Cycling Problem

[freybizzy]

I've had my 5 gallon cycling with liverock for about 9 days now and have even been adding several chunks of brine shrimp in to get it started, yet for some reason my ammonia hasn't spiked whatsoever. As well as this, both my nitrates and nitrites have remained at zero. At first I even suspected this was a flaw in my testing equipment, so I took a water sample in to my lfs and they said my water conditions were near perfect (still not a trace of ammonia). Is there something I am doing wrong, does it need more time, or has it simply completed the cycle in a miraculously short time frame? Any input is greatly appreciated, as this is my first time dealing with saltwater.

 

[DaveMc]

I've had my 5 gallon cycling with liverock for about 9 days now and have even been adding several chunks of brine shrimp in to get it started, yet for some reason my ammonia hasn't spiked whatsoever. As well as this, both my nitrates and nitrites have remained at zero. At first I even suspected this was a flaw in my testing equipment, so I took a water sample in to my lfs and they said my water conditions were near perfect (still not a trace of ammonia). Is there something I am doing wrong, does it need more time, or has it simply completed the cycle in a miraculously short time frame? Any input is greatly appreciated, as this is my first time dealing with saltwater.

What size tank do you have? I have a 10g nano and it is on week 4 with the cycle and still have some nitrite and nitrate in it. My ammonia just hit 0 the other day.

Try using a raw table shrimp instead, that's what I did and worked great.

 

[freybizzy]

It's a 5.5 gallon. When did your ammonia initially spike?

 

[DaveMc]

Once I put the shrimp in it took about a week for it to hit the 4.0-5.0 mark in ammonia. Once that showed in the test then I took it out and let the cycle go so the ammonia would start going down and looking for the spike in the nitrites and nitrates.

 

[deckaman225]

Also do you have your heater in there I put a shrimp in and set the heat at about 85 and let it go it only took about a week the higher temp helps bb grow then slowly lower to 79 degrees!

 

[54seaweed]

dave sounds like your almost there ,

I've had my 5 gallon cycling with liverock for about 9 days

was the live rock cured liverock , or dryrock
5g with all cured rock could totally have no cycle
but still too be safe get some pure ammonia put it in a syringe drop it in tank till it reaches 4ppm if it drops by next day its ready for your first water change and your set to get your first fish not much of a choice though for a 5g maybe a dart fish look up nano fish read tank size chart before getting fish so you know what choices you have

 

[DaveMc]

dave sounds like your almost there ,

Woot Woot! I am there, just posted my newest params in my thread a few minutes ago. Ready to hit the LFS tomorrow lol.

 

[freybizzy]

dave sounds like your almost there ,



was the live rock cured liverock , or dryrock
5g with all cured rock could totally have no cycle
but still too be safe get some pure ammonia put it in a syringe drop it in tank till it reaches 4ppm if it drops by next day its ready for your first water change and your set to get your first fish not much of a choice though for a 5g maybe a dart fish look up nano fish read tank size chart before getting fish so you know what choices you have

The liverock I got was cured and from a mature tank. I also got about 7 lbs of it, is it really possible for it to have cycled that quickly? Because every time I put in something that should produce ammonia it basically just disappears

 

[54seaweed]

yes especially since the tank is so small and you used cured rock