new tank cycling

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LeeSweeney

Aquarium Advice Apprentice
Joined
Dec 5, 2012
Messages
28
Location
manchester uk
I am very new to marine fishkeeping. I have a 35ltr/10 gal setup. It is a biube tank that i have converted to saltwater. I use RSO (i think) water that i buy from my local fish shop. It will be a fish only tank which i have stocked with cured live rock. It has been running for about 4 weeks and it currently houses 3 hermit crabs and 2 snails. The ammonia spike has been present for about 2 weeks with now signs of change. Has anyone any idea how long it should take to drop back to 0 to complete the first stage of my tanks cycle?

I was advised to add clean up crew by my local fish shop but since viewing other posts i an now worried that with the ammonia spiking for this long they may come to some harm. However all looks well on the face of it.

Any advice or pointers in the right direction are greatly welcomed and appreciated.
 
while doing a cycle its best to have no live stock but since you do and your ammonia is up try adding prime it makes the ammonia less toxic to live stock
 
Yes i did more about a 25% water change recently not much differance to be honest. I plan to pick up some more water from my lfs over the weekend and do another change to try and keep my ammonia levels safer
 
I had advice to do very regular water changes to keep ammonia levels down and to stop any harm coming to my cuc. I am interested to find out more about prime though i dont really know what this is.
 
Once the ammonia converts to nitrites and the nitrites convert to nitrates your inverts may die but you can buy and add the bacteria in a bottle to speed up the process
 
I have a bacteria additive thing i got with my saltwater conversion kit. I have been adding this weekly. And i have had no nitites register on my tests but i am getting 20ppm nitrates. Not sure how when i have never seen nitrites.
 
U should have some nitrites since u have ammonia :-s have your lfs tested your water for u or you testing yourself?
 
I test it daily at the moment, i have had my lfs check it for me a few times incase im doing something wrong but they have had exact same results.

Is there something i could be missing i thought nitrites was just water and drops. Quick shake. It is always blue as blue can be..
the nitrate i go mad shaking and bashing bottle 2 before adding the drops

Should i do anything similar with the nitrites drops?
 
Follow the directions to the letter if it says wait 5 min set a timer and wait 5 min. And always double check make sure u are useing the correct bottles nitrites are blue at 0 but you prob haven't started really cycling yet what do u have beside the inverts in your tank? Any damsels?
 
Did u put any food in ur tank to even get the cycle going like maybe shrimp?
 
I used pellets to get ammonia initially. Then i was told to add a cuc. One of the snails died and i just left that in there to build up the ammonia. Other than that i have just added pellets every few days. I must have some nitrites because i i have nitrates at 20ppm but they have never been visable on a test
 
Right same thing I was thinking u did have nitrites at some point but were converted to nitrate before u can test it's pretty much a waiting game now and patience is key how long has your setup been established?
 
Ph is 8.0-8.2 depends what time i test it. Ammonia has been at 0.50 for last few days. Nitrite always has been 0. Nitrates been at 20ppm for about a week
 
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