Good or Bad?Need Opinions

[adam582]

You could put another piece of flounder or a shrimp or a little flake food (that you would have to add every couple of days) to feed the bacteria.

Do you have circulation going in there, might help the film from developing too quickly.

..and yes, dead rotting fish smells awful! :Yikes: I should have warned you

Yea i got a 27 gallon protean 400 sump running right now... skimmer is off.. sump has been running for a week and half... live rock has been in for about 5 weeks now, before the sump i had a fluval overhang filter just filtering the water. Now i got a beast sump and overflow. Oh and a store owner gave me little sample bags of fish food... one is Hikari Marine -S- shows a picture of a clown fish. The other is Crab Cuisine tropical - Can i use that to keep this cycle going or whatever? Or should i buy a clean up crew?

 

[KathyC]

I'd be more comfortable if you did something to see a rise in the ammonia level. How fast it comes back down will tell you if you are in fact cycled.
Can you grab a shrimp or another piece of flonder tomorrow (the shrimp will hold together better as it rots ) and see a couple of days after that if the ammonia comes up?

Best to wait on the CUC until you are sure!

 

[adam582]

ok ill grab a shrimp tomorrow when should i test it?

 

[KathyC]

Have to give it a couple of days to start to rot. Test Fri, then daily after that and write down the results..or post them here.

 

[adam582]

Cool thanks

 

[InfernoST]

If you put a new piece of flounder or even a piece of shrimp in the tank put in a filter bag so it can be easily removed and not fall apart in the tank.

 

[adam582]

If you put a new piece of flounder or even a piece of shrimp in the tank put in a filter bag so it can be easily removed and not fall apart in the tank.

thanks for the tip, I just got a peice of jumbo shrimp from the local pizzeria and put it in today. Its sitting at the bottom.... ill post some amonia levels on friday! thanks guys!

 

[InfernoST]

Np

 

[adam582]

I did an amonia test yesterday and the level was .50 ppm. It seems to be rising very slowly

 

[adam582]

anyone know y

 

[InfernoST]

patience. Do you have any nitrates?

 

[adam582]

patience. Do you have any nitrates?

just did a test. amonia down to zero. nitrite at 0.50 and nitrates are high at 40 to 80 ppm. shrimp is almost completly dissolved except for fungus film around it. salinity at 1.023 going up to 1.025. any suggestions of when i should put a cuc?

 

[InfernoST]

Wait for the ammonia and nitrites to go to 0, then do a large water change to bring down your nitrates. Anything in your tank for the cuc to eat?

 

[adam582]

What do they eat?

 

[JonnyJ]

like surface algae for them to eat...ie hair algae.

he doesn't have any.


dont add CUC until the cycle is complete.

 

[masterswimmer]

Hey Adam (and Jonny). I just saw this thread for the first time.

Adam, you're in good hands.

As KathyC said, your ammonia might not have spiked as high as you would have thought because the original addition of live rock to the tank most likely kicked off a cycle. All this means is that the good, denitrifying bacteria broke down the flounder (which was 100% fine to use) before it had a chance to register as ammonia on your test kit. When you see a measurement of ammonia on your test kit it means that there is more ammonia present than there is bacteria to break it down to nitrites.

If you have other Q's I'm sure lots of folks will chime in.

Good luck
Russ

 

[InfernoST]

hey adam (and jonny). I just saw this thread for the first time.

Adam, you're in good hands.

As kathyc said, your ammonia might not have spiked as high as you would have thought because the original addition of live rock to the tank most likely kicked off a cycle. All this means is that the good, denitrifying bacteria broke down the flounder (which was 100% fine to use) before it had a chance to register as ammonia on your test kit. When you see a measurement of ammonia on your test kit it means that there is more ammonia present than there is bacteria to break it down to nitrites.

If you have other q's i'm sure lots of folks will chime in.

Good luck
russ

+1

 

[adam582]

Ok quick update guys. Just ran tests on everything. The shrimp is no longer identifiable. It looks like goo. Ammonia is at 0 as well as Nitrite. Nitrate is up at 80ppm.

 

[KathyC]

ok, time to take out the shrimp, do a 30% water change and then test again tomorrow.
If the ammonia & nitrite are still zero and you have some nitrates (I expect you will), then you are good to go for a clean up crew

You do not need to adjust the pH - it's fine. You're water change will do any adjusting that is necessary. No need to use any buffers or add any hocs-pocus chemical nonsense to the tank, that stuff just makes it appear stable when it isn't.
(apologies for the delay in getting back to you, I was under the weather)

 

[adam582]

ok, time to take out the shrimp, do a 30% water change and then test again tomorrow.
If the ammonia & nitrite are still zero and you have some nitrates (I expect you will), then you are good to go for a clean up crew

You do not need to adjust the pH - it's fine. You're water change will do any adjusting that is necessary. No need to use any buffers or add any hocs-pocus chemical nonsense to the tank, that stuff just makes it appear stable when it isn't.
(apologies for the delay in getting back to you, I was under the weather)

Thanks Kathy! Doing water change as we speak. Thanks for getting back to me. Will post some test results tomorrow. Thanks