Tank cycled after 12 days? Should I test with ammonia?

Cbones1979

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New tank, one live rock structure one dry rock.
Dosed bacter start and put a shrimp in.

we were at .5 ammonia yesterday and .25 today. No nitrites or nitrates yet.

do I keep the shrimp decomposing until nitrates? I have fish to put in from my other tank at any time but didn’t want to “rush rush” it if I didn’t have to...
 

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New tank, one live rock structure one dry rock.
Dosed bacter start and put a shrimp in.

we were at .5 ammonia yesterday and .25 today. No nitrites or nitrates yet.

do I keep the shrimp decomposing until nitrates? I have fish to put in from my other tank at any time but didn’t want to “rush rush” it if I didn’t have to...
If you used live rock, and you are sure it was quality live rock, there is no reason to use a shrimp at all. The tank should be ready for fish, with light feeding, right now.
 

Cbones1979

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If you used live rock, and you are sure it was quality live rock, there is no reason to use a shrimp at all. The tank should be ready for fish, with light feeding, right now.
I got it at that fish place, it was like $8 per lb. However it was just sitting in a tub at my house for awhile in saltwater until I built the structure before I put it in the tank.
That being said I thought I needed to see nitrates first
 

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I got it at that fish place, it was like $8 per lb. However it was just sitting in a tub at my house for awhile in saltwater until I built the structure before I put it in the tank.
That being said I thought I needed to see nitrates first
I'm not a fan of rock sitting in a tub being sold as live rock unless that tub is plumbed into a system with fish. So, I do agree that testing it is warranted and I would leave the shrimp in for at least a few days or until you see nitrate. Without testing you can't be confident if that is wet rock or quality live rock.
 

Cbones1979

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I'm not a fan of rock sitting in a tub being sold as live rock unless that tub is plumbed into a system with fish. So, I do agree that testing it is warranted and I would leave the shrimp in for at least a few days or until you see nitrate. Without testing you can't be confident if that is wet rock or quality live rock.
Yeah, shrimp is nice and rank at this point
 

Mkkari

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Ammonia still .25 no nitrites or nitrates

shrimp stinks

15 years ago I tried live rock and shrimp and it took me forever for the cycle. If you really wanna get out of the hassle and need guaranteed results, just remove the shrimp and throw in a bottle of Dr Tim's one and only, fritz turbo start or Brightwell Aquatics microbacter start XML and dump your fishes in....

But don't overstock it, else you will have the same issue as I do, battling high nitrites.
 

Cbones1979

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15 years ago I tried live rock and shrimp and it took me forever for the cycle. If you really wanna get out of the hassle and need guaranteed results, just remove the shrimp and throw in a bottle of Dr Tim's one and only, fritz turbo start or Brightwell Aquatics microbacter start XML and dump your fishes in....

But don't overstock it, else you will have the same issue as I do, battling high nitrites.
I have microbacter start. I kinda did dual w the shrimp and the start. Was hoping to drop my clowns in after nitrates hit and ammonia is 0. Maybe I take the shrimp out?
 

Mkkari

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The only issue with shrimp is that it takes time to breakdown and decay. I think if you take the shrimp out the clowns will create enough ammonia to feed the bacteria.

I am not sure if that is the best thing to do, but definitely good way to get rid of the bad smell..
 

Cbones1979

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The only issue with shrimp is that it takes time to breakdown and decay. I think if you take the shrimp out the clowns will create enough ammonia to feed the bacteria.

I am not sure if that is the best thing to do, but definitely good way to get rid of the bad smell..
I can take it. I’ve had the clowns for 2 years so don’t want to mess them up if I can wait another week or so
 

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I didn't read the entire thread but wanted to add my 2 cents. I am in the middle of my cycle and my ammonia never spiked over 2 ppm. I went to the LFS and spoke to one of the guys there. He suggested dosing with ammonium chloride as well as adding additional living bacteria. Originally, I added the living bacteria and raw shrimp. It took about 9 days for my ammonia to get down to less than .5 ppm. I wanted to have a real ammonia spike so I took the guy's advice and added the ammonium chloride as well as additional living bacteria. The theory is the tank's bacteria buildup will be better equipped for a livestock addition. He has had clients (he services individual tanks as well) be able to add multiple fish right after this process. It made sense to me. I added the ammonium chloride. Obviously, my ammonia levels shot up to around 8 ppm. That was 2 days ago so I tested again last night. The ammonia had dropped to around 4 ppm so that makes me feel like the bacteria buildup is happening and that it is able to take a large spike in ammonia. I am going to wait another 7-10 days before I add anything as long as the ammonia/nitrite decrease occurs. Just food for thought.
 

Cbones1979

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I didn't read the entire thread but wanted to add my 2 cents. I am in the middle of my cycle and my ammonia never spiked over 2 ppm. I went to the LFS and spoke to one of the guys there. He suggested dosing with ammonium chloride as well as adding additional living bacteria. Originally, I added the living bacteria and raw shrimp. It took about 9 days for my ammonia to get down to less than .5 ppm. I wanted to have a real ammonia spike so I took the guy's advice and added the ammonium chloride as well as additional living bacteria. The theory is the tank's bacteria buildup will be better equipped for a livestock addition. He has had clients (he services individual tanks as well) be able to add multiple fish right after this process. It made sense to me. I added the ammonium chloride. Obviously, my ammonia levels shot up to around 8 ppm. That was 2 days ago so I tested again last night. The ammonia had dropped to around 4 ppm so that makes me feel like the bacteria buildup is happening and that it is able to take a large spike in ammonia. I am going to wait another 7-10 days before I add anything as long as the ammonia/nitrite decrease occurs. Just food for thought.
Thanks. I’m just waiting for nitrites to hit. Seems like they should if ammonia dipped from 5 to 2.5
 

MnFish1

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Hello Reefers! I am on day 12 of cycling my 63 gallon tank. (Fishless cycle, used Dr Tim’s, Carib sea sand and Carib sea life rock)
LFS tested my water yesterday and said I’m ready for fish. Ammonia is 0, Nitrates are 30. Everything else looked fine. Salinity was a bit high at 1.027 so I added some RODI In my ATO should bring it down. Question is...I decided to wait another week to add fish, Will my new bacteria start to die without an ammonia source in there for a week? Should I dose a bit of ammonia this week to feed the bacteria and double check that it returns to zero? Leave it alone and stop worrying? Oh and should I do my first water change to bring the nitrates down prior to adding fish next week? Thank you in advance! Very excited to be getting so close to adding fish.
Without an ammonia source the bacteria will go into a 'dormant mode'. So - it won't increase but it also won't die. IMO - there is no reason not to add a fish or 2 (note - not 10 fish lol:).
 

MnFish1

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I didn't read the entire thread but wanted to add my 2 cents. I am in the middle of my cycle and my ammonia never spiked over 2 ppm. I went to the LFS and spoke to one of the guys there. He suggested dosing with ammonium chloride as well as adding additional living bacteria. Originally, I added the living bacteria and raw shrimp. It took about 9 days for my ammonia to get down to less than .5 ppm. I wanted to have a real ammonia spike so I took the guy's advice and added the ammonium chloride as well as additional living bacteria. The theory is the tank's bacteria buildup will be better equipped for a livestock addition. He has had clients (he services individual tanks as well) be able to add multiple fish right after this process. It made sense to me. I added the ammonium chloride. Obviously, my ammonia levels shot up to around 8 ppm. That was 2 days ago so I tested again last night. The ammonia had dropped to around 4 ppm so that makes me feel like the bacteria buildup is happening and that it is able to take a large spike in ammonia. I am going to wait another 7-10 days before I add anything as long as the ammonia/nitrite decrease occurs. Just food for thought.
Perhaps be a little careful - usually don't want ammonia levels >4 - at least with some of the products - as it actually can kill some of the strains of bacteria.
 

ChrisNH

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I see a small rise and fall of nitrites lagging my ammonia by half a day but perhaps you are not. If you are getting nitrates I would not worry about that. Per Dr Tim’s MACNA video you don’t want to add more ammonia until the nitrites are gone.

Also, another thing from the Dr Tim video, do not let your ammonia get over 5ppm. I personally see no reason to go over 2ppm as he recommends. Sounds like you are bumping up to that.

video here if you want a watch:
 

Cbones1979

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I see a small rise and fall of nitrites lagging my ammonia by half a day but perhaps you are not. If you are getting nitrates I would not worry about that. Per Dr Tim’s MACNA video you don’t want to add more ammonia until the nitrites are gone.

Also, another thing from the Dr Tim video, do not let your ammonia get over 5ppm. I personally see no reason to go over 2ppm as he recommends. Sounds like you are bumping up to that.

video here if you want a watch:

very nice. I actually watched something from him along with 15 other videos over the past week. Once my ammonia goes away and i have nitrates I should be able to drop my clown fish in.
 

ChrisNH

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drop my clown fish in
My neon gobies are arriving wed., I plan to do a massive water change to reduce nitrates before they do. I am assuming you may be in the same boat and will want consider options.

i am expecting that the moment there is phosphate from poo hitting a large amount of nitrates I will get some algae, trying to head that off.
 

mbixler1537

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Perhaps be a little careful - usually don't want ammonia levels >4 - at least with some of the products - as it actually can kill some of the strains of bacteria.
Good to know. I think it was around 4-5 ppm and I am dosing the bacteria every day to try and increase the population.
 
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