newbiefishgirl Posted June 1, 2003 Share Posted June 1, 2003 Hi everyone! Yesterday after not seeing a change in the ammonia., (added more live rock, now at 10 lbs for my ten gallon), I added a shrimp from the grocery store to help the the process. I am wondering if it may have started since the amonia went to .25?? How high does this actually spike to before it goes down again. What level do I look for. My nitrates and nitrites are both at 0. Ph is 8.4. Salinity at1.023 Is it ok to top the water off now even tho the cycle is not begining?? Thanks for all your advice. PS. Tank has been up for 7 days now.??? ??? Link to comment
harbingerofthefish Posted June 1, 2003 Share Posted June 1, 2003 deffinately top off the tank. Evaporation causes higher salinity. Plus it's time to start the good habit .25 is a good start. My cycle went a week or so with no noticable change. then in 1 day it went form 0 to 1+. A bout another week later I had a big diatom bloom. I would gueestimate my cycle lasted about 3 weeks. Link to comment
Quash Posted June 2, 2003 Share Posted June 2, 2003 wow, glad to hear that you are cycling the tank. I would say by the amount of threads I have read, cycle should be done by a month latest with shrimpy additions and such. damn i cant wait till i get back to austin so i can start buyin things for a 5.5 or 7 gal tank. keep us posted. Link to comment
newbiefishgirl Posted June 2, 2003 Author Share Posted June 2, 2003 Well on Saturday evening I droped the uncooked shrimp in. I didn't notice any change in ammonia when I tested yesterday. But I hope when I go home tonight I see some change! The thing looks like its starting to decay:P . Guess we will wait and see. Coraline on the LR seems to be holding up well thru all this. I am glad! What do you all recommend for the first addition to the tank, when cycle is over that is. I know you start with clean up crew additions. I already see some brown junk on the sand bed that they can eat!:x Link to comment
audandash Posted June 2, 2003 Share Posted June 2, 2003 go to your lfs and check out there snail selection. get as much variety as you can they will all eat differant stuff. you might stear clear of turbo snails though (get big and can knock over stuff) just depends on what you want in the tank. i have an emerald crab that does a great job too. Link to comment
Jahkaya Posted June 2, 2003 Share Posted June 2, 2003 I would probably remove the Shrimp now that you have ammonia. There is no reason to leave rotting flesh in your tank. Emerald crabs are okay, but sometimes eat coral or clams. Some Good Clean up critters include Blue leg hermits (hair algae) Astrea and narcissus(sp.) Snails. Once you notice your ammonia is at 0 and your nitrites are nearing 0 you are fince to add the blue legs. They are very hardy and do not have much of a bioload. You are progressing. It sure is hard to be patient. Link to comment
newbiefishgirl Posted June 2, 2003 Author Share Posted June 2, 2003 Great to hear I am making progress. I don't really know yet if the shrimp made the ammonia yet. How high should the ammonia get to spike?????? It has not gone close to 1 yet Link to comment
Jahkaya Posted June 2, 2003 Share Posted June 2, 2003 Becky: If you just added the new pounds of rock in the past few days, then you will notice yet another ammonia spike. There are no hard, steadfast rules to how High the ammonia should spike. What you want to look for is the point where the ammonia goes down and the nitrites rise. At this point you know all is going well and within a week or two you can slowly begin adding animals. Link to comment
DAP Posted June 2, 2003 Share Posted June 2, 2003 I think jahkaya was refering to the Nassarius snails, I love those guys. Mine always travel like a little army, they bury themselves in the sand and emerge all at once. Astreas are good too, they really took care of my hair algae. Astreas will die if they fall on their back and cannot right themselves, but for their cleaning ability they are worth having to constantly rescue them. Link to comment
nut.meg Posted June 2, 2003 Share Posted June 2, 2003 I actually added a couple of blue leg hermits to my 10gal a few days in on the advice that they are pretty hardy. The tank has been up for 9 days now, and the ammonia is getting there (haven't tested for nitrites/nitrates in a few days, probably do that tonight). But I'm starting to see algae growing (probably more so since I started the system with tap water, but am topping off and will be doing changes with RO water) on things like the LR and the crabs' shells. But even once the cycle is done, I'm told, as with any tank, that it really needs a good amount of time to establish properly. My clownfish probably won't go in for another 2 months, and corals after that. I had my lesson in the importance of patience about 6 months ago when I tried to get the 10gal tank to cycle as a brackish system. Loaded it wayyyy to fast. But you CAN have fun with nice shrimp and snails and crabs I find - they're pretty cute to watch motoring around the sand at night especially. Meg Link to comment
newbiefishgirl Posted June 2, 2003 Author Share Posted June 2, 2003 oK, so if the ammonia should look like a spike, maybe by the weekend.. I will add a few blue leg crabs. ANother question, if one of these should die, will it hurt the tank ?? Especially if I dont notice it that day?? Can it be a polluant? Link to comment
Jahkaya Posted June 2, 2003 Share Posted June 2, 2003 Such a small invert like that will not throw things too out of whack in a 10 gallon. Do not worry about pollutants with a small hermit. Just wait until the ammonia start noticebly dropping before adding the hermits. Link to comment
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