Ammonia Level When Starting The Tank

[Charith1986]

Hi, Can I know when first starting a salt water tank is it necessary to dose ammonia until it reaches 2ppm ? I set up a tank two days ago and when I tested ammonia ystd it was reading at 0.15PPM and i did some ghost feeding today (Hikari Marine S). 

 

Can i add bacteria (Stability Seachem) now ? kindly help.

[banasophia]

Hi, there are lots of ways to cycle a tank. What have you added so far like what kinds of rock/sand? 
 

If you are doing a fishless cycle, you can use the raw shrimp or ghost feeding method, but it will be harder to know when you have the right amount, so ammonia drops like Dr Tim’s can be nice so you know exactly how much to add to cycle properly and not add too much and stall the cycle.

 

You can add a beneficial bacteria product... I prefer BioSpira... whichever ones you are considering, be sure to read the reviews. You can find helpful reviews for BioSpira on the BRS website. 
 

https://www.bulkreefsupply.com/instant-ocean-bio-spira.html

[Charith1986]

Thanks, yes i am gonna put a shrimp in the evening after checking my ammonia level. But here its not possible to find Bio Spira or dr Tims products.

couple of LFS adviced me to put Seachem Stability or Aqua Forest Bio S and start the cycle with a fish, as per them a fish can be added to the tank with either one of those products.

 

But i prefer fish less cycle so will first hit the ammonia and then add bacteria. 

[Charith1986]

i am using live rock 1kg and 1kg of sand as well. No ceramic rings added.

tank capacity is 8g

 

[Clown79]

2 hours ago, Charith1986 said:

i am using live rock 1kg and 1kg of sand as well. No ceramic rings added.

tank capacity is 8g

 

Is it wet liverock Or dry rock?

 

If wet there is nothing you need to do. It cycles on its own, adding bacteria is never a bad thing but not need to shrimp or ghost feeding. You already have ammonia present.

 

If dry rock then you need to add an ammonia source

[seabass]

With live rock from the ocean, or even a mature reef tank, you don't want to add an ammonia source (as ammonia is toxic to the non-bacterial beneficial life that you want to save).

 

I'd remove the shrimp, and stop ghost feeding.  I would also do a water change to help remove some of the organics.

 

With live rock, usually you just monitor the ammonia level.  Once it becomes undetectable you can slooowly introduce livestock.  Usually you'd start with a small cleanup crew, wait, then add a fish (and wait some more).  Add livestock slowly so the bacteria colonies have a chance to catch up to the new bio-loads.

 

Yes, you can add a bottled bacteria product (but it's not necessary).

[Charith1986]

Hi, just one hour ago I checked ammonia level and it was zero and I then added a part of the shrimp. Then only i saw these comments and immediately removed the shrimp and it was there may be for half an hour. didnt check for Nitrate and nitrite.

 

Shall I add the bacteria now ? cs i have already purchased it. 

 

so after adding bacteria what should i do ?

i only once did ghost feeding in the morning and its kind of negligable.

 

[Charith1986]

Clown 79 its wet live rock i have used. my LFS took it out from his seasoning tank.

[Clown79]

1 hour ago, Charith1986 said:

Clown 79 its wet live rock i have used. my LFS took it out from his seasoning tank.

Just add bacteria and sit back and test the tank.

 

[mcarroll]

9 hours ago, Charith1986 said:

i am using live rock 1kg

3 hours ago, Charith1986 said:

Clown 79 its wet live rock i have used. my LFS took it out from his seasoning tank.

Should be no need to add ammonia, more bacteria, dead shrimp or any other catchy startup tactic if you brought established live rock home.  It was kept warm and wet on the way home, I presume.

 

Testing for ammonia may be interesting, but it should never register anything.  If it does, then the rock wasn't live or it was killed on the way home somehow.

 

As for stocking, start small and work your way up to the full bio-load.  That means inverts like CUC and corals before big critters like fish.  And fish get added one at a time, not en masse.  Wait a month or more in between every addition to the tank so you have time to observe changes and react if needed.

[Charith1986]

Thanks, so how can i conclude the tank is cycled ?

[seabass]

8 minutes ago, Charith1986 said:

so how can i conclude the tank is cycled

When ammonia is no longer detectable.

 

However, this doesn't mean that it can support large bio-loads yet.  With dry rock, we usually build up the bio-filter by dosing ammonium chloride.  However, with live rock, we don't subject the non-bacterial life to high levels of ammonia.

 

The biological filter will adjust to the bio-load as you slowly add more livestock.  Just go slow.

[Charith1986]

okay thanks. will keep updated.

[Charith1986]

To give an update, I start cycling the tank 5 days ago starting parameters were .15 Ammonia, zero Nitrite and 2 PPM nitrate.

Now for three days im checking for ammonia and its zero for the past three days. Today the nitrate is 10ppm.

 I am adding Seachem Stability as a bacteria source.

 

Is my tank cycled now ? can i introduce one fish ?

[seabass]

1 hour ago, Charith1986 said:

Is my tank cycled now ? can i introduce one fish ?

With ammonia undetectable and detectable nitrate, your tank should have an established nitrogen cycle.  Now the only question is how large of a bio-load can it handle.  With about 2.2 lbs of rock for an 8 gallon tank, I would suggest keeping the bio-load small.  I would prefer that you have almost three times as much rock.

 

As far as if your tank can handle the addition of some livestock, I would say that it should be.  Depending on what the rock looks like, I might add a small cleanup crew (just carnivores and omnivores if there is no algae, adding herbivores after some algae is present).  You can feed the cleanup small amounts of fish food to sustain them.  This addition will increase the bio-load, and the biofilter will adjust accordingly.

 

After a bit of time (I'd suggest at least a week), you could add a couple of corals, or even a small fish.  Keeping in mind that your rock will probably only support a very light bio-load (maybe something more suitable for a tank half its size).

 

One solution (if you like the amount of rock that you have) would be to add additional bio-media (like bio-balls or rings) to you filter.  Once bacteria becomes established on this new bio-media (and that will happen on its own over time), your tank will be able to support a larger bio-load.

 

I'd probably do a partial water change prior to adding livestock.  And if you are adding a fish, I suggest a small fish like a goby.

[Charith1986]

Thanks very helpful. I had plans to keep only one nemo and one damsel for fish and to introduce either of them first. Now I feel like the amount of live rock i am keeping is very low but I can add more live rock when i do my next water change as doing a water change now would break the cycle i guess.

 

So shall i add a very few clean up crew now ? before adding them do i need to do a water change ? for corals I dont have a coral supporting light ATM and they will be added slowly when i purchased one.

[seabass]

A clownfish and damsel are both related (and are less likely to get along in a small space).  Plus damsels are very aggressive in general.  I really don't see it working long term.  If you are set on the clownfish, I'd pick a goby or small blenny as it's tank mate.  If you are set on a damsel, it should be the only fish in the tank.

 

A clownfish or a damsel would be a decent sized bio-load by them self.  I would at least double the amount of rock you have in order to keep either.  If you will be adding more live rock, I would do it now and wait for ammonia levels to become undetectable again.

 

3 hours ago, Charith1986 said:

doing a water change now would break the cycle i guess.

No.  The bacteria establish on hard surfaces, like your rock, sand, glass, and equipment.  The porous nature of rock and sand give it more surface area (so they are more important as a biofilter).  The water, while containing some bacteria, really doesn't add to the biofilter (and you could change it all without affecting the cycle).

[Charith1986]

Thanks, I will improve my filter media as well. May be few sticks of ceramic rings and some more live rock. I added a small Nemo ystd. Its doing fine and later a goby or a blenny.

[seabass]

But don't add more rock to a tank with livestock already in it, as the resulting ammonia could be very harmful.  You can cycle/cure the rock separately, in a five gallon bucket, until ammonia is no longer detectable.  Then you can add it to your tank.

[Charith1986]

Today I checked the parameters (nitrate) its around 5ppm so I can wait few days for a water change. Nemo is doing great. I added two ceramic ring bars to the sump and hold adding anymore  Live Rock as the live stock is too simple I think the bio filter would be enough.

 

Thank you for the advice given. Will try some corals later with a good coral light.