Ammonia not rising

[Reefmob]

It's been 7 days since I set up my 60 gal cube

Dual bak-pak skimmer (100gal rated)
Korelia 1400 gph power head

No lights

With 67 LR Uncured
60 LS

Tested
Ph 8.0
Am- .25
Nit-0
Nitrate-0


My question is my ammonia has been reading .25 and I'm trying to cycle it but that's all it does. Shouldn't the uncured LR made my ammonia higher? What do I do now?

 

[AquaRick]

No. You need to add an ammonia source. I'm a fan of using pure ammonia. You can also throw in a raw shrimp.

The (almost) Complete Guide and FAQ to Fishless Cycling

 

[Reefmob]

Thanks!!

 

[NyteGTI]

Rick he's got uncured LR. If it's actually uncured rock you should have ammonia by now. you may have just gotten lucky and gotten live rock or worse, unlucky & got dry rock..

 

[Reefmob]

I bought it from a lfs it was in water powerhead, had a lot of stuff on it ( coraline, sponges and dead stuf) smelled not crazy rotten but in between ocean smell and a hint of rotten eggs.

What do u think

 

[Reefmob]

This is it

 

[NyteGTI]

if it smelled like that it should be giving off ammonia by itself, but it can't hurt to throw more in like rick suggested. go get some ace hardware ammonia & put about 5-7 ml in the tank & you'll see crazy ammonia lol

 

[AquaRick]

Rick he's got uncured LR. If it's actually uncured rock you should have ammonia by now. you may have just gotten lucky and gotten live rock or worse, unlucky & got dry rock..

Even with uncured base rock you still need to add an ammonia source. Base rock may or may not have any material to decompose into ammonia. IME it's not enough to get a good cycle going.

 

[AquaRick]

If using the Ace ammonia it's about 2.5ml of ammonia per 10g of tank water to dose to 4ppm. A little goes a long way.

 

[NyteGTI]

Even with uncured base rock you still need to add an ammonia source. Base rock may or may not have any material to decompose into ammonia. IME it's not enough to get a good cycle going.

lol uncured LR but yea get ammonia & measure it out to what you need

 

[AquaRick]

Uncured LR is still base rock to me. Still need an added ammonia source.

 

[Wy Renegade]

Did you get the rock directly in the mail or from a LFS? If the later did you ask how long they had it?

 

[Reefmob]

Sorry guys for the late response I'm at work.... Ummm the lfs said he had it 2 to 3 weeks and I got it from the bottom of the bin to make sure it was all submerged and hopefully there longer .. Going to get ammonia after work lol

 

[Wy Renegade]

Sorry guys for the late response I'm at work.... Ummm the lfs said he had it 2 to 3 weeks and I got it from the bottom of the bin to make sure it was all submerged and hopefully there longer .. Going to get ammonia after work lol

The longer the rock has been sitting at the LFS, the more likely it is that it is cured already, and the less likely there is to be stuff dying off and causing a cycle.

For what its worth, if the rock is cured, then you are in good shape - ie you don't have to go through the process of cycling. The easiest and fastest way to test this is to get some ammonia as Rick suggested and give the tank a shot and see what happens. If it quickly turns to nitrites and then nitrates, you're good to go, you'll just need to stock the tank slowly to continue building up the beneficial bacteria.

On the other hand, if you want instant stocking, then you'll need to go ahead and dose with the ammonia till it reaches the desired level.

 

[Reefmob]

Thanks going to try it today