Tank Cycle ?

[Susan Edwards]

My tank has been set up since Dec 15. I have
60 lbs carribsea bimini live sand
45-50 lbs dry rock from Marcos, 2 pcs pukani from BRS, 1 Tonga shelf from BRS
I also used bio spira in the water after water added.
No charcoal

I added 1 jumbo shrimp (to my hubby's horror) to the tank around the 17th

I've seen NO amonia at all. Had a one day spike of Nitrites of .5 on the 18th, and .005 Nitrates on the 19th.

Shouldn't I be seeing some numbers moving here? Am I not going to go through a huge cycle due to the stuff added to the sand and hte bio spira? Do I need to add a hardy fish to really get going?

 

[Oscar47f]

if you added the decaying shrimp and theres no ammonia and or nitrite the cycle is over and its safe to add a fish however keep monitoring it to see how the tank parameters react to a fish addition...

 

[Joey waid]

My tank has been set up since Dec 15. I have
60 lbs carribsea bimini live sand
45-50 lbs dry rock from Marcos, 2 pcs pukani from BRS, 1 Tonga shelf from BRS
I also used bio spira in the water after water added.
No charcoal

I added 1 jumbo shrimp (to my hubby's horror) to the tank around the 17th

I've seen NO amonia at all. Had a one day spike of Nitrites of .5 on the 18th, and .005 Nitrates on the 19th.

Shouldn't I be seeing some numbers moving here? Am I not going to go through a huge cycle due to the stuff added to the sand and hte bio spira? Do I need to add a hardy fish to really get going?

If you added a shrimp it needs to disappear, then you should be ready. It need to sit idle for a month or so. It can be rushed but not with a shrimp or a fish. the bio spira could have done its job though. I would not rush it.

 

[beaslbob]

1) bio spira may be working
2) any algae present could be consuming the ammonia directly.

I would add (if you haven't already) some macro algae in some kind of refugium which can be just a simple tank partition with side lights to keep it growing.

To test the tank try a male molly acclimated to salt water. And don't add food for a week. You could very well see the spikes you missed at that point.

Then start feeding 1 flake per day.

If you get the molly to live for 3 weeks or so, I would say you're ready for marine only fish.

my .02

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

imo your correct. the Bio and live sand is working.
IF you would like to test visit dr Tims. they sell pure ammonia. add it then test to see if it reduces.
http://www.drtimsaquatics.com/resources/fishless-cycling

part of what your doing is ghost feeding. the food breaks down, ammonia no po etc. all feed the bacteria. if the bio filter is active no you probably wont see a spike.

don't sweat it, it'll just take time.
yes you could add a fish, but why.

 

[stevo01]

+1 Salty

 

[adamk]

with bio spira you dont get the spikes everyone talks about, i would let the tank do its think for another week, keep the shrimp in there until you at least see 1 ppm ammonia but that might never happen. Order some Dr Tims ammonia or buy pure ammonia from ace hardware (shake the bottle and if bubbles form its not pure) then dose the tank with 2-3 PPM ammonia and that will for sure kick start your cycle.
i would think you should be seeing some kind of ammonia with a jumbo shrimp by now though

 

[Susan Edwards]

Thanks everyone. Will see how tomorrow goes to see if I want to add a pair of fish to see. Thinking maybe 3 pj carinals or 2 clowns. And maybe a coral

 

[MaiReef]

just curious. Was the jumbo shrimp raw?

 

[Susan Edwards]

@MailReef. Yes. And very disgusting when I took it out. All soupy and breaking into pieces. So I'm thinking of adding 2 clowns and two corals, a zoa and a Duncan. My water fluctuates, 79 during day and 77 at night. Might have to put a heater in my office? House heat set to 65 at night

 

[MaiReef]

you could phantom feed for a few weeks

 

[Brew12]

@MailReef. Yes. And very disgusting when I took it out. All soupy and breaking into pieces. So I'm thinking of adding 2 clowns and two corals, a zoa and a Duncan. My water fluctuates, 79 during day and 77 at night. Might have to put a heater in my office? House heat set to 65 at night

I wouldn't add fish yet. Are you seeing any increase in Nitrates? I'm not sure what test kit you are using that can give a resolution of .005 or what unit that is.

Using Biospira is great to prevent you from seeing ammonia and nitrite, but it should be giving you elevated levels of nitrate.

 

[Susan Edwards]

Here are my tests since I started. I waited a couple of days. I think I mistyped results above
17th NH4 0, NO2 0, NO3 0
18th NH4 0, NO2 .5, NO3 0
19th NH4 0, NO2 .05, NO3 0
20th NH4 0, NO2 .02, NO3 2
21st NH4 0, NO2 .01, NO3 10
I'm using the Red Sea kit

 

[MaiReef]

looks good to me to add a fish or two.

 

[Coastie Reefer]

Personally I'd wait another week minimum. Test results look fine, but adding two fish is adding a bigger ammonia source.

To steal a quote, "Nothing good happens fast in this hobby only bad things happen overnight, if you think you go slow, slow down even more" - Diesel

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

Personally I'd wait another week minimum. Test results look fine, but adding two fish is adding a bigger ammonia source.

To steal a quote, "Nothing good happens fast in this hobby only bad things happen overnight, if you think you go slow, slow down even more" - Diesel

Ive heard that too....

 

[Brew12]

Here are my tests since I started. I waited a couple of days. I think I mistyped results above
17th NH4 0, NO2 0, NO3 0
18th NH4 0, NO2 .5, NO3 0
19th NH4 0, NO2 .05, NO3 0
20th NH4 0, NO2 .02, NO3 2
21st NH4 0, NO2 .01, NO3 10
I'm using the Red Sea kit

Here is my concern. You removed the shrimp so you may no longer have an ammonia source. You did get up to 10ppm nitrate, so you have some functioning bacteria working from the Biospira. The problem is we still don't have a feel for how much. It would have been nice to see a few days worth of nitrate trending up with zero ammonia showing. You may still get that from shrimp pieces that are remaining, but we can't be certain. It's hard to know just how large of a bioload your tank is ready for at this point.
You are "probably" ok to add a small fish. If it were my system I would ghost feed for a few days and try to watch nitrate continue to rise. We can hope you have enough shrimp left in your tank to raise nitrates up to 20ppm tomorrow. If that happens, I would feel much better about adding fish.

 

[Susan Edwards]

I picked up a small container of tetra tropical flakes to toss some in to continue to ghost feed. If I add the clowns, they are very small. around 1 inch. From Blue Zoo

 

[Susan Edwards]

I have diatoms appearing. I'm assuming this is a good thing as it means the tank is progressing? How long do I let it go before adding in some CUC's

 

[glb]

I'd wait on coral too. It takes months for a new tank to stabilize. I'd start slowly with fish after your ammonia and nitrites have been 0 for a few days. Good luck!