Help with next step in setting up my tank

[francis]

Hi everyone I was wondering if I could get some advice as to the next steps I need to take in order to successfully cycle my tank :Y

So far I have the following and done the following:

• I have a 40 gallon set up with water that was tested for the correct salinity and added it to the tank

• I added 40 lbs live sand and some live rock into my tank

• My filter and heater has been running and is at 76 degrees I believe

My questions regarding my next steps and whether they are correct or not are the following

1. I am going to buy pure ammonia tomorrow and begin dosing to get a reading of 3-5 ppm for ammonia, at which point I will leave everything alone until the levels drop below 1ppm , at which point I will add more ammonia.
2. I will continue to do this and test for ammonia, nitrites and nitrates until the cycle is at 0 , 0 , ~40?

Is this basically all I need to know for now?
Have I done anything wrong in regards to setting up my tank?
I am worried I am killing the good bacteria on the live rock because there is no source of ammonia (and it will be about 2 days since purchase until I can add ammonia)
Also I have only recently come across things such as testing for pH and the waters hardness(?) , could somebody explain these topics? I have seen some people say to adjust the pH while others say this is risky, could someone lead me to the right direction regarding this?

If anyone could please give me some insight on what I am planning on doing and whether it is correct or not, and also on the issue if the live rock bacteria is dying without ammonia I would greatly appreciate it :X

Thank you very much for your time and for any help you can provide

 

[nxb161]

I can give no advise about using pure ammonia, but would rather suggest instead of the laundry aisle, go to the seafood aisle and purchase a large raw shrimp. This will continually feed your cycle with ammonia. And if it is still around at the end either take it out, or I left mine in for my CUC to eat.

What did you use for your subtsrate? Some sand like aragonite sand buffer your pH for you (to some degree) which helps a lot in stablizing it. Some people go with crushed coral, which leaves a lot of area for waste to hide and requires a lot of cleaning.

 

[francis]

I have Aragonite sand.

Am I killing the good bacteria on my live rock by not immediately having the ammonia/shrimp inside of there?

 

[carey]

I cycled my sw tank with live rock and pure ammonia. Only took a few days too cause I had nice live rock.

Your plan looks right to me. I would not worry about ph right now, as long as it is stable you shoulod be fine.

 

[nxb161]

If there is no ammonia source at all, the bacteria will starve to death.

 

[carey]

You can add some fish flakes for now. that will work as an ammonia source

 

[francis]

EEEEEEEEE im gonna go buy some ammonia right now, have most of my bacteria died already since I purchased the rock? I purchased them on Saturday I believe - I really hope I didn't kill all my live rock and kinda waste money ): thank you guys

I kept asking if I needed ammonia for them but the LFS was no help :/

 

[carey]

You are probaly fine. The rock itslef is actually letting off ammonia from die off...Have you checked your water parameters? I have cycled with only live rock as well so its possible. I just think it was faster with my ammonia dosing.

 

[nxb161]

Not interested in trying the shrimp method? That way you don't have to worry about testing to see when you need to dose next. Like Carey said some fish flakes will work for now. I don't know how long it takes them to die, but as some die the die off will help feed the other rocks.

 

[David S]

I've always cycled using raw shrimp but I'm pretty certain you dont keep adding the ammonia source.I would have thought just the once and wait untill amm and trites are 0,then add some fish food,and test again the next day to make sure amm and trites are still 0.
As for your live rock,are you sure it was live,was it totally submerse while you transported it.The beneficial bacteria will soon come back.(when amm,trites are 0)

 

[nxb161]

You need enough ammonia to spike both the nitrites and nitrates. I just want to make sure he doesn't put in ammonia, see the nitrite spike, and everything drop to 0 because it ran out of a source without ever spiking the nitrates.

 

[francis]

no it wasn't :T the lfs guy said it was okay as long as it was moist, so they were transported in a wet newspaper inside a box :'(

 

[francis]

does this mean that my live rock is now void of any beneficial bacteria?

 

[carey]

No. It means that it is producing ammonia as we speak. Not alot but some. Thats what you want. The die off from the rock can start your cycle.

 

[nxb161]

You best bet is to test for ammonia, and if it is 0 that may be because your rock's bacteria is eating it. If you don't think your tank has cycled, or if you're just unsure, put in a raw shrimp from the seafood section of your local grocery store, cost you maybe 50cents. Do some more tests after a few days ( ammonia, nitrite, nitrate) if the 1st to stay at 0 and you have some nitrate then you've cycled. If you see any ammonia spike, then let the cycle happen.

 

[francis]

I just added the ammonia however the guide I was following that said to add 3 spoons of it might not have applied to me I think :/ , I am testing the ammonia and it is going over 8 ppm (highest measurable)

I already tried to do a partial water change and it did not seem to bring my levels down :T , what can I do to bring the ammonia levels down? (is it required to do so?)

Also, if I get some seeding material from a lfs today, will this help? Thank you for the help :T

 

[nxb161]

You'll have to wait and see what others say. I only have experience with seeding the cycle with the shrimp and know it worked well. If you are trying to cycle the last thing you'd want to do is a water change. The main reason people will do a water change is if they are trying to cycle a tank with fish in it ( a big no no! poor fish shouldn't have to go through that) It wil increase the amount of time it takes to cycle, but give the fish a better chance of surviving.

 

[carey]

I would do a water change AGAIN to get the ammonia down to 4-5ppm. Its easier to deal with at that level. I overdosed my first tank too lol it took like 4 pwc's to get the ammonia down. But I ended up cycling in about a week. I had 35lbs of lr in a 29g tank.

 

[francis]

Thank you carey ^__^ i just got back from the fish store because I needed more salt mix, I also got some filter media as well.

I will go ahead and continue to do partial water changes until I get down to 4-5 ppm, I was just discouraged and worried because it was so high even after a large water change.

 

[carey]

I totally freaked out when I overdosed the ammonia. I completely understand.

Just do what your doing, you can't really mess anything up in a day or so, so don't worry so much. easier said than done though lol