Cycle?

[Nathanl91]

Alright guys, new to saltwater here. Setup my first tank about a week ago used 50lbs of dead "live" rock, 60lbs of Arab alive sand in my 75 gallon tank

I fed the tank some frozen fish food, and was able to get some ammonia readings a day or so later, but now ammonia,nitrite are undetectable again... Did it cycle that fast? Or is something funky? ( it's only been 3 days since I saw the ammonia )

Thanks in advance!

 

[gone fishin]

From the description I doubt it cycled. What was the ammonia reading?

A lot of folks will use pure ammonia to get up to 2-3ppm, a raw deli shrimp tossed in the tank or ghost feed the tank fish food. I personally prefer to use ammonia. If you decide to use ammonia make sure it is pure, no surfcants. If you shake the bottle it should not foam.

 

[Nathanl91]

I was ghost feeding, and was getting ammonia around .5PPM

But now it's just gone

 

[Nathanl91]

So I just retested my tank, I'm seeing

.5PPM ammonia
And
Around .5 nitrite

 

[gone fishin]

Personally I would get it up to about 2-3ppm then just sit back and relax.

 

[Nathanl91]

Dosing pure ammonia is out of the question right now, how much do I need to ghost feed to get it up high?

 

[gone fishin]

I don't know. I guess I would just continue to ghost feed like you have been. eventually the ammonia will rise and then fall with the nitrites doing the same. Once the ammonia starts to fall I would stop the feeding.

 

[Nathanl91]

I don't know. I guess I would just continue to ghost feed like you have been. eventually the ammonia will rise and then fall with the nitrites doing the same. Once the ammonia starts to fall I would stop the feeding.

Alright, I will try that, that you

 

[Nathanl91]

Tested again this morning after feeding last night

Ammonia .5
Nitrate between 5.0
Nitrite .50

 

[Irishman360]

Throw some raw shrimp from the corner store in there if you don't want to use ammonia.

 

[Nathanl91]

Throw some raw shrimp from the corner store in there if you don't want to use ammonia.

I've been throwing frozen brine shrimp that I use for my freshwater fish in it

 

[thegrun]

Why is dosing pure ammonia out of the question?

 

[Nathanl91]

Why is dosing pure ammonia out of the question?

It's 70+ miles to town to get said ammonia

 

[Nick92515]

It's really better to get ammonia up to 2-3ppm. What test kits are you using? Api kits will always read.25 ammonia.

Driving 70 miles for laundry supplies is crazy!!

 

[Nathanl91]

It's really better to get ammonia up to 2-3ppm. What test kits are you using? Api kits will always read.25 ammonia.

Driving 70 miles for laundry supplies is crazy!!

I'm using the APi kits, I also have one of the seachem ammonia warning things on the tank..

 

[Virtual Balboa]

I use pure ammonia available at any hardware store. Have enough to cycle 5,000 tanks here lol.

 

[Sk8r]

Usually takes 4 weeks. Have you continued ghost feeding daily, and have you seen any more ammonia?

 

[Nathanl91]

Usually takes 4 weeks. Have you continued ghost feeding daily, and have you seen any more ammonia?

Yeah been ghost feeding ever other daily, the first test on the off day will show a rise, but then the next day ammonia is almost gone, before feeding again could the live sand (60lbs) be processing the ammonia to fast?