Cycling 10 Gal tank

[VAguy39]

I setup a 10 Gal tank at my office. I have 20lbs of LR from liverocks.com. (very nice rock) My question is I am suprised at how high my Ammonia is. It is off the chart at 8. The rock arrived in very good condition. no smell at all. I rescued a few Brittle Stars that came in the rock and moved them to my home tank. Most everything else has died. I only have a PH in the tank for water movement. Do I need a filter? Is it normal to have such high Ammonia? The tank has had the rock in it for a week now. I also have live sand as a substrate. Tank has been running for two weeks now. One week with just sand a water.

Thanks....

 

[leesanhua]

i have a 15 gal. ammonis was off chart when i have the LR in the tank too.
well.. this is normal because tank is in the cycling process. after 18 days, my ammonia is 0ppm. no worries.
the algea on the rocks might die off a little bit but it will eventually grow back.

 

[midiman]

My ammonia has been 8+ for several days now, and my nitrites are high, too. I'm precycling with only my sandbed and sump sand, so I hope that an LR spike will be minimal, especially if the rock from lr.com is as high-quality as folks here have been reporting.

I'll report the results after I add the lr sometime in late Feb (after my cycle has completed).

 

[VAguy39]

Ok, thanks....I do feel bad that I kiiled many of the critters that came on the rock. I had many crabs and brittle stars. I rescued 2 of the better sized stars and a few crabs and put them in my main tank at home. I have been off the chart on Ammonia for over a week now so I hope to see my Nitrites start to raise soon. So far my Nitrites are still 0.

 

[midiman]

The reason I'm cycling with sand in advance of the LR is to try to preserve as much life as possible when I toss my LR in there. Even so, if I see any particularly choice hitchhikers on the LR, I'll toss them into QT while the main tank's LR spike passes. My QT is cycling with LS (and dead shrimp fragments) right now, too, and I have a bag of bio rocks in my sump which I'll put into the QT for filtration after I remove it from my main tank.

 

[lando]

You can certainly do water changes to keep your ammonia level down and try to save some of the life on the rock. It will prolong your cycle though.

 

[Jonathan G.]

you said you only have a powerhead and no filter???? I dont think that is a good idea. my friend has a 20 gal and he has no powerheads and a bio wheel filter and it displaces enough water for his clowns. I'm no pro but you might want to look into getting a filter for your tank whatever one you choose is up to you.

 

[VAguy39]

I had a Bio-wheel on it. I was told they were nitrate traps and that I did not need it. As long as I had enough LR and and do weekly water changes that a PH would be all I needed on a 10 gal tank. Today I have nitrites present and my ammonia has started to come down a bit, so I think the cycle is going ok. If I need a filter of some sort I will add one later.

 

[RMPD109]

The 20 # of lr will provide the needed filtration for a 10 gal tank. If you wanted some sort of mechanical filtration it would be OK but not required. If you have a sponge on the intake of the PH that will remove particulate waste the same as a filter would(just keep it cleaned).

 

[lando]

I agree, no need to add on HOB filter woth 2lbs/gal of LR. If y did, I would take all of the biofilter out of it and simply use to create more flow and a place to run carbon.