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gcgrad
06/18/2011, 04:01 PM
What value should I be striving for the ammonia spike. I've had the cocktail shrimp in the tank for a few days now so I'm thinking it will be atleast another week if longer. Any ideas for what value and how long it should take? (125 gal tank) Thanks

bo0sted2g
06/18/2011, 04:19 PM
My 55gal spiked at 1.0ppm im sure every tank is different though, and it depends how established your beneficial bacteria colony is.

Do you have any live rock or live sand?

gcgrad
06/18/2011, 05:46 PM
live sand

Michael
06/19/2011, 12:25 AM
Hi-there,

Basically the reading can get high usually, 4 or above is normal, however I'm concerned you have got off to a wrong start, unless I have misunderstood you have no rock, just sand? if so then you are moving in the wrong direction unless you plan a fish only tank and have a wet/dry perhaps to control the process of ammonia removal, please repost and let us know so we can understand a little more about your system.

Kind Regards


Mike

lordofthereef
06/19/2011, 08:20 AM
If you get any sort of reading that is probably good enough IMO.

gcgrad
06/19/2011, 09:34 AM
Sorry Michael. I have BRS reef saver dry rock. By saying live sand I was implying that I was using base rock. A miscommunication on my part. I tested the ammonia yesterday (Day 3) and got a reading of 1ppm.

AquaReeferMan
06/19/2011, 10:54 AM
Are you adding anything to break down into ammonia? I usually throw a cocktail shrimp or some krill in a media bag and toss it in the tank. Once my ammonia climbs up above 1ppm I take it out and let the bacteria process it through to nitrate. Then I put more back in to spike the ammonia again. Do this a handful of times and the system will have enough bacterial coverage for the fish.

snorvich
06/19/2011, 11:55 AM
Yes, he did add a cocktail shrimp. I would have preferred a bit of live rock but life is not perfect. Sounds ok to me. You do need to test ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate.

gcgrad
06/20/2011, 11:02 AM
Day 4 since cocktail shrimp were added. Temp 78, pH 8.2, ammonia 1 ppm, nitrite .25 ppm, nitrate 5 ppm. Salinity still 1.022, I ran out of salt so I had to order more. Salinity will be maintained at 1.024 in the system. Thoughts on parameters welcomed. Thanks!