Cycling Advice

[oshanickreef]

thats good. and just to warn you.. angelfish sometimes pick at corals... i had a flame angel for a while then all of a sudden he devoured a LPS Blasto colony that i loved. angelfish are unpredictable when it comes to eating coral.. but i think you would be okay with softies because they grow so fast (in good water conditions).

 

[Amatuer21]

I will stear away from them lol. Just tested my parameters and with the shrimp still in tank im getting a lesser reading of ammonia then i was 2 days ago. .5ppm, nitrite still at 2ppm and nitrate the same at 10-20ppm. I twsted ammonia twice and got the same reading. Why would my ammonia go down?

 

[Amatuer21]

Using API test kits. Are these inaccurate?

 

[E Rosewater]

API test kits will usually show ammonia at .25ppm no matter what, just go until it levels, and you're not reading nitrite anymore. Also don't bother testing nitrate until your nitrite reads zero, you'll get false readings.

I would use API due to the fact that after the cycle you'll find little to no use for nitrite and ammonia after your cycle is done. The nitrate is accurate enough if you really follow the instructions unless you're really planning a tank with particularly sensitive corals.

 

[Spyderturbo007]

For the cycle, APIs are perfect. They are cheap and get you in the ballpark which is all we care about. You aren't really concerned with the actual value of the levels, just the presence.

The last thing I used my API test kit for was lending it to my Brother in Law to use for his cycle.

 

[Amatuer21]

Ok great. I thought it was just kind of weird how my ammonia went down with the shrimp still in the tank. I was expecting it to go up not down lol

 

[oshanickreef]

first ammonia spikes and then the nitrite eats ammonia up which in turn, causes the nitrite to spike, then nitrate consumes the nitrite and BAM your cycled!

 

[Amatuer21]

Ok well then that explains why im showing nitrites. My first saltwater tank was a 75 and i didnt monitor parameters when it was cycling. With that tank i just waited for my algae blooms and then went from there.

 

[Amatuer21]

Would right now be a bad time to remove some filter floss. I think i put to much in and its causing surface scum due to slow flow through the tank.

 

[E Rosewater]

first ammonia spikes and then the nitrite eats ammonia up which in turn, causes the nitrite to spike, then nitrate consumes the nitrite and BAM your cycled!

This not exactly accurate. Waste produces ammonia, as the ammonia spikes bacteria populates that convert ammonia to nitrite. As the nitrite spikes bacteria populate that converts nitrite to nitrate.

The cycle is balancing act. If waste is not present the bacteria populations will decrease, and if too much waste is introduced too quickly the bacteria population will not be able to consume it quickly enough and you'll see ammonia and nitrite spikes. This is what is commonly referred to as a "mini-cycle".