Cycling question

[tinman]

3rd day after adding fish my readings are:
temp: 80
PH: 8.0
Ammonia: .5
Nitrite: 1.0
Nitrate: 30
Alk: 300
Salinity: 30
Gravity: 1.022

shouldn't the ammonia be higher? I am not new to cycling tanks just new to saltwater tanks. Most my freshwater tanks would have seen higher ammonia by now.

[Thumper]

First off most would recomend cycling without fish but as far as numbers I have no idea because I've never used fish to cycle a sw tank. Good luck to the fish living in that water!! Might try a simple raw shrimp to the tank, it will cycle just as fast and the fish dont have to suffer.

[tinman]

try explaining this to my wife....She is the one that insisted on the fish. See she is use to our FW tanks where I'll throw in one of our barbs and a cup full of established gravel and let it go for about 3 weeks and the tank is cycled. the barb never has any issues. But I tried to explain I could do it with ammonia and a dropper or a shrimp, she called me crazy and picked out the fish cause the LFS SAID IT WOULD BE BEST! So I am stuck with them for now.

[austinsdad]

How many fish didja put in?. One damsel? Then again you said "them". Stuck with multiple fish or the wife and LFS? Pls clarify.

I presume you're talking about this in the 10g?

BTW, sounds like trouble brewing with the wife and LFS.

Can't say if the ammonia shuld be higher after 3 days unless we know what sized tank, and how many fish we talkin' about.

[tinman]

hahaha... yeah trouble for me having to listen to the wife, trouble for the fish store not getting anymore of my buisness. lol

Yeah its a 10gallon with 2 damsels(about an inch in length).

I am going to find a better fish store, one thats not out to just take my money. I mean I have spent about 1500 bucks in that store over the last 2 years, you would think they would understand they don't have to get all my money at once I will come back..lol. I knew I was in trouble when he said go ahead and get the clown too. I didn't get a clown thank god.

[Thumper]

He said get a clown too, Man what an idiot. i would certainly get a new fish store.

[Phyl]

Nice guy. One fish store told me to throw a few damsels in and then if one of them died just to leave it, it would help the cycle. EEWWWWWWWWWW!

To keep the stress on the fish down I would recommend feeding lightly every other day to every third day. Let the tank cycle slowly. Seems odd that you have so much trAte in the tank already. 30 is high presuming the cycle hasn't really taken hold yet. Did you see this number ramp up over the last 3 days or did it start out high? What was the source of your water? If you've already seen the top of your ammo spike then your ammo and trite numbers should fall to zero. The live rock adds a variable to your tank cycle because there's no telling how much of the load it is carrying. Maybe you're lucky and your cycle will be ultra short.

Generally the decline of the cycle is marked by the appearance of diatoms. Has that happened yet?

Now try telling your wife that in your 10g tank the best you could hope for is 2-4" of adult fish...

[patriotman]

tinman - I am just curious, which fish store are you using.

I have had my share of bad advice from the bigger LFS in our area...

[tinman]

Originally Posted by Phyl

Seems odd that you have so much trAte in the tank already. 30 is high presuming the cycle hasn't really taken hold yet. Did you see this number ramp up over the last 3 days or did it start out high? What was the source of your water? If you've already seen the top of your ammo spike then your ammo and trite numbers should fall to zero. The live rock adds a variable to your tank cycle because there's no telling how much of the load it is carrying. Maybe you're lucky and your cycle will be ultra short.

Generally the decline of the cycle is marked by the appearance of diatoms. Has that happened yet?

Now try telling your wife that in your 10g tank the best you could hope for is 2-4" of adult fish...

already explained to her we are only going to have a Clown and some shrimp. She understands that. She just thinks the fish store guy is the al wise and knowing..lol

the nitrate wasn't there at first (before the lr and fish). I am using tap water with a purity water filtration system. I have used it in all my FW tanks and it seems to be fine. It has a PH of 7 right out of the tap. I let 2 5 gallon buckets of water set for 3 days before I mixed the salt and added it to the tank. I haven't seen any diatoms but honestly I'm not sure I would know on if I saw it...

[tinman]

Originally Posted by patriotman

tinman - I am just curious, which fish store are you using.

I have had my share of bad advice from the bigger LFS in our area...

the aquarium shop...thats the only one I know of. I am from fayetteville so I am down there quite a bit getting supplies for my FW tanks. Don't get me wrong extremely nice guys there, they just tend to take me for a sucker. If you know of a better one please let me know.

[patriotman]

Originally Posted by tinman

the aquarium shop...thats the only one I know of. I am from fayetteville so I am down there quite a bit getting supplies for my FW tanks. Don't get me wrong extremely nice guys there, they just tend to take me for a sucker. If you know of a better one please let me know.

That is the one I was referring to also. I have started avoiding them now just because of the bad advice. They told me that a fluval 304 is all I would need for a 125g tank, and they said that LR is a bad idea that does not work.

Try Wholesale Florist of Huntsville, they are behind Joe Davis Stadium (3120 Leeman Ferry Road ). I have had very good luck there (but I still buy most things online).

[tinman]

thanks patriot.. I will check them out. Do they have most of the stuff the aquarium shop has? I am going to be buying 2 powerheads and some stuff to make my sump, but I really don't want to go back to the aquarium shop if I can help it. I don't like buying stuff online. I actually got burned a couple of times.

[patriotman]

Tinman - They do not have anywhere the amount of dry goods that the aquarium shop has. They have much more livestock and good advice.

hth

[tinman]

here are some pics I actually video recorded the tank for a minute, then made some still so ignore the display at the top right corner I forgot to turn it off...lol

[reneeanneb]

Originally Posted by tinman

the aquarium shop...thats the only one I know of. I am from fayetteville so I am down there quite a bit getting supplies for my FW tanks. Don't get me wrong extremely nice guys there, they just tend to take me for a sucker. If you know of a better one please let me know.

hello i live in ky but i'm from nashville,if you want to do the drive i would recommend going to aquatic critters its on nolensville pike in nashville,hickory hollow area looks like around and hr from where you are maybe a little less

[zuzecawi]

wow, that live rock really doen't look alive... ditch the lfs for a better one!!!

[tinman]

Yeah the live rock wasn't what I hoped it would be. one piece has 2 little feather dusters but other than that nothing. I will check the other places you guys suggested. thanx