Does this mean my tank is cycled?

[richardhmc]

I did a water test on my cycling tank and here were the results

Ammonia - .5 mg/l
Nitrite - 0
Nitrate - 50 mg/l

I thought the order was Ammonia spike, then Nitrite spike, then Nitrate left over.

How is it that I have 0 nitrites, but high nitrates?
Ammonia is supposed to be 0 no?

:thumbsup:

 

[SkullV]

Your cycle stopped at some point. You do not want to add any livestock until your ammonia/nitrite are 0. I would do a water change to drop the nitrAtes and then add some pure ammonia to kick the cycle.

 

[richardhmc]

My tank was starting its cycle a few weeks ago and a few days ago i just added a shrimp cause I was told that I need a shrimp for the tank to have something to decompose. I first used special blend to start the tank

 

[yehchien]

Ammonia -> Nitrite -> Nitrate (NO3) then NO3 is converted into Nitrogen. So 0 Nitrates is the last step in the cycling process. You are about 2/3 of the way there. 50 is already pretty high even in an established tank let alone one that has no livestock in it. If you added any livestock that number would spike and it could potentially kill of most of the inhabitants.

 

[richardhmc]

thanks for response. then why do i still have a little ammonia left over? is it because of the shrimp i just recently added?

 

[disc1]

It is because you don't quite have the bacterial load to convert it. Just wait it out and it will come. If you try to rush it, you're going to end up with something less than stable.

 

[richardhmc]

ok... should i turn on my skimmer?

 

[Paco]

ok... should i turn on my skimmer?

Yes, it should have been on from the start and then you wouldn't have 50 PPM of Nitrate to deal with.

 

[yehchien]

yes, it should have been on from the start and then you wouldn't have 50 ppm of nitrate to deal with.

+1

 

[mjwz06]

Ammonia -> Nitrite -> Nitrate (NO3) then NO3 is converted into Nitrogen. So 0 Nitrates is the last step in the cycling process.

What? no

The cycle ends when you have 0 ammonia, 0 nitrite, and some nitrates (not 0).

Here's a good graph to illustrate:
This tank finished cycling around day 40...

ok... should i turn on my skimmer?

Turning your skimmer on for the cycle will remove some of the bacteria's food source. This will lead to a lower nitrate level, but less food = lower bacteria population. Just be carefuly when you start adding your critters - do it very slowly so the bacteria can multiple and keep up with the higher bioload.

IMO it's better to leave the skimmer off and deal with the elevated nitrates by doing a large WC. The extra food will leave you with a larger bacteria population, so you'll have less risk of an ammonia spike when you start adding fish. Just my opinion.

Good luck with the new tank! :thumbsup:

 

[mrk88]

Make sure to use reverse osmiosis water too or you might have hard time with the ammonia.

 

[yehchien]

ok, that is typical in a fish tank because most of us have too heavy of a bioload. However, in nature the process of converting Nitrate into Nitrogen is called denitrification. Otherwise ocean water would have some measureable amount of nitrates.

"Nitrogen: In a properly setup reef tank, the nitrates can be further processed by special types of bacteria which convert the nitrates into harmless nitrogen gases which escape into the atmosphere. When the process includes this step, the nitrogen cycle is completed and the tank will maintain zero nitrates without significant water changes or the requirement for specialized external equipment to remove it from the system. The key to this final step is to provide oxygen poor areas of sand or rock. The bacteria which perform this last step of the process only live in oxygen poor (anaerobic) areas of the tank. The surest way to establish these anaerobic areas is to include a sand bed that has sufficient depth and sufficiently small particle size to restrict water flow in the lower areas of the bed." http://www.reefcorner.com/Manual/nitrogen_cycle.htm

 

[duncantse]

thanks for response. then why do i still have a little ammonia left over? is it because of the shrimp i just recently added?

Yup, the shrimp caused another ammonia spike. You have to go through the whole cycle again but it'll be faster this time because you already have a good amount of bacteria. Next time, if you want to keep the bacteria healthy, add a tiny pinch of fish food into your tank every 2-3 days.

 

[jlong11]

What? no

The cycle ends when you have 0 ammonia, 0 nitrite, and some nitrates (not 0).
Turning your skimmer on for the cycle will remove some of the bacteria's food source. This will lead to a lower nitrate level, but less food = lower bacteria population. Just be carefuly when you start adding your critters - do it very slowly so the bacteria can multiple and keep up with the higher bioload.

IMO it's better to leave the skimmer off and deal with the elevated nitrates by doing a large WC. The extra food will leave you with a larger bacteria population, so you'll have less risk of an ammonia spike when you start adding fish. Just my opinion.

Good luck with the new tank! :thumbsup:

+1 all 100% right

 

[richardhmc]

should I take out the shrimp?

 

[duncantse]

Yup.