Mini Cycle with 0.5 ammonia

[rogeragrimes]

7 days ago, moved an established 120-gallon FOWLR tank, got rid of old sand and put in new store bought live sand. Kept live rock and it looks pretty healthy. Contains 4 fish, 2 anemones, and some other invertebrates. Ammonia has been reading 0.5ppm the last few days (not sure how long, but that same reading since we started testing 5 days ago). Slightly low ph at 7.8, added some ph up, and it went to 7.9. Fish seemed to be acting normally, although the slippery dick is staying buried in the sand 99% of the time (just comes out to eat for a few seconds and then back in).

I know normally we should get rid of any measurable ammonia by doing water changes, but I'm wondering if the tank is perhaps in the middle of a mini-cycle (ammonia 0.5ppm, nitrites 0, nitrates 0). Wouldn't removing the ammonia delay the ending of the mini-cycle? Or should I get rid of all ammonia period?

 

[dowjones1221]

i would assume the mini cycle would be from the die off of the LR and sand during the move....depending on how long the rock and sand were out of water you may want to treat it like you are cycling for the first time....
with that being said you can see how your tank is acting and how your inhabitants are looking...if nothing is out of the norm you may be able to get away with increased water changes and decreased feeding for the time being.

 

[thegrun]

I would add Amquel or one of the other ammonia neutralizing products on the market as soon as possible. I'm not a fan of "live" sand as it can contain enough dead organics to start a cycle, you would have been much better off with dry sand. That said, if you are certain the test results are correct I would make a large water change to reduce the ammonia of move the fish to a safe aquarium.

 

[rogeragrimes]

Update: The ammonia went to 0 by itself and nitrates are at 5. It's been three days with ammonia at 0 and nitrates are rising a bit to 10...so it looks like the cycle has completed and now it's time for me to do a water change to lower the nitrates.

Thanks everyone.