Did I skip the ammonia spike?

[coralgazer]

Ever hear of a minor or non-existent Ammonia spike before nitirite spike begins?

2 days after starting my new tank and adding a raw shrimp, I started testing.

Day 1: ammonia= 0.5; nitrites= not tested yet
Day 1: ammonia= 0.5; nitrites= not tested yet
Day 1: ammonia= 0.5; nitrites= not tested yet
Day 1: ammonia= 0.5; nitrites= not tested yet
Day 1: ammonia= 0.5; nitrites= 0.75
Day 1: ammonia= 0.25 (going down?) ; nitrites= 0.75

Using a fresh new API test kit. Shrimp has a cottony coccoon surrounding it, seems to be disintigrating underneath.

Is my tank cycling? Why only a minor ammonia spike? What should I do now?

 

[Mufasa31]

If you used live rock to cycle, then your cycle should be shortened.

If you used dry rock, then you should have had a bigger ammonia spike.

I would keep testing. Ammonia should go to 0 and nitrite should spike. When nitrites get to zero and you start getting nitrate, your cycle is pretty much done.

You still need to add items slowly as adding too many may cause a mini cycle.

 

[WillKatt]

As mentioned above did you use live rock or dry rock? If you used dry rock did you seed any bacteria such as a cup of sand from an established system or additive such as Dr Tims all in one? You need to have a nitrifying bacteria source to start breaking down the ammonia from the decomposing shrimp otherwise you really wont start a good cycle.

Also this is very confusing all these tests are from the same day? If so don't expect changes that quickly.

 

[Decalf]

As mention above cycling a tank is not a two or three day experience. Even when supplementing with live bacteria I would give it 2 to 3 weeks. Patience is everything in saltwater aquariums and you should always wait for things to stabilize before making in hasty decisions

 

[coralgazer]

As mentioned above did you use live rock or dry rock?

I used dry rock (homemade rock, cured in water for 2 months); live sand, 5lbs of GARF grunge and mineral mud in my sump. So I guess I did seed it other than shrimp.
Meant to post this:
Day 1: ammonia= 0.5; nitrites= not tested yet
Day 2: ammonia= 0.5; nitrites= not tested yet
Day 3: ammonia= 0.5; nitrites= not tested yet
Day 4: ammonia= 0.5; nitrites= not tested yet
Day 5: ammonia= 0.5; nitrites= 0.75
Day 6: ammonia= 0.25 (going down?) ; nitrites= 0.75

 

[beaslbob]

First of all don't hold your breath. :squigglemouth:

But with sufficient algae (like corraline on live rock or macros in a refugium) it is entirely possible and even expected you will get low or no ammonia spike. With a possible inital nitrate spike. Then the nitrates drop down some time later as the aerobic bacteria build up.

What happens is the algae actually prefers to consume ammonia for nitrogen but in a mature tank the aerobic bacteria are consuming the ammonia leaving the nitrates for the algae.

the ammonia->nitrIte->nitrate cycle is the bacteria based cycle. With plant life like algae you can get different results.

my .02

 

[WillKatt]

I will not pretend to be any sort of pro here but to my understanding if you used dry rock you didn't need to "cure it" per say. I doubt just having it in water with a heater and powerhead without anything to start the nitrogen cycle would have provided much benefit to you other than rinsing debris the rock. Without having anything with the dry rock like a piece of live rock or live sand and an ammonia source to feed the nitrifying bacteria you probably didn't get anywhere with "curing" the dry rock for two months.

My suggestion and its only a suggestion, I would pull the shrimp out, get some seed rock or sand and add a new piece of shrimp or just some frozen fish food to start the cycle over. You could probably keep the same piece of shrimp but its probably going to start getting really nasty and stink. You should see a large ammonia spike followed by a nitrite spike and ammonia falling off. At this point you can remove the shrimp. Also at this point a different type of bacteria that feeds on nitrites should start converting the nitrite to nitrate. When ammonia and nitrite are near zero or undetectable and nitrate is around 10-15ppm the cycle is complete. This process can take a few weeks

The other alternative here (and much faster IMO) is to get yourself some Dr Tim's all in one and just dump it with one or two blue/green chromis, I don't know how big your tank is. This is assuming your ammonia levels and or nitrite have NOT already spiked. The fish will provide the ammonia source and start feeding the bacteria provided by the Dr Tims and once the nitrates spike and ammonia and nitrite have dropped off you can start doing water changes, running a skimmer, carbon, macro algae or what have you to export the excess nitrates.


If this is all stuff you already know I apologize sometimes its hard to know a persons experience with the hobby.

 

[jgraz]

I'd also suggest and as long as you did not add fish already, is pure ammonia. Dose that to 4ppm. If you have sufficient bacteria then it will be gone the next day. As will the nitrites. It's possible that the bacteria in the grunge was taking care of what ever the shrimp was putting out.

 

[coralgazer]

I will not pretend to be any sort of pro here but to my understanding if you used dry rock you didn't need to "cure it" per say. .

Note: I left it to soak in clean water which I changed every 3 days; not to cycle the rock but to leach out the alkaline from the portland cement, so it would be pretty much neutralized by the time I started.