were local.
yes it made plenty of sense now. I did that to start up 2 of the Fresh water tanks here. I dont know why I didnt think of that for the SW tank. But thanks for the heads up
 
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