Does this mean my tank is cycled?

[richardhmc]

I did a water test on my cycling tank and here were the results

Ammonia - .5 mg/l
Nitrite - 0
Nitrate - 50 mg/l

I thought the order was Ammonia spike, then Nitrite spike, then Nitrate left over.

How is it that I have 0 nitrites, but high nitrates?
Ammonia is supposed to be 0 no?

thanks! :tongue1:

 

[ZANYMASTER]

Run the skimmer if you already haven't.Wait another week and test again.

 

[richardhmc]

yeah i was told to not run the skimmer and so I didnt

 

[richardhmc]

what will running the skimmer do?

 

[Josh]

Run the skimmer.

Wait another week and test again. Ammonia should be 0.

 

[richardhmc]

Should I take out the shrimp that added for cycling?

My tank was starting its cycle a few weeks ago and a few days ago i just added a shrimp cause I was told that I need a shrimp for the tank to have something to decompose. I first used special blend to start the tank so I guess I added the shrimp while the tank was in mid-cycle?

 

[lfsmarineguy]

Was there ammonia present before you added the shrimp and how cured was the live rock when you added it?

 

[richardhmc]

the rock i used was all new dry marco rock. I added a rock from my buddy's tank that is established. and there was the same amount of ammonia in the tank before I added the shrimp - .5

 

[JonnyJ]

Rich, all people have there own methods of cycling.

I personally would remove the shrimp if you had prior traces of ammonia and you don't want too cycle another 4+ weeks. Leaving the shrimp will cause more ammonia and a longer cycle (which in no way is a bad thing) But again up too you.

Running the skimmer will help remove the excess waste in the water from your newly added shrimp.

Like others stated let it run another week and then test your water again.

Once the ammonia Is at zero and your nitrates are high you can wait for the nitrates to come down to an acceptable range (10-20) and then do a water change.

Then slowly add livestock - cuc

 

[richardhmc]

okay sounds good

 

[masterswimmer]

Rich, it's important to test regularly during your cycle. The reason for it is this, you presently have an anomaly of a test reading. Without testing regularly you won't know if your ammonia spiked and returned to zero, then your nitrites spiked and returned to zero, then your nitrates spiked and settled back to <20.
You WANT to see the spike of each stage of the cycle to be sure you are progressing normally.

What is the expiration date on your ammonia kit?

Russ

 

[richardhmc]

Okay thanks for the advice.

I turned my skimmer on for the past day.. no skimmage whatsoever

 

[basiab]

But don't add any live stuff till ammonia is zero. If you keep seeing an ammonia reading it may be a bad test kit.

 

[mic_1011]

what kind of skimmer do you have, you might have to adjust it

 

[richardhmc]

I have a deltec external skimmer... still no skimmage

 

[masterswimmer]

I have a deltec external skimmer... still no skimmage

How many fish producing waste do you have in the tank? Corals? Inverts?
How much do you feed them daily?

Without anything producing waste (other than the bacteria processing) how much skimmate are you expecting?

swimmer

 

[richardhmc]

I have nothing in the tank right now. I was told to turn on the skimmer so I thought that would help with the nitrates... apparently not

 

[richardhmc]

Just did a water test and it is exactly the same
no nitrites, a little ammonia, and nitrates.
would a water change get rid of the ammonia?

how many gallons should I water change before adding livestock?

 

[TRIGGERMAN]

Do 50% and call it a day that will def knock it down

 

[richardhmc]

Alrighty my parameters are good to go! (It better be... it was two month cycle!)
How much percentage of a water change should I do before adding corals and such?