? about water conditions

[iceman0032935]

i just set my tank up a few days ago and was woundering if my tank is ok. it dosent seem like its going thru a cycle.

nitrate -0
nitrite-0
amonia-0
ph-8.3
salt-1.023

 

[kau_cinta_ku]

add some lake food or a raw piece of shrimp from the food store. that will get the cycle started.

what do you all have in the tank as of now?

 

[iceman0032935]

i have 2 yellow fin damsels,10 pounds live rock and 80 pounds live sand. should i not use bioballs?

 

[ahullsb]

First of all get rid of the damsels. You can cycle with a piece of shrimp just as easily. I don't see the reason in killing two fish when you don't need to. The ammonia from the cycle will likely burn their gills and stress them out hard at the very least. As far as the cycle goes, it will happen. How big depends on many things. Was the rock cured, in someone else's tank, or dry base rock? What kind of sand bed to you have and how deep? Pull the fish, add some raw shrimp or something, and continue testing for a few days.

 

[Avi]

Burning the gills of two damsels...sounds good. Well, I'm just kidding. ahullsb is right that you can accomplish the very same thing with a shrimp from the frozen food department of a supermarket. The thing is also that damsels become very aggressive and if they do make it through a cycle, you're left with two fish that will limit what else you can put into your tank. So, doing what you need to do without them is just better than doing it with them.

 

[iceman0032935]

thanks