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mattix
12/30/2013, 07:26 PM
I added ammonia to my tank almost three weeks ago to bring it up to 5ppm. Now that is down to zero, and today my Nitrie dropped to zero after spikeing to atleast 5ppm a few weeks ago. I forget do I add ammonia again to bring back up to 2ppm or am I finished?

Day 20 - 75 gallon tank - 40p live sand - 75p dry rock

mattix
12/30/2013, 09:03 PM
well not sure if I was suppost to add ammonia to keep the ammonia bacteria stable, while the nitrite was braking down. So I just added ammonia to bring it up to 1-2ppms to see how fast it will turn into nitrate, to be safe.

Another question, I did the cycle with the lights off so theres not much algae. Should I still add the cleanup crew first with a blue/green chromis? I used ro water to mix the salt.

Cymonous
12/30/2013, 09:08 PM
Well, adding the ammonia the 2nd time was not necessary. Though, you will definitely know if your tank is good to go if that ammonia subsides in 24 hours.

You could start using your lights now to start some algae growth. I would start with a very light amount of CUC for your tank at first, then add a little at a time as you go.

riceboy
12/30/2013, 09:11 PM
What are you using to cycle live rock or with bacterial string like using prodibio? From what your saying it does sound like your tank is cycled cause that is what the end result is after a cycle. Usually takes around 6-8 weeks for a tank to cycle or longer without bacterial aids and live rock only.

mattix
12/30/2013, 09:31 PM
I used Ammonia I bought from Ace Hardware store. It has to be unsented ammonia. The day I first started I poured in a table spoon of 10% ammonia into the tank which brought it up to 5ppms. Then after about week the nitrite started building up from what I remember and stayed at or clost to 5ppms then suddenly dropped.

I used this ammonia calculator to see how much ammonia to add
http://www.hamzasreef.com/Contents/Calculators/AmmoniaCycling.php

President Evil
12/30/2013, 09:45 PM
It sounds like your tank is cycled already, just keep an eye on it for a couple of days, make sure the ammonia and the nitrates and nitrites are at 0. Go ahead turn the lights on, algae is going to come, and go, especially in a new tank. Make a water change soon, and then start thinking about adding 1 fish per week

FTDelta
12/31/2013, 12:40 AM
Your cycle has barely even started. I'd wait another 5 - 6 weeks before adding any fish.

CoralReeForrest
12/31/2013, 01:44 AM
Your cycle has barely even started. I'd wait another 5 - 6 weeks before adding any fish.

This is partly true and partly false. The term cycle is so over used its goofy. "Cycling" is simply bringing your tanks bacterial ability up to handle an Amount of ammonia within a time period. You're tank is cycled. Could it handle a large bio load? That's relative to the size of tank and amount of space. Some people consider the cycle to include the "ugly stage" of your tank. That's personal preference. Cycling is simply giving your tank the ability to handle ammonia. Which your tank does.

mattix
12/31/2013, 01:28 PM
Well according to the calculator which was spot on when I brought it up to 5ppm ammonia, last night I brought it up to 1.7ppm ammonia. It's been 16 hours and it's now at .5ppm ammonia and .25 nitrite. We'll see if it's down to zero at the 24 hour mark

I'm going to start with a small bioload. Just a blue green chromie and hermit crabs/snails for a week or two. I probably won't get any corals untill after I get cyno algae, but I heard there's a better chance of not getting it with the lights off during the cycle and with ro/di water

CoralReeForrest
12/31/2013, 01:49 PM
Cyno isn't a guaranteed thing, hopefully you don't get it! Good luck!

CoralReeForrest
12/31/2013, 07:35 PM
Here's an article to read

http://www.cs.duke.edu/~narten/faq/cycling.html

mattix
01/01/2014, 02:22 PM
thanks for the article. Well I guess I got the answer to my question, I tested it at 40 hours since I added the ammonia and the nitrite went up to 1ppm. It might be cycled enough but I'm just going to keep adding ammonia untill it can cycle it within 24 hours. I don't really want to add any fish too early

CoralReeForrest
01/01/2014, 02:36 PM
thanks for the article. Well I guess I got the answer to my question, I tested it at 40 hours since I added the ammonia and the nitrite went up to 1ppm. It might be cycled enough but I'm just going to keep adding ammonia untill it can cycle it within 24 hours. I don't really want to add any fish too early

Good deal, I have 4 shrimp in my tank starting the cycle, waiting for the ammonia spike. However I put 35 pounds of LR in there so idk how much of a spike I will get.