Could i have missed it

[Pufferd300s]

so its been 8 days now and i have not seen a spike in my levels. nitrate is 0 nitrite is 0 pH is 8.3 ammonia is 0 salinity is about 1.026. i have a crazy amount of diatoms all over my sand and lR. is it possible i missed the spike i have been testing the water every 3 days.

[mguiling]

Was there ever any ammonia?

[Pufferd300s]

Originally Posted by mguiling

Was there ever any ammonia?

not that i have seen but i do have diatoms idk if that means anything this is my first tank ever

[sporto0]

Diatoms eat (for the lack of a better term) silica that's typically found in some sands, they have nothing to do with the nitrogen cycle. If you don't introduce ammonia into your system somehow, the tank will not cycle i.e. no nitrifying colonizing bacteria will grow.

[mguiling]

I'm also starting my first tank. But I started with no live rock only marco rocks and sand, added ammonia and waited for the miracle over a week. Finally I bought a live rock and started seeing both nitrite and nitrate the next morning. IMHO try adding a little ammonia daily until you see something, just make sure it is pure ammonia with no detergents.

[Pufferd300s]

Originally Posted by sporto0

Diatoms eat (for the lack of a better term) silica that's typically found in some sands, they have nothing to do with the nitrogen cycle. If you don't introduce ammonia into your system somehow, the tank will not cycle i.e. no nitrifying coloninizing bacteria will grow.

should i try the SHRIMP ?

[Pufferd300s]

Originally Posted by mguiling

I'm also starting my first tank. But I started with no live rock only marco rocks and sand, added ammonia and waited for the miracle over a week. Finally I bought a live rock and started seeing both nitrite and nitrate the next morning. IMHO try adding a little ammonia daily until you see something, just make sure it is pure ammonia with no detergents.

i will try that where did u get it ?

[sporto0]

Ghost feed the tank for a week with flakes or a few pellets a day or you can use the shrimp. I would be very careful adding pure ammonia from a bottle into the tank, the problem being the actual purity, if it has other contaminants in it, that would not bode well for the livestock.

[Pufferd300s]

Originally Posted by sporto0

Ghost feed the tank for a week with flakes or a few pellets a day or you can use the shrimp. I would be very careful adding pure ammonia from a bottle into the tank, the problem being the actual purity, if it has other contaminants in it, that would not bode well for the livestock.

ill trust u and ghost feed do u recommend any brand flakes

[sporto0]

Originally Posted by Pufferd300s

ill trust u and ghost feed do u recommend any brand flakes

Yes, any brand flakes will do. You are looking for the uneaten food to breakdown into ammonia, so any kind of food will do.

[mguiling]

Originally Posted by Pufferd300s

i will try that where did u get it ?

Any grocery store will have it. There are always 2 kinds, pure ammonia and the one with detergent additives. They are clearly marked.

[mguiling]

btw: I tried ghost feeding for a couple of weeks and never saw any ammonia.

[Pufferd300s]

Originally Posted by sporto0

Yes, any brand flakes will do. You are looking for the uneaten food to breakdown into ammonia, so any kind of food will do.

So I just checked my ammonia its at 0.25ppm is that the spike iam looking for

[gatojebv]

Use a Shrimp is simple enough to start your cycling

Originally Posted by Pufferd300s

should i try the SHRIMP ?

[sporto0]

Any ammount of ammonia is what you want to start the process. Here's a pretty simple explanation of the process, disregard the part where they say to add Damsels to start the cylce, that's how us cavemen used to do it. http://www.saltwater-aquarium-online...gen-cycle.html

[Pufferd300s]

Originally Posted by sporto0

Any ammount of ammonia is what you want to start the process. Here's a pretty simple explanation of the process, disregard the part where they say to add Damsels to start the cylce, that's how us cavemen used to do it. http://www.saltwater-aquarium-online...gen-cycle.html

Great artical thanks alot now I know what to be looking for.

[DrBegalke]

Just feed the tank any type of fish food, flakes, pellet, shrimp will all work.

Do you have live rock in the tank, or what is in there now?

[zhewitt04]

Originally Posted by mguiling

btw: I tried ghost feeding for a couple of weeks and never saw any ammonia.

You didn't give it enough time then because this is the best way of introducing ammonia to the cycle. I have never heard anyone actually adding pure ammonia in a bottle to a system.

[Pufferd300s]

Originally Posted by DrBegalke

Just feed the tank any type of fish food, flakes, pellet, shrimp will all work.

Do you have live rock in the tank, or what is in there now?

Yes i have 30Lbs of LR and 40Lbs of live sand.

[Sharkdog22]

brightwell microbacter7 is a great way to start your tank in the right direction, I use that on all my tanks. I have never started any of my tanks with any thing other than live sand and live rock, on my first tank I did the damsel thing(never doing that again). the microbacter is a bottled bacteria that your tank is making on its own anyways and it needs to establish a health tank.

[saltycoastie]

just get some ammonia and dose it, if amm and nitities gone within 24 hrs

[Sharkdog22]

also how big is your tank? the cycle can take any where from 2-8 weeks, just be patient, if you don't have that then you will have a horrible time in this hobby and get out of it sooner than later and that is no fun and will make us all sad.

[Pufferd300s]

Originally Posted by Sharkdog22

also how big is your tank? the cycle can take any where from 2-8 weeks, just be patient, if you don't have that then you will have a horrible time in this hobby and get out of it sooner than later and that is no fun and will make us all sad.

Yes I understand that patients is the key to success in this hobby I just want to make sure I was not doing anything wrong. My tank is 36Lx12Dx18HDIATOMS I belive that makes it 30gallons not sure since its an older tank in fact it has a manufacturing stamp date on it that says 1968 lol. My tank ammonia just dropped to 0be and my nitrates are up a little so I belive im on the right track.