Ammonia levels not changing

[flobup]

tanks been cycling for about 2 weeks now, I added a half peice of a jumbo shrimp to my 55 gallon and took it out 3 days later. it’s now been two weeks and my ammonia levels are still sitting around .25, is this normal ?

 

[Florida Sunshine]

Do you have any substrate in the tank? Did you add bottled bacteria? How high did your ammonia get?

 

[flobup]

when I first filled my tank I added sand with bacteria in it, and also live rock from an already established aquarium, when I first checked my ammonia levels about 5 days ago it was around .35 or so

 

[TinCanHero]

I'm 18 days in with no change also, I've used dry rock/sand & dr tims + seachem stability. ~4ppm Ammonia. I guess we just wait?

 

[ShaunRobinson]

Waiting is never a bad thing in this hobby but it is continuously overlooked by new and experienced reefers alike. Have you tested for Nitrites and Nitrates? If your ammonia readings have dropped then you should have a reading on one or the other. Also check your ammonia test on some freshly made salted rodi and see if it reads zero. This will rule out a faulty test kit.

 

[PatW]

With live rock, the ammonia should have converted to nitrates quickly. I believe that if Live rock does not see ammonia for a period of time, the bacterial populations of the nitrogen cycle decline. The rock you have might have been fallow for some period of time. In your tank, it might be like starting from scratch. Even starting with sterile dry rock, salt water, ammonia and water movement, eventually the proper bacteria will colonize and proliferate. It just might take a few weeks. You can accelerate the process with bacterial cultures for this purpose from the LFS.

 

[Drew Lallathin]

You just need to wait. Let it cycle more it takes time. May not have been enough ammonia, may not be enough bacteria time will tell