My tank wont start cycling?

[redsea2012]

10 days ago i put around 90 lb of dry rock and 5 lb of live rock on my tank and the rocks color turning pink slowly,(I cooked the rock for a month in saltwater with water changing and phospate treatments)before putting it in the display.I keep measuering the Amonia,Nitrate,Nitrite and it's all still 0 the only thing that changes is the phospate level. it's a 105 gal display with 30g sump and I run it with Octopus Reef 2000 Protein Skimmer and the lights are off. what I should do to kick the cycle?

 

[Tin_Whistler]

A piece of raw shrimp.

 

[shaginwagon13]

Go to the grocery store and buy a shrimp and toss it in. Leave it in there until the cycle is done and when your Ammonia + Nitrites read zero do a water change and add a clean up crew. They will be able to snack on the disgusting shrimp. Some people take the shrimp out, I prefer to leave it in. But with only 5 pounds of LR throw in half the shrimp because a whole one might be overkill.

 

[sneaton]

try adding some food and see if ammonia shows up.....it might be cycled already and only nitrates will show

 

[neptunestender]

I read feeding your imaginary fish a few flakes of food a day will help. But Im kinda new at this.

 

[sneaton]

Go to the grocery store and buy a shrimp and toss it in. Leave it in there until the cycle is done and when your Ammonia + Nitrites read zero do a water change and add a clean up crew. They will be able to snack on the disgusting shrimp. Some people take the shrimp out, I prefer to leave it in. But with only 5 pounds of LR throw in half the shrimp because a whole one might be overkill.

why the water change? just wondering because i have a freashly cycled tank and i was about to add a cuc this week.....what are the benefits if the numbers are good already?

 

[redsea2012]

I think I will start with some fish food? but the question now should I leave the protien skimmer on?

 

[Peter T]

I read feeding your imaginary fish a few flakes of food a day will help. But Im kinda new at this.

It definitely will help . It is the same concept as throwing in a piece raw shrimp as mentioned in previous posts. What you are doing is providing food for the bacteria to grow and reproduce. When cycling tanks, I still continue to "feed" my tanks even after they are cycled to keep the population of bacteria strong. Sometimes, when people see the tank is done cycling, they stop feeding the tank altogether. They end losing a large population of the bacteria they worked to create while they wait to add fish in the tank.

edit:

I think I will start with some fish food? but the question now should I leave the protien skimmer on?

I personally would leave it off until the tank is done cycling. Your skimmer will end up removing some of the food that dissolves in the water that would of turned to waste (food for your bacteria) and can possibly pro-long your cycle/retard bacteria growth.

 

[shaginwagon13]

why the water change? just wondering because i have a freashly cycled tank and i was about to add a cuc this week.....what are the benefits if the numbers are good already?

You are never going to have zero nitrates as long as you have fish, corals or a clean up grew living in your tank however you want to try to have Nitrates as close to zero as possible (2ppm is acceptable however).

Marine fish are less affected by Nitrates then corals are, which is a good thing. The reason for the water change is to:

1) Add clean, fresh water to your tank to get it ready for coraline and bacteria growth
2) Begin to lower Nitrate levels to increase your water quality.

 

[redsea2012]

It definitely will help . It is the same concept as throwing in a piece raw shrimp as mentioned in previous posts. What you are doing is providing food for the bacteria to grow and reproduce. When cycling tanks, I still continue to "feed" my tanks even after they are cycled to keep the population of bacteria strong. Sometimes, when people see the tank is done cycling, they stop feeding the tank altogether. They end losing a large population of the bacteria they worked to create while they wait to add fish in the tank.

edit:


I personally would leave it off until the tank is done cycling. Your skimmer will end up removing some of the food that dissolves in the water that would of turned to waste (food for your bacteria) and can possibly pro-long your cycle/retard bacteria growth.

I Think you are right. I will be turning it off.thanks

 

[shaginwagon13]

I think I will start with some fish food? but the question now should I leave the protien skimmer on?

Some leave their skimmers off, some leave them on.

Personally, I run mine the entire time it cycles and I also run lights for 4 hours a day. Running lights isn't absolutely necessary either however I prefer to do it. Some organisms in your tank do need light to survive. Running the lights for 4 hours a day keep them alive.

 

[redsea2012]

i ran it just to skimm whatever it comes out from the dry rock. I run it around 8 hours a day.

 

[redsea2012]

the Raw shrip in the tank for the last 5 days ..Amonia,Nitrate and Nitrete all still Negative..any help?

 

[shaginwagon13]

Can you take a sample of your water to your LFS and have them test it. Maybe your test kits are expired? How old are they?

 

[.OptimusPrime.]

I used raw shrimp in my 75G tank and it took alot more than 5 days for it to fully cycle.

I didn't run lights or skimmer. Everyones cycle varies. Just be patient (hard I know)

Im new at this too, so hopefully someone else can chime in.

 

[redsea2012]

Can you take a sample of your water to your LFS and have them test it. Maybe your test kits are expired? How old are they?

it's a brand new test kit...but I will take a water sample to the local fish store to be tested.

 

[shaginwagon13]

I used raw shrimp in my 75G tank and it took alot more than 5 days for it to fully cycle

To fully cycle it will take longer then 5 days, however Redsea2012 is claiming that he isn't even showing an Ammonia spike. That's near impossible after 5 days. Even fully cured tanks will show some signs that a dead piece of shrimp is in there, so something is wrong.

it's a brand new test kit...but I will take a water sample to the local fish store to be tested.

I think thats your best bet right now.

 

[Playa-1]

I would throw a couple more pieces of raw shrimp in the tank and monitor for a few more days to see if you can get an Ammonia spike.

 

[BigCountry74]

x2 raw shrimp. live rock, esp 90lbs might take a few weeks to cycle also. so be patient.

 

[ganjero]

Pee in it, it will start your cycle right away :wildone: