Hello Everyone-beginner

[jay179]

I am new to the group. I am currently setting up a 75 gallon salt water aquarium. I am in the process of cycling the tank. I have over 100 pounds of live rock with 60 pounds of live sand as my substrate along with 15 pounds of argonite. I have a marineland c360 canister filter. I just added two raw shrimp to my tank a couple of days ago. At least nothing on my marineland test kit color chart. I went to test for ammonia levels and it came back with nothing. I figured I would have some traces of ammonia since I just added the raw shrimp. Should I add more raw shrimp to the aquarium or should I go out an buy some pure ammonia. I was also wondering should I run the canister filter during the cycling process. Thanks

 

[austinsdad]

I don't think I'd run the filter now. What about the origin of the rock? If cured already and from an established tank, it may absorb the shrimp ammonia.

Two days should have caused something by now I'm thinking. What kinda test kit you using?

And welcome to AA!!!

 

[Mitchell0605]

Welcome.

 

[jay179]

The live rock was not from an established tank

I purchased it from liverocknreef and put it directly into my tank for cycling purposes. I am using a API saltwater master test kit I bought from petsmart. I really don't like it especially the ph test. The ammonia test shows a light gray color that does not correspond with anything on the color chart. Thanks for your replys

 

[austinsdad]

So was the rock mailed to you or picked up from that place out of a tank of water?

 

[jay179]

It was mailed to me

It came straght from the ocean. I didn't bother to cure because I was going to use it to establish my tank. I am just curious of why am I not getting any ammonia readings from my api test kit. Should I add couple more raw shrimp or purchase some pure ammonia/

 

[melosu58]

I`m going to move this thread to the SW getting started forum. You`ll get more answers there.

 

[thincat]

What austindad is trying to find out is If your liverock is cured or uncured. Two shrimp is more then enough. Rinse the vial really good and test again for ammonia.
What temp. is your tank at?

 

[jay179]

It was uncured

The temperature of my tank is at 80 degrees. I did wash out the test tubes each time with RO water.

 

[thincat]

The temperature of my tank is at 80 degrees. I did wash out the test tubes each time with RO water.

I asked about the temp. because if your tank is cold then the biological developement is much slower. 80 degrees is perfect. Try giving it another day and repost your parameters again for us.

 

[Mitchell0605]

Tagging along

 

[thincat]

In your first post you stated that you were using a "marineland test kit color chart", then you stated that you were using an API test kit. Which one are you using. You can't mix the charts between the two of them.

 

[jay179]

I didn't follow directions

I didn't follow the test directions correctly and thats why I was getting the ammonia detection errors. I did the test correctly and my ammonia readings where between .5 and 1.0 ppm. This was after I added two tablespoons of pure ammonia. I am going to test the levels again on Friday. Should I add more ammonia if my levels are still at the current readings.

 

[jay179]

I am using the api test kit

I am using the api test kit

 

[thincat]

I didn't follow the test directions correctly and thats why I was getting the ammonia detection errors. I did the test correctly and my ammonia readings where between .5 and 1.0 ppm. This was after I added two tablespoons of pure ammonia. I am going to test the levels again on Friday. Should I add more ammonia if my levels are still at the current readings.

Cycling with Ammonia
Prep...Raise Aq. Temp. to 86 degrees to speed up cycle...

1. Introduce pure ammonia to cycle the aquarium. You can buy unscented ammonia with no additives from a supermarket or a bottle of ammonium chloride.
2. Add ammonia from a dropper, 3 - 5 drops per 10 gallons of water per day to get and maintain a reading of 5 ppm.
3. Initially there will be no nitrites. Monitor nitrites daily and continue the daily ammonia dose until you get a nitrite reading. At this point you can reduce the daily amount of ammonia to 2 - 3 drops per 10 gallons. Continue this until both the ammonia test and the nitrite test reads 0 ppm.
4. This method can take as little as three weeks or up to six weeks to complete the nitrification cycle, but adding a starter culture can speed the time up considerably.
5. When the cycle is complete reduce the temperature slowly back to 74 ° to 80 ° F(26 ° - 28 ° C). Reducing it quickly can stress the bacteria.
6. Do a major water change, about 90%, and add activated carbon to remove any possible additives which might have been in the ammonia.

 

[thincat]

The reason for the large PWC is that this is the only time you have a chance to reduce your nitrates with a major water change and not affect your fish and/or inverts.
I prefer to use cocktail shrimp. I think it introduces a wider range of bacteria and is self regulating so you don't have to be testing and adding ammonia everyday. But that's just me and the pure ammonia cycle works just as well. It just takes more energy on the reefers part...