DirkWeerstand Posted December 17, 2014 Share Posted December 17, 2014 Hi Guys, I am now running my fluval edge 12 gallon with marine pack 3 tank for 5 days. On day one 1 i added jbl start up bacteria. On day 4 i added one small cube of frozen fishfood. Today i did my first measurements: Ph: 7.9 Amm: 0,05 Nitrite: 0,1 Nitrate: 8 Mag: 1040 Calc: 360 Since i have low ammonia and high nitrite, i am wondering if it is possible to run trough the cycle proces without having high ammonia levels. Or is this still to come? I am using real reef rock in the tank. Please help me out on where i stand right now in the cycle. Thanks in advance. Link to comment
ajmckay Posted December 17, 2014 Share Posted December 17, 2014 That's some sweet lookin' purple rock there... If you're detecting ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate then the cycle is working... Depending on how long ago you added the cube of food that could still be decomposing. Ammonia is a byproduct of decomposition and depending on the size of what you threw in there could still be a chunk of that stuck somewhere. Test it again every few days and once the ammonia and nitrite are coming back undetectable and nitrate is a reasonable number then you should be good to start stocking. Just remember that you need to stock slowly, ramp up the amount of livestock in the tank. Start off with the small invertebrates like snails and crabs or shrimp. Then add a fish or 2 after a few weeks and the tank has had time to adjust to the addition of the inverts. Good luck. Link to comment
DirkWeerstand Posted December 18, 2014 Author Share Posted December 18, 2014 Thanks for the tips. Today i tested again. And guess what, ammo 0,35 and nitrite 0,2! Link to comment
Zorro237 Posted December 22, 2014 Share Posted December 22, 2014 If you are using live rock you won't need to cycle your tank. The live rock should be full of the needed bacteria already. I would take all ammonia sources out of the tank and you will be good to go in a day or two. Link to comment
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.