re: ammonia levels

[scrmom]

re: ammonia levels

I have had my 75g tank set up for a week now. I have tested ammonia 3 times this week. Each time it shows the ammonia being 0. I thought there was supposed to be a spike. I have 80lbs of cured live rock in there and 4 inch base of live sand. Should the ammonia be higher by now?

 

[Fluff]

If your rock is cured, it may have enough bacteria on it that you won't see a spike. What are you feeding the tank to create ammonia?

 

[scrmom]

I haven't fed the tank. I thought the rock would be sufficient for ammonia spike.

 

[Fluff]

Yes but you need to keep the rock (bacteria) "fed". There has to be a constant source of food for the bacteria or it will die. Since your rock is already cured, there may not be any die off so even if it's just a few flakes every few days, that would help keep the bacteria going. Only until you begin to add your livestock. I would feed it for another week and watch the numbers. If everything stays stable, I'd begin to slowly add my livestock. HTH

 

[scrmom]

You mentioned flakes or could I use the raw shrimp method?

 

[Fluff]

Yes, that would definately work too.