Saltwater & Reef

havefun · 04-04-2005, 02:06 PM

My tank has been setup for a little over 3 weeks now. I cycled with 2 shrimp - whats left of them is now stuck on the intake of my canister and ph's.
I checked my ammo and trite yesterday, ammo = 1.5 and trite .3. The two really haven't budged for 2 weeks now. My plan was to wait until my tank cycled then get 40# lr (from lr.com), but I don't know how much longer I can wait. I've followed a couple of others on here who put lr in right away and am now jealous. They have cool hitchikers etc to look at - I think I've seen every grain of my 150# of sand........twice!
Would it be safe for me to put the lr in now or should I continue to wait?

Phyl · 04-04-2005, 03:19 PM

I'd put your LR in now and let it help you finish your cycle, my opinion is that it can only help with the cycle. Do you have any base rock in there yet? Your cycle being stuck would have me a bit concerned. I would think you should see movement. Did it get stuck coming down? Getting your live rock will really make watching your tank cycle much more fun!

havefun · 04-04-2005, 04:57 PM

I have about 70# base rock.
I've never seen my ammo above 1.5, it's just stuck there. My nitrite is very slowly climbing. If I remember correctly (I'm at work right now so I don't have the charts in front of me) it took 1.5 weeks for it to go from .2 to .3. Could there be something preventing the trite from growing? I've added nothing but Instant Ocean salt to the RO water.

badfish · 04-04-2005, 06:03 PM

Hey havefun, my tank was two weeks into cycle and i was getting the same readings, i added my LR in and then saw HUGE spike in my trite and trate. i am a newbie as well, but i would add your LR as soon as possible, or else i think you will go through another cycle. Hope this helps.

havefun · 04-04-2005, 06:32 PM

Badfish, I've been watching your posts because I'm pretty sure you filled your tank the same day I did. Just been watching to see your progress.
Thanks for the advise, if no one else disagrees I'll see if I can get some lr.com rock delivered Friday (I have off work).

SkinnyPete · 04-04-2005, 09:17 PM

I added my rock the same day badfish added his - My ammonia has read a consistant 1.0 every day so far. Not sure if its going to go up or down, but its been pretty steady at 1.0. Trites have slowly climbed to .1 (as of today). Nothing in the line of Trates at this point.

Just realized that my post doesn't add anything to this discussion in the least and that people who read this will never get back the 10-20 seconds or so that it takes to get through this these 3 paragraphs. Ever. Not really sure why I'm still typing.

Guess I'm saying I still haven't seen a spike in anything yet after adding 100lbs of rock from lr.com.

- Skins

havefun · 04-04-2005, 10:52 PM

Quote:

Just realized that my post doesn't add anything to this discussion in the least and that people who read this will never get back the 10-20 seconds or so that it takes to get through this these 3 paragraphs. Ever. Not really sure why I'm still typing.

Hey Skins, made me laugh anyway

badfish · 04-04-2005, 11:06 PM

Yeah, you me, and skinny are all in the same boat, and can def. agree that NTS has hit me hard. At least i have a couple of crab hitchhickers and feather dusters to look at. Be sure to post picks when you add your LR.