Another Cycling question....

Defect · Mar 11, 2014

I know there are a million thread on here about cycling and what not. My tank seems to be in the starting stages of cycling but I am not 100% sure. I have 40lbs of "live" sand and 2 lbs of live rock. I would rather not add the shimp if my tank has already started cycling.

Test Results
Nitrate : 2
Nitrite : .02
Ammonia : .4
PH : 8.2
ALK : 10DKH - 3.6
Salinity : 1.025

Thanks,

Aaron

Pete polyp · Mar 11, 2014

The presence of ammonia tells me that it has indeed started. I like to cycle by continually feeding the tank with frozen fish food such as mysis or rods. I have used this method 3 times with great results. I would recommend adding more rock, either dry or live.

mkoop · Mar 11, 2014

The die off from the live rock is probably causing the amonnia. You'll want a solid source. In addition there are some tests such as API that can show a false reading of .25.

You should get that initial ammonia level between 1-2ppm. I actually don't use the shrimp method and add actual ammonia which works better in my opinion and faster as you're not waiting for the decay to happen.

austinl · Mar 11, 2014

I would go the route of dosing pure ammonia to about 2-3ppm then wait a day, test on day 3 to see where your ammonia and nitrites are at once they drop to under 1ppm re dose ammonia back to 2-3 ppm. Make sure Nitrites dont get too high if so do a partial water change. But once your able to add ammonia and it can process ammonia and nitrites to zero in a 2hr period your cycle should be done.

Google Fishless cycling, I did this in a Brute container with dry rock and some choice pieces of Live Rock, now said rock is sitting there in the Brute trying to propogate Coralline until my tank arrives.

Defect · Mar 11, 2014

Pete polyp said:
The presence of ammonia tells me that it has indeed started. I like to cycle by continually feeding the tank with frozen fish food such as mysis or rods. I have used this method 3 times with great results. I would recommend adding more rock, either dry or live.

I'm going to start ghost feeding. I should have said I have 30 lbs of dry rock in there and the 2 lbs live rock had coralline on it just to seed the tank.

Thanks for the responses.

Defect · Mar 14, 2014

Sorry to bring this thread back up but I didnt want to create another thread. So I have been ghost feeding my tank for the past 3 days. Just dropping 1 cube of frozen mysis shrimp in my tank. I am not getting any more ammonia/nitrite/nitrate. It seems to be just sitting at the same level it was 3 days ago. I was hoping to get a big spike in ammonia by feeding that tank but I am not getting anything at all, just the same readings I had 3 days ago. I know 3 days isnt very long at all and I am not trying to rush anything but I thought the decaying mysis shrimp would get some kind of change.

Thanks for reading,

Aaron

austinl · Mar 14, 2014

I would still go the fishless route but use pure ammonia rather than fish food. This way you limited all the other stuff fish food brings such as phosphates, also you can test right away by using pure ammonia and see where your at.

Right now if I dose to 2-3ppm of Ammonia in less that 24 hours both Ammonia and Nitrites are down to zero so I know my cycle is pretty much completed, and I am only dosing to maintain at this point until my tank arrives.

Defect · Mar 14, 2014

I am trying to avoid putting ammonia into the tank and just wanting it to do it naturally. I know it works well and spikes the ammonia to where you need it to be but I cant find any pure ammonia around here in the first place!

The adding pure ammonia to the tank does sound like it would have some good benifits to it as far as being able to test the ability of the tank to remove it.

SudzFD · Mar 14, 2014

The ammonia can be bought at any hardware/grocery store. It is the exact sake as what the food turns into....natural shouldn't be an issue.

With all the live sand and rock, you may have cycled quickly. See if your nitrates begin to rise.

Defect · Mar 14, 2014

SudzFD said:
The ammonia can be bought at any hardware/grocery store. It is the exact sake as what the food turns into....natural shouldn't be an issue.

With all the live sand and rock, you may have cycled quickly. See if your nitrates begin to rise.

What I meant by natural is letting the ammonia release naturally.

austinl · Mar 14, 2014

Ammonia is ammonia shouldn't matter whether you use food or dose it.....just dosing it allows you to better track it because it doesn't have to degrade like food does and doesn't muck up the water like food does.

Remember most food is filled with phosphates so ammonia is just a little better IMO.

Also are you using any cycling product? That can affect readings as well.

Defect · Mar 15, 2014

No cycling products. I will give it a couple more days then test again to see if there is any change.

67RedDonzi · Mar 15, 2014

So are you guys talking about adding ammonia (the jug that you can get from the grocery store) to the tank?

austinl · Mar 15, 2014

67RedDonzi said:
So are you guys talking about adding ammonia (the jug that you can get from the grocery store) to the tank?

Yes, provided it's not scented or anything added to it.

Defect · Mar 19, 2014

Ok, so I broke down and bought a bottle of ammonia...I figure it would be a good test to see how fast my tank breaks down ammonia. I just want to confirm that this is the proper ammonia to put in. There is no scent to it and says it is 10% ammonia the other 90% being water???? How much would I be putting into the tank? Any idea? Posting here instead of making a new thread.

SudzFD · Mar 19, 2014

Yes that's correct. It is 10% ammonia and 90% water.

You have no livestock right?

It's hard to know how much to put in. It depends on the tank . You want a measurable amount of ammonia. Once you have a measurable amount of ammonia, then let it be and test daily and see how long it takes to read zero ammonia. You should also see a slight nitrate rise.

If this occurs you have cycled.

This link has detailed instructions. Ammonia Instructions For A Fishless Cycle

austinl · Mar 19, 2014

As sudzfd said depends on tank size, go slow and add enough to read 2ppm ammonia as a start my dose was 1 and 1/2 tsp at the start to reach 2ppm.

I upped that to 2 tsp recently and in under 24 hrs I get 0 ammonia and 0 nitrites.