Hey everyone so my cycle finally finished all of my readings came back what there supposed to be. I cycled with 3 raw shrimps and some fish food everyday (long process but it worked) now I've added my first fish. I've added a small fire fish in my 45 gallon tank. And I noticed now I'm getting a very small reading of ammonia. Is that normal, it's at .20. No reading of nitrite and nitrates where they should be.
Firefish ammonia spike
- Thread starter Jaxs
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Feed sparingly just in case. Fire Fish are pretty sensitive during acclimate. You're probably using an API kit right?
If you see a further increase start with some small water changes.
If you see a further increase start with some small water changes.
How long did the cycling process take? I would try several different kits or retest if you haven't already to confirm. Are you adding any conditioners to your water? You could also try an ammonia alert, to be safe, until the tests read zero.
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It took about 5 weeks roughly. And yes I tested it at 6pm yesterday and retested this morning. Maybe I retested to soon I'm a little anixious. The only thing I add to the water is a nitrate and phosphate reducer that Red Sea makes.
Also during my cycling process I wasn't running the protein skimmer. And since I got the reading of ammonia I've turned it on so maybe that will help? My biggest fear is that today my CUC arrives and I don't want them to die because of the small reading of ammonia.
When you were cycling did you see your ammonia rise, fall, then nitrite rise fall, then the same for your nitrates?
did you use already live rocks, or rocks that needed to cycle? post pics of your tank to end all mystery
red sea still has ammonia reporting errors on the low end, makes your reading possibly wrong (zero ammonia depending on pic details) we can see in searches that its rare for any test kit to read low end free ammonia accurately. salifert is best there
red sea still has ammonia reporting errors on the low end, makes your reading possibly wrong (zero ammonia depending on pic details) we can see in searches that its rare for any test kit to read low end free ammonia accurately. salifert is best there
now we can start knowing what kind of cycle to use for sure. that is solidly 100% group A rock from this thread
http://reef2reef.com/threads/new-ta...d-cocktail-shrimp-live-rock-no-shrimp.214618/
you are on the right track. to simplify that arduous read, your goal is to have those rocks underwater about 30 days ish, be adding liquid ammonia (or shrimp, correct for these kinds of rocks) and bottle bac until the whole sys passes a digest test from the thread. a 24 range check is needed tofinalize
http://reef2reef.com/threads/new-ta...d-cocktail-shrimp-live-rock-no-shrimp.214618/
you are on the right track. to simplify that arduous read, your goal is to have those rocks underwater about 30 days ish, be adding liquid ammonia (or shrimp, correct for these kinds of rocks) and bottle bac until the whole sys passes a digest test from the thread. a 24 range check is needed tofinalize
I agree it is confusing
per that thread it means you've met one of the criteria already, 30 days. whats needing measure is how much bac built up during that time, on the substrate where filtration ideally should be located. so the shrimp you used provided fine ammonia traces, good to go there. if you didn't add any bottle bac, and only natural seeds were used, then you can run a digest test from that thread at 1ppm and you are likely close to done but the test will tell.
if you've added bottle bac this will be sped up, and 30 days is prob long enough for sure. do a digestion test from the thread we will know your cycle in 24 hours if its done
you have met the known submersion time frames for group A cycling. now we just need to test to know if its done, shrimp cannot be used for the digest test it must be liquid ammonia so that 1 ppm is attained, verified, then reduced to zero by this time tomorrow. if your kit doesn't show a full digestion test, don't begin reefing till it does and simply hold course or add bottle bac to speed up
per that thread it means you've met one of the criteria already, 30 days. whats needing measure is how much bac built up during that time, on the substrate where filtration ideally should be located. so the shrimp you used provided fine ammonia traces, good to go there. if you didn't add any bottle bac, and only natural seeds were used, then you can run a digest test from that thread at 1ppm and you are likely close to done but the test will tell.
if you've added bottle bac this will be sped up, and 30 days is prob long enough for sure. do a digestion test from the thread we will know your cycle in 24 hours if its done
you have met the known submersion time frames for group A cycling. now we just need to test to know if its done, shrimp cannot be used for the digest test it must be liquid ammonia so that 1 ppm is attained, verified, then reduced to zero by this time tomorrow. if your kit doesn't show a full digestion test, don't begin reefing till it does and simply hold course or add bottle bac to speed up
Make it simple on yourself, no need to over think this, do not add phosphate and nitrate reducers at this stage.
Add a bacteria in a bottle product, I like Dr.Tim or Microbacter7.
Continue to test daily until you see no detectable ammonia.
Continue small water changes 1 or 2 gallons until you see no detectable ammonia.
Having a fish or members of the cuc will provide enough organic matter to promote the beneficial bacteria.
Discontinue stocking the tank with any more fish for a couple more weeks.
It's a nice little rimless.
Add a bacteria in a bottle product, I like Dr.Tim or Microbacter7.
Continue to test daily until you see no detectable ammonia.
Continue small water changes 1 or 2 gallons until you see no detectable ammonia.
Having a fish or members of the cuc will provide enough organic matter to promote the beneficial bacteria.
Discontinue stocking the tank with any more fish for a couple more weeks.
It's a nice little rimless.
Good point, the fish is in prematurely I wasn't even considering a fish until verified end of cycle. That makes a big change. The thread shows no ammonia dosing around animals
so either the fish is removed correctly and housed elsewhere until this tank is cycled, which persistent free ammonia off one fish leaves in concern currently, or you reverse the cycle to protect the fish and change any amount of water required to present zero ammonia to living animals and sustain that until the bac catch up and no free ammonia can be read.
Not used to seeing fish used prematurely that sure is a critical detail agreed. The cycle status for this tank and details is unverified completion, w fish preventing completion measure.
It is too early for a fish here. the tank needs to complete its cycle first, ideally. If the fish must be kept then keep it in zero free ammonia however you need to attain that. edit line has been added to cycle thread for next round when this occurs
so either the fish is removed correctly and housed elsewhere until this tank is cycled, which persistent free ammonia off one fish leaves in concern currently, or you reverse the cycle to protect the fish and change any amount of water required to present zero ammonia to living animals and sustain that until the bac catch up and no free ammonia can be read.
Not used to seeing fish used prematurely that sure is a critical detail agreed. The cycle status for this tank and details is unverified completion, w fish preventing completion measure.
It is too early for a fish here. the tank needs to complete its cycle first, ideally. If the fish must be kept then keep it in zero free ammonia however you need to attain that. edit line has been added to cycle thread for next round when this occurs
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Ok thanks for the help. I really didn't feal that I introduced the fish prematurely. During the cycle process everything happened the way it should. High rise is ammonia then nitrite rise with ammonia drop. And nitrate rise with nitrite complete drop. And then it stabilized for a week. So I went ahead and added a fish. Then two days later I'm seeing that I have a small trace of ammonia. So I'm assuming the tank cycled but I didn't create a large enough bio load. So I'm going to add the bottle bacteria and do water changes and hope it'll catch up soon.
I myself don't judge, I keep corals packed in a fishbowl. my reco is that firefish are not being captive bred, and the species used for fish cycling typically aren't either, so if exposing fish to raw ammonia we should be using clownfish if any, whats your take on that. plus the added irony if you search our fish-in cycling threads using clownfish, everyone is mad and don't get on like bandwagons for fish in cycling heh
really I don't judge, but the changing tides of what web posters recommend is simply fun to track
if you keep this animal without free ammonia at all, not any detectable amnt, its ethical. In that regard, you do control your own start dates. we only define the time the tank will maintain the zero ammonia condition.
really I don't judge, but the changing tides of what web posters recommend is simply fun to track
if you keep this animal without free ammonia at all, not any detectable amnt, its ethical. In that regard, you do control your own start dates. we only define the time the tank will maintain the zero ammonia condition.
