Cycling help!

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Evansimp

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Aug 24, 2012
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My tanks been cycling for a week now with 3 raw shrimp! It's a 30 gallon tank! I put a big piece of driftwood from my established tank in there, along with gravel that I put in the new filter!

I have been checking ammonia everyday and it's been going up little by little each day! Yesterday it was at .50, and just checked again now and it's at 0 :O what's going on? I haven't had the big spike yet!
 
Wait it out , your gonna get a big spike , are you seeing nitrites yet ? thats why I prefer using pure ammonia no waiting for something to break down
 
xwesx1978 said:
Wait it out , your gonna get a big spike , are you seeing nitrites yet ? thats why I prefer using pure ammonia no waiting for something to break down

Okay thanks! I don't have nitrate or nitrite testing yet , I need to buy the whole master test kit! But il stop by petco tomorrow and get a free test
 
librarygirl said:
A week isn't much time; wait it out a bit longer. Also if you're using strips to test they can be inaccurate.

Yeah, will do! :) and I'm using the API liquid one!

Could this possibly be because of the seeding from my other tank? Or would that not matter very much at this time in the cycle?
 
Yeah, will do! :) and I'm using the API liquid one!

Could this possibly be because of the seeding from my other tank? Or would that not matter very much at this time in the cycle?

Without knowing your nitrite & nitrite levels, there is no way to be able to determine if seeding from your other tank has helped. If the highest amount of ammonia you have seen thus far is only .50ppm, you likely need to add a bit more shrimp to up this number further. Place the shrimp in a mesh bag/clean piece of pantyhose- this way, you can remove it easily when your ammonia spikes to a decent number (then throw it in freezer until you need it again). Let us know how your nitrite & nitrate levels look once you have tests for them. :)
 
So I checked my ammonia levels again today, 3 days after I last tested and it's still 0. Il check my nitrates and nitrites tomorrow! So wel see if it's almost cycled! I hope it is!
 
If u seeded your filter with already established filter media and your ammonia is at 0 your prob cycled. Like they said before you need to test those nitrites and nitrates when you test the ammonia they're all equally as important.
 
Jesselav1233 said:
If u seeded your filter with already established filter media and your ammonia is at 0 your prob cycled. Like they said before you need to test those nitrites and nitrates when you test the ammonia they're all equally as important.

I just put gravel from my established tank in my filter, and a piece of driftwood and some rocks from my established tank in the new tank! So I don't know if that's considered filter media. I didnt think it was.

I know the others are just as important and I'm getting those tested tomorrow! :) thanks for the help!!
 
Yeah that stuff helps but whenever I tried using stuff like that it never fully cycled the tank. I use the filter media (the spongey stuff inside the filter) usually instantly gets the nitrogen cycle going full boar.
 
Got my water tested! It was with the strips though so i dont know how accurate it is.

Ammonia 0
Nitrate .5
Nitrite 10

Thoughts? I guess it's almost cycled right? When the nitrate hits 0?
 
Almost ammonia converts to nitrites and nitrites convert to nitrates so you want to see ammonia and nitrites at 0 and then u will see your nitrates levels rise continuously (unless you have plants that consume it) so you will have to do water changes to keep those levels in check below 40 is recommended but I like to see them stay below 5 but that's not really "needed" just making conditions ideal at that point.
 
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