Saltwater set up

[dunnman39]

I am currently in the process of setting up a 55gal salt water tank. I have 60 pounds of live sand. About 5 pounds of cured live rock and about 30 pounds of dried live rock. My salinity is sitting at .024. My temp around 80.8-81. Everything has been up and running for about 2 weeks. I thought it was in the cycling process but I read that you need to add ammonia. Like something dead or a fish. Any help on how to actually get the cycling process started would help a lot

 

[ImACoolguy]

You are correct, an ammonia source needs to be added for the cycle to begin.

For my saltwater tank I used small table shrimp in a pantyhose. Every week or so check it and add more shrimp as it will be decomposing.


Caleb

 

[mr_X]

Have you checked your ammonia levels? It's possible the 60 pounds of sand may have raised ammonia levels temporarily. If not, pure ammonia from the hardware store or a rotting piece of fish or shrimp will do.

 

[melosu58]

We have an excellent article on SW cycling in our SW articles section.