mickey
Aquarium Advice Apprentice
firstly, I would like to say that this is a great forum. I've been reading a lot of posts on here for the past few weeks and everyone seems very helpful. Anyways, I just started to cycle my 26G bowfront with 30 pounds of really fine sand I found at my lfs and about 18 pounds of semi-cured lr so far. It's been about a week now and I've been taking water measurements everyday. On the 4th day my ammonia was at 4.0, nitrites were >1, and nitrates were 20. Today ammonia was at .25, nitrites are still >1, and nitrates are at 10. Does this sound normal? I thought that nitrites were supposed to go down before the nitrates start to go up. Also, this might sound like a newbie question (which I am btw ), I cycled by throwing in a raw shrimp, but does it matter if I threw it in with the shell still on. Because the shrimp is covered with a huge glob of pick and white mucous looking substance. thanks in advance for any feedback