Cycling My Tank

[Eversurf]

Ok I got the whole thing setup and waited until all the level of Amonia, Nitrite and Nitrate drop to Zero. I bought some live rock and tested my water again. The Amonia, Nitrite and Nitrate went off the roof. I did several water changes and the amonia is now at 0. The Nitrite and Nitrate are still somewhat high, but not off the chart.

N00b of me I just read the pined thread on how to cycle the tank.

At this point I don't know if my tank can handle amonia or not or if the amonia eating bacteria are still alive....amonia has been reading zero for two days.

I'm thinking that Tomorrow I should pickup a bottle of Amonia at Wal-Mart and raise the level of amonia in my tank to see if the level of amonia eating bacteria is high enough and to keep them alive. Can anyone confirm this?

Also if I have live rock right now in my tank and I raise the level of Amonia will it hurt the live rock?

Should I raise the water temp from 78 to the mid 80's?

Should I add a bubbler?

Should I bother with the salt at this point (SFT)

Thanx

I did buy live sand and crush coral for the bottom of my tank

 

[Torrean]

ok I'm assuming this is a saltwater tank. I don't know much about saltwater but I think I know what a few of your problems are.

1. you should post this in the saltwater section of the forum

2. liverock doesn't like freshwater. If you didn't add salt to the tank before adding the live rock you probably had a massive die off which caused your ammonia spike

3. chances are your liverock and live sand are both dead. I could be wrong though. Check with a salty expert. SO if I'm right you have a problem. There are lot's of little critters living in LR and LS that are now corpses. These corpses are putting ammonia into your water and it'll be almost impossible to take care of short of removing the LR and LS. I hope I'm wrong about this but I don't think I am.

What I would do (not necessarily what you should do) is go to WM and buy the clear ammonia. remove the LR and LS and clean out the death if that's possible and then return it to the tank. Begin adding ammonia as prescribed in the fishless cycling thread. Continue with the cycle until you get a nitrAte spike and your ammo and nI are both at 0. At this point add your new LR and LS which will recolonize the dead LR and LS over time. I'm not sure at which point you should add salt...sorry

3. You want your NA that's nitrates to reach a high level. The sign of a cycled tank is 0 ammo 0 NI and 40+ nitrates.

 

[wuvmybetta]

I'm moving this to the marine forum where you'll hopefully get more answers.

 

[maidenfan]

i would imagine as already been said your live rock and sand are now dead as you have had them in fresh water rather than a saltwater mix i would be tempted to start again not sure if the rock and sand will recolinise i will leave that for others to answer before you do anything i would read some of the pinned topics on here and on the nano section and get a good book and find a good local fish shop to help you and guide you through the process of set up, the more planning you do before setting up the smoother it will go

what size tank are you using and what equipment do you have lighting ,skimmer etc?

 

[Eversurf]

I did put saltwater in the tank when I first started. The amonia peaked when the Live rock was introduced to the tank. There was definitly some die off so therefore the ammonia spiked. Sorry If that wasn't clear.

So I just need to feed my tank some ammonia and wait until the nitrate and nitrite are at respectable limits. Should I make some water changes?

 

[Eelzor]

I did put saltwater in the tank when I first started. The amonia peaked when the Live rock was introduced to the tank. There was definitly some die off so therefore the ammonia spiked. Sorry If that wasn't clear.

So I just need to feed my tank some ammonia and wait until the nitrate and nitrite are at respectable limits. Should I make some water changes?

It'd be most wise you let the tank sort itself out during the cycle, water changes will only lengthen the duration of it.

Also if I have live rock right now in my tank and I raise the level of Amonia will it hurt the live rock?

Too much ammonia may create massive die-off, but probably not enough to kill the live rock completely beyond recovery. The die-off from the live rock seems to be enough ammonia to start the cycle, so best not to add anything else to the tank.

Should I raise the water temp from 78 to the mid 80's?

Doesn't really matter - keep it at normal temperature. (78F)

Should I add a bubbler?

Not really nessesary - you may add a powerhead if you wish.

Should I bother with the salt at this point (SFT)

I assume you mean salinity, if the levels are all good then it'd be best to leave that as it is.

The parameters may wildly fluctuate during the cycle, not to worry as it will always usually sort itself out. When I first cycled a nano tank I had, the ammonia went off the charts and the whole tank stank bad. But in time the ammonia/nitrites went down to 0 and it ended up all good. Just play the waiting game for a bit longer as all the water changing will slow the progress of the cycle down.

Goodluck with setup and if you need anything else just ask.

 

[SkiFletch]

Whats your current salinity? As long as its not off the charts low your LR should be just fine . Rather than getting some pure ammonia, I'd just add a pinch of food an let that decompose in the tank, that'll fuel the bacteria enough to keep it alive. Also when you have nitrites in the tank, those will further some dieoff and keep the ammonia eaters alive.

When LR goes in the tank organisms grow and die on it a lot. You can have LR only in the tank for probably a month before some of the beneficial bacteria truly begin to starve and die . So, get that salinity right, add a pinch of food, and wait for the nitrites to come down then you're ready for a little bit of livestock