Hello everyone,
This is my very first post here but let me give you the run down....
I started a 30 gallon long reef tank on may 11, I added 55 lbs of old dried live rock (made sure to clean it first) and a 1 1/2 " layer of aragonite sand. On may the 15, I added 5 lbs of quality cured live rock. I started testing for my cycle on may 18 and got these results:
Ammonia: 0.25 ppm
Nitrite: 0.50 ppm
Nitrate: 0 ppm
Believing this is a "mini-cycle" due to the short time and small numbers to back it up I decided to add 2 shrimp to the tank in a panty hose bag (the raw grocery store kind) to start the cycle while the numbers are up. May 19 (the next day) I did a water test at the same time for comparibility and got these results:
Ammonia: 0.25
Nitrite: 1.0
Nitrate 10.0 (actually between 5-10 due to api have the same colour for two values X.X)
I didn't believe from only 5 lbs of cured rock would that be enough die off to start my cycle. So I added the shrimp now that the numbers are going up should I leave the shrimp in there or take them out? Is this a cycle or a mini cycle...I need an idea of what to do now at this stage. Thanks a million and happy fishing
This is my very first post here but let me give you the run down....
I started a 30 gallon long reef tank on may 11, I added 55 lbs of old dried live rock (made sure to clean it first) and a 1 1/2 " layer of aragonite sand. On may the 15, I added 5 lbs of quality cured live rock. I started testing for my cycle on may 18 and got these results:
Ammonia: 0.25 ppm
Nitrite: 0.50 ppm
Nitrate: 0 ppm
Believing this is a "mini-cycle" due to the short time and small numbers to back it up I decided to add 2 shrimp to the tank in a panty hose bag (the raw grocery store kind) to start the cycle while the numbers are up. May 19 (the next day) I did a water test at the same time for comparibility and got these results:
Ammonia: 0.25
Nitrite: 1.0
Nitrate 10.0 (actually between 5-10 due to api have the same colour for two values X.X)
I didn't believe from only 5 lbs of cured rock would that be enough die off to start my cycle. So I added the shrimp now that the numbers are going up should I leave the shrimp in there or take them out? Is this a cycle or a mini cycle...I need an idea of what to do now at this stage. Thanks a million and happy fishing