New too saltwater tanks

[Cjwolf444]

I have recently set up a 55 gallon tank for FOWLR. The biggest questions I have are with the cycling process. I have 40 pounds of live rock and it is about a week into it. So far I have yet to see any ammonia readings. Water temp is 80 and salinity is 1.021. I keep getting different ways to go about getting it started from two different fish stores. One says add the bacteria too it with their solution they sell, the other one says let the live rock run its course. So far I havent added anything and letting it go on its own. About how long should it take to get an ammonia reading with just live rock? Thats about my only question for now, I appreciate the help

 

[PrettyFishies]

Throw in two large raw shrimp, wo shells from the grocery.

Adding bacteria with no ammo is bad advice. The bacteria eat the ammonia and convert to nitrite. Fine to add bacteria after ammo spikes, not before and not necessary.
The shrimp will spike your ammo in 2-3 days

No skimmer while cycling

 

[Cjwolf444]

Thanks for the advice I will go get some right now

 

[thominil]

Generally stores will just tell you a bunch of crap to sell a product. As for anything else they tell you to add during your cycle, don't, just use this as a simple guide: the more chemicals you add the more unstable your tank will become. I agree with everything posted above except for the no skimmer while cycling. If you have one, it is really up to you. It will take longer to cycle your tank, but it will also break in the skimmer.

 

[dlwn88]

Throw in two large raw shrimp, wo shells from the grocery.

This isn't some weird bogus advice, this works! This is how I cycled my 40g breeder. It ended up working out very well for me as well as many others I'm sure. Like PrettyFishies said, just make sure they're raw.

 

[Smitty]

The other option is getting PURE ammonia from a hardware store like Ace. You have to make sure it is pure without any additives. Either way should work.

Edit: At least they didn't tell you to buy damsels and use them to do the cycle...

 

[Cjwolf444]

I had read about the adding of pure ammonia, I went with the shrimp. About how long until you get ammonia readings?

 

[thincat]

There is no set time frame as to when you will see an ammoinia reading. 40# of liverock may be enough for a fish only tank. If you decide to go to a reef setup you would need more. I would raise the SG a bit to ~1.025. Other then that it is just a waiting game.
Test your water every day until you see a spike, then cut back to every other day or so.

 

[Cjwolf444]

I appreciate all the advice so far I have learned a lot from this site, probably should have read this stuff prior to purchasing everything. Luckily I haven't added any fish which could have been bad