125G Cycle: Red Sea Aquarium Test Kit - .08 Ammonia / 10-12 Nitrite / 20 Nitrate

[gjustinj]

125G Cycle: Red Sea Aquarium Test Kit - .08 Ammonia / 10-12 Nitrite / 20 Nitrate

How is this looking everyone? I threw 3 pieces of cocktail shrimp in there in panythose to help boost this thing. It's only been cycling for a week with a Fluval FX4 cannister filter. The tank is 125 Gallons/mix of dry and live rock(125lb) and about a 1.5 inch thick sand bed mixed live and dry sand.

Any thoughts on if this cycled, or if this has a long way to go or what steps I can do to help it along, etc?

Thank you so much!

 

[JVan82]

It's not cycled till ammonia and nitrite are 0. Once that happens dose with ammonia to 2ppm as a stress test. Should go back to 0 in a day, then large water change to drop nitrates and you're good. You can remove the shrimp since you have detectable ammonia, if u haven't already.

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[gjustinj]

It's not cycled till ammonia and nitrite are 0. Once that happens dose with ammonia to 2ppm as a stress test. Should go back to 0 in a day, then large water change to drop nitrates and you're good. You can remove the shrimp since you have detectable ammonia, if u haven't already.

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Thank you! So basically keep watching for both ammonia and nitrite to reach zero, once I see that go buy another bottle of ammonia and dump it in there and watch for the ammonia to cycle to nitrite to nitrate - once nitrate is completed do a water change if high to bring it down and introduce some bottom crawlers?

 

[JVan82]

Yes sir

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[JUNBUG361]

You could add ammonia or bio spira to help

 

[gjustinj]

Okay today's test read .08 ammonia / nitrite 1 / nitrate 50

More sand was added to the tank two nights ago as well as Octo 2000 protein skimmer.


Any suggestions on this? It's my understanding I wanted to see the ammonia hit 0 which I haven't yet. The nitrites to hit zero (they went up from before) and the nitrates to build up (its higher too).


Anyone have suggestions on what I need to do.