kelp Posted July 16, 2002 Share Posted July 16, 2002 Question on test readings during cycling process. My ammonia is reading in the .35 range and has stayed there pretty solid for a couple days. Does the ammonia need to spike to a certain range in order to really get the cycling process kicked in? On a side note, I added live rock and a raw shrimp to the tank 3 days ago. Kinda interesting adding the shrimp with the rock, all kinds of stuff coming out to feed on that shrimp. Link to comment
tyoberg Posted July 16, 2002 Share Posted July 16, 2002 Nope. Now that the bacteria has a food source, it will begin to multiply. When the population gets large enough, it will consume ammonia (NH3) faster than your dead shrimp is putting it out. At this point, NH3 will begin to drop, and you will definitely be seeing it's waste product, nitrite (NO2). The same thing will happen for the bacteria that converts NO2 to nitrate (NO3) but it doesn't multiply as quickly, so it will take longer for NO2 to go to zero. NO3 will continue to build up unless you have some mechanism for removal: waterchanges, a lot of live rock, a DSB or algae/macroalgae. Ty Link to comment
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