Horvy19
Aquarium Advice Freak
Thing. Got my saltwater premixed at LFS. Ammonia came after second day of shrimp.
obscurereef said:8 seems a bit high for ammonia. Usually people take out the shrimp when ammonia reaches 4 or 5. Your cycle hasn't started maybe b/c you don't have enough ammonia. Since the stinky shrimp method didn't work too well for you I'd suggest going to a hardware store and buying pure ammonia to dose in your tank. This is what I did for my tank. I would add it and wait until ammonia and nitrites reached 0, and I would repeat this several times until ammonia and nitrite turned to 0 within 24 hours. Then the cycle is over.
Tonynose188 said:If I just use my LR/LS a couple snails and some hermits will the tank cycle naturally, and about how long could it take? Just because I really don't want to be mixing all these different chemicals in the tank.
22engine said:Don't add any chemicals. You had an ammonia spike correct. Then you has nitrates correct
Tonynose188 said:Wouldn't call it a spike, think I may give it more time might spike up soon. Ammonia was at 1 and. Nitrites at 0 nitrates went up a little forgot the number not a lot tho.
Tonynose188 said:When I get my ro/di system till then i will be doing bi weekly WC
Tonynose188 said:Forgot about all the surface area so maybe ill do 2-3 gallons then.
obscurereef said:Horvy, You should add a fish first as they can tolerate higher nitrate than coral (not as sensitive). I recommend not adding a fish until your nitrates are about 20 ppm.
Tony, A refugium/filter modification:
Aquarium Filtration Upgrades & Supplies
You don't need a skimmer, and most skimmers for nano aquariums don't work too well anyway. Just do more frequent water changes to control the nitrates and don't overfeed.
Horvy19 said:! Ammonia is almost down to nothing! So now I just wait for nitrite to come down to? And do a water change after that right?