jhale

ReefsMagazine!
Location
G.V NYC
Rating - 100%
52   0   0
your tank is not going through a mini cycle, it's cycling.

being hasty is a vast understatement for how your proceeding with
your tank. there should be no livestock in that tank now.
and shrimp are the worst thing to have in there as inverts are very
susceptible to ammonia and nitrites which have got to be high in your
tank now.

do the livestock a favor and find some one that can keep it for you till your tank is ready.
And please do more research before you go any further. there's so much good info online on this site and many others. I'm not meaning to come across as sounding harsh but what you did from the start was completely wrong. All is not lost, you just need to back up a bit and take it slow.
 

Deanos

Old School Reefer
Location
Bronx, NY 10475
Rating - 100%
194   0   0
And please do more research before you go any further. there's so much good info online on this site and many others. I'm not meaning to come across as sounding harsh but what you did from the start was completely wrong. All is not lost, you just need to back up a bit and take it slow.

FallOnDeafEars.gif
 

jhale

ReefsMagazine!
Location
G.V NYC
Rating - 100%
52   0   0
I hope what we said does not fall on deaf ears, no offense if you are deaf :eek:

We do want everyone to succeed in the hobby, and we do not like to see reef animals no matter how small, harmed in any way.
 
S

steveo32

Guest
Rating - 100%
52   0   0
I'm not positive on how you did your research but I tell every one that ask what to do when setting up a reef, to get as many good books as you can first and also online info helps. It's just that the info online is not exaclty crediable unless you get from us here on MR (LOL). Any how its better to wait now and save alot of money. I speak from personal experience and when I rushed and thought I was doing the right think I ended up paying over a thousand dollars more then I would have if I had done it the right way first.

Also we don't mean to put you down if it comes accross that way we actually want you to succeed and go bigger and better and hook us up with a few frags along the way. Happy Reefing
 

tosiek

Senior Member
Rating - 100%
48   0   0
have you been doing tests on the water every few days? have you seent he ammonia rise, then nitrites, then both drop and nitrates rise? You should have some sort of reading on your nitrates or the cycle isn't done. And even if you got your nitrate reading and ammo/trites at 0 i would be adding livestock very slowly and waiting a week or two (or more) to 100% make sure you don't have any problems and the bacteria/algae have reproduced enough to support the bioload your introducing.

And nano, although its a little different between SW and freshwater, your still going through the same bio process of having live bacteria colonies (introduced or in LR/substrate) which starve and die off producing ammonia, which the surviving bacteria feed off of reproducing producing nitrites which other bacteria eat and produce nitrates.

The cycle is still the same in both just using different bacteria, and colonizing different things. =0P
 
3

32Bit_Fish

Guest
Rating - 100%
25   0   0
Thank you all for your advices and concerns..

Yes, I test my water everyday since day one. I added several grocery shrimps in the tank to speed up the cycle (my first mistake!). The water got very cloudy. (I use 100% RO/DI water, the cloudiness may caused by cooked frozen shrimps I added, a noob move).

I removed all the frozen shrimps the next day after I noticed the cloudy water. The Ammonia was at 1 PPM, then presence of nitrite and nitrate. Nitrate was at 30 PPM. So I waited a couple of days until I see Ammonia, Nitrate were back to Zero. I did a 60% w/c afterwards and waited about three days to make sure the Ammonia and Nitrite stay at Zero. It did..
Then several more w/c followed.

So I thought the cycle was over. This initial cycle period lasted about 1.5 weeks. Added two shrimps in it and started the feedings once every two days.

The thing that I dont understand is why am I still getting Ammonia at this point.. My tank should have sufficient amount of the nitrification bacterias to process the ammonia level.

The ammonia started to rise from 0.15 (three days ago) to 0.25 PPM (today). The nitrate is at 15 PPM.

Someone suggested that there will be mini cycles whenever a new live stock added to the tank regardless how stable the tank is.
If it is true, how would it possible to have a cycle without having any livestocks in the tank?

Hopefully somone can shed some light on this.. I would appreciate any comments.
 

LeslieS

Advanced Reefer
Location
Manhattan
Rating - 100%
9   0   0
You should have added algae eaters at this point. Your tank is not mature enough to add anything that you need to feed. You probably do not have enough bacteria in your tank to deal with uneaten food. Scumonkey's list above describes exactly what you should be adding at this point.
 

TimberTDI

Recovering Lurker
Location
Monroe, NY
Rating - 100%
14   0   0
Dude,

Had you bothered to do any reading you would have learned that a cycle takes 4-6 weeks; sometimes longer. You are having ammonia because your take did not finish cycling and there is not enough bacteria in your tank.

Steven
 

autoponicz

powered by MR
Location
Westbury L.i
Rating - 100%
58   0   0
seems like putting the cooked cocktail shrimp in the tank just made the water dirty.....didnt do much of helping the cycle.....after you took out 60% of your water during the first water change....it took out some of your beneficial bacteria with it also......my first move would be some snails and hermit crabs.......but seems like your still going through the cycle...so nothing should be added at this point........you started seeing ammonia in your test is because the food that your thowing into the tank for the shrimps (whatevers uneaten) has now actually started your cycle
just a thought.......but like evryone said.....take it slow......even if the test come oout all zero.....i would still wait a couple more weeks before adding anything....."patience my friend"
 

pEEshEE

STEELERS
Location
Queens
Rating - 100%
47   0   0
32bit_fish,

Don't get discouraged. Take everyone's advice and just slow it down a bit. You'll be glad you did in the long run.

Anyway, so now you know what not to do next time around. No biggie. Good learning experience, right? ;O)
 

Sponsor Reefs

We're a FREE website, and we exist because of hobbyists like YOU who help us run this community.

Click here to sponsor $10:


Top