Cycling issue

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CleverBs

Aquarium Advice Addict
Joined
Aug 21, 2011
Messages
2,210
Location
Omaha, Nebraska
Well i am cycling and I cannot get my ammonia up, the highest it has gotten is 1ppm, then it drops back to .5ppm or less. What would be a good way to increase the ammonia? I have a damsel that if I have to I can return today in order to get a larger ammonia spike then this. its a 25 gallon tank with 20lbs of base rock, 14lbs of live rock, and 20lbs of live sand.

Should I get rid of the damsel and toss a raw shrimp in the tank? the only problem is when I tried to do that before the pest crab thats in my live rock ate it...maybe Ill put the shrimp in a glass that way if he does eat it ill at least catch him.
 
should I leave the shell on the shrimp? I peeled it but have plenty more I could put in if the shell helps the ammonia spike
 
put the shimp in the tank one peeled one unpeeled last night and my ammonia has only gone up .5 from .25 is it just not decomposing quite yet? whats the deal?
 
Cycling a new tank takes time. If your rock was live as in fresh from someones tank you might see much of a cycle if it is mostly base rock it will take awhile to cycle. I know it isn't much fun watching an empty tank but it is best.

Good luck catching that pest crab.
 
well I got rid of the damsel yesterday I dont really care that I have to look at an empty tank I just want to get the cycle process going and ammonia is the first step. I have fishless cycled 4 FW tanks and each one of them acted completely different during its cycle. Im just looking for the most effective cycling method.
 
It took a couple of days before my ammonia went up and I have a very similar setup. Also, one shrimp should suffice; two might take forever. I'm almost two weeks into my cycle and it does seem like it is taking forever. Have serious NTS!
 
You just need to have some patience honestly. SW is a whole different ball game than FW tanks. How much LR do you have in the tank? how deep is your sand bed? Is all your rock and sand live? Damsels are a great way to cycle the tank just drop a coup,e of the buggers in there and feed them everyday and ususally within a week you should have a ammonia spike and within a month or so it should be completely cycled.

Also what does your filtration system look like, what all are you running?
 
You are supposed to leave the shrimp in the tank. If you take it out now your system will not create a proper amount of bacteria to deal with the bioload from the fish. It takes time for the bacteria to multiply so put one shrimp back in, measure your levels, and in a couple of weeks it should be ready. Patience is the name of the game :)
 
You just need to have some patience honestly. SW is a whole different ball game than FW tanks. How much LR do you have in the tank? how deep is your sand bed? Is all your rock and sand live? Damsels are a great way to cycle the tank just drop a coup,e of the buggers in there and feed them everyday and ususally within a week you should have a ammonia spike and within a month or so it should be completely cycled.

Also what does your filtration system look like, what all are you running?

tanks a 25gallon with a Aquaclear 70 on it, I have 14lbs Live rock, 20lbs Base rock, 20lbs Live sand giving me 1-1 1/2" sand bed. Debating on putting another 20lbs in the tank, I have a bag of it but havent used it yet beings its 30$ and I wasnt sure how much of a sandbed I would have or need. Running a Korilia 1050 right now, Have a 425 and a 750 I think Ill be putting in the tank in place of the 1050. At the moment it has a 24" double bright on it, my 4bulb t5ho is on the way. there is also 1 damsel in the tank that the LFS convinced me would be the best way to cycle the tank.
 
I would go with a 3" sandbed otherwise once you get to a year marker in the tank you might get old tank syndrome where your nitrate spikes and wont go down the DSB will help alleviate most of that headache. Make sure the way you have your rock set up and aquascaped that water can freely circulate in, through and around it other wise you'll get dead spots that will cause nitrate spikes in the future. For sure switch to 2 power heads opposed to one. 2 425's should be fine and koralia has its own wavemaker now that you can pick up for about $80. Are you running carbon, GFO, or chemipure? And you might want to get a HOB skimmer like a eshopps PSK-75. Great cheap skimmer. Have one on my 12g nano. and have their bigger PSK-100 on my 55g. Run with the damsels 1-3 might be best. feed everyday and the tank should cycle in a month - 2 months. Its different with each tank. Be patient it will pay off in the end. Once the tank is cycled leave the damsels in there for an additional week then take them out and replace them with other fish. They are terrorists and very territiorial. If you really like the look of them add them last to the tank so they're at the bottom of the pecking order.

Any thoughts yet of the fish you want in the tank after it cycles? And are your bulbs actinic and at what spectrum?
 
My lights are 2x day time 10000k, 2x Actinic. Ill look into the skimmer but not sure if Im going to run one, I may beings I want a warsse. Im going to run a a 425 on the bottom and a 750 on the top of the tank.

Stock List:
Pair of Osc Clowns
Mindas Blenny
McCosker's Flaser Wrasse
Maybe a Royal Gramma

Fire Shrimp
Peppermint Shrimp
Emerald Crab
Then typica CUC
 
A skimmer is a must if you ever plan on doing corals. Also are you running carbon aand anything else?
 
carbon, why is a skimmer a must? everything Iv read says its not needed as long as I do weekly PWC and thats no problem, I have my own Ro/Di unit so a PWC on such a small tank is hardly an issue for me.
 
It removes evtra nutrients int the water that are introduced by fish and whatever you add to the water. Helps keep the nitrate levels down if not completely elimanting them all together. Even with weekly PWC some things are left behind that the carbon wont filter out. Just makes for better water parameters down the line and less headaches.
 
Tests show 8.4PH, 2ppm Ammonia, .25 Nitrite, 15ish Nitrate cant tell for sure. The cycle seems to be coming along now finaly.
 
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