How long till ammonia goes up?

[MGXsport]

I am asking so many questions not that my tank is finally underway.

 

I have .50 ppm for 24 hrs. now. (It was at that when I added the LR/LS)

 

but nitrite is on the rise from 0 to .25 ppm

 

Is it possible that I might have missed the ammonia spike while I was at work?

 

Or

 

could I have been lucky and had a good survival rate on the LR?

 

Thanks

[MGXsport]

This seems crazy but for the second test today and the ammonia is down to .25ppm

[fish04]

I think you may have a partially cured batch of rock. The ammonia (NH3) should go down once Nitrites (NO2) start to form if the spike has occurred, an no I don't think you misssed the spike while you were at work, the bugs don't work that fast. If you are seeing an increase in NO2 as NH3 goes down the tank is cycling. The concern I have is that the levels are rather low for a full cycle, usually they are much higher. I would wait and see what happens but you may need to atrifically cycle the tank using supplements. Most good reef stores sell packets of NH3 that you add to the tank to force a cycle. I've used them in the past and they work okay. The other option is to take a few extra weeks and be sure your bacteria levels are up before adding fish or corals. Or add one or two small hardy fish (damsels) to help the cycle once you see the NH3 levels come back to zero and the NO2 and NO3 levels increase. This will give the tank the needed NH3 to continue the cycle and be sure that it is fully cycled.

[MGXsport]

thanks for the help.