Cycling a new 135g Tank

[jsiker]

Hey all, I need some help/advice.

I've had the tank up and running for 2 weeks now. I went with live sand and dry rock. Salt is between 1.023 and 1.024. Alk is 8.2-8.4. No fish or other livestock in the tank yet. I have a Penn Plax canister filter running and 3 powerheads going as well. Water temp is between 80-81 degrees.
I've had 3 small, raw, uncooked shrimp in the tank for over a week and I'm am seeing little to no decay from them, my ammonia is at 1 ppm and I have 0 nitrites and 0 nitrates. At this point, given how much shrimp I have in the tank and NOTHING else I would have thought to see more decay/spiking ammonia so I'm at a loss as to why this isn't happening.
Should I turn off the filter for a few days but leave the powerheads going?
I'm trying to be patient as I know the cycles can take a while, but I thought I'd have way more ammonia at least by this point, especially with live sand in the tank.

Any help/thoughts/guidance would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Gatorade_51]

Hi jsiker I recently cycled my 20 gallon nano tank twice, long story, but the first time was a few weeks and was a test of patience for sure and nitrites were still not gone. I bought some Dr. Tim's and the tank cycled in 4 days completely. I couldn't care less who's bacteria in a bottle I used, I just used what worked. Nitrifying bacteria is required to break down the shrimp. When I bought it I ordered a bottle of his ammonium chloride which came a week after the Dr. Tim's came so the cycle was complete long before the ammonium chloride arrived. The point is, you can do a fish-less cycle, or shrimp-less cycle in this case, by using ammonium chloride with a bottle of nitrifying bacteria and it won't take weeks. You just can't use an API test kit to test for ammonium chloride since it only tests for ammonia. Of course, Dr. Tim's is probably not as cheap as the 3 shrimp, but you won't die of old age waiting for the cycle to complete.

 

[bobman]

Turning off the filter may help a little. What test kit are you using and have to had it double checked by a LFS to make sure your test kit is accurate? Also 1ppm is a good amount of ammonia and actually to much. I would remove the shrimp and let it be. .2 ppm is more than enough to cycle a tank imo so you are 5 times that amount at 1ppm.

 

[jsiker]

I appreciate the responses!
I just turned off the filter about 5 minutes ago. I forgot that it has a carbon filter in it that has probably been filtering out things I don't want filtered out at this point.

I am using an API Saltwater test kit. I haven't had the time to take my water to my LFS to have them test it yet. Works been horrible and I actually work over an hour away from my house (the LFS is also an hour away from my house), which makes it a bit more challenging.

I had entertained using some of the chemical starters but I wanted to see if I could get things rolling organically (so to speak). I figured the fact I have all dry rock was also a factor, but hey, I'm new to this so I'm learning as I go.

I will update this thread as things change now that I have the filter off.

Question: The water has been at 1 ppm for a few days and I've had NO nitrites or nitrates start up, so either I'm being VERY impatient (more than likely) or my test kit might be off. Thoughts?

 

[bobman]

1 ppm is really high and API tests can be challenging to read at best. But for cycling the tank honestly it is all you need. I can see spending money on an expensive test kit for ammonia as after your cycle you will probably not ever test for it again. At least I dont. Still with 1ppm your tank is cycling. I would not do anything more but remove the shimp and test for nitrites. My fist tank took a while to see nitrites start to rise but they will turst me on that they will.

 

[jsiker]

I tested for nitrites tonight and they were still zero, or possible just above zero. So maybe it is starting to cycle.

I appreciate the input. Hopefully I'm just being impatient and part of the problem was running my filter too early.

 

[jsiker]

It's amazing what happens when you go away for a few days and stop sweating the small stuff!

Got back from a trip to the in-laws today and tested the tank. Ammonia down to .25, Nitrites up to .25 ppm and Nitrates just below 5 ppm, so the tank has finally started cycling. Now I'm just waiting to see some of that lovely growth happening all over the tank.

It's just a waiting game now.

 

[jsiker]

Here are a few pictures to update how my cycling is going. I have diatoms galore and I am starting to see green algae and some coralline develop. Sorry for the heavy blue tint. I took them as I was heading out for work and didn't turn down the blue lights.