[Salt-lick]

For my tank and any tanks..
Glampka you mentioned these would be first.. then second then thirdly then drop off..

Ammonia
Nitrites
Nitrates



What level of spikes am I looking for in PPM or does it vary?

[dfurbee]

You want 0ppm on all three of those parameters.

[Salt-lick]

Right, at the end of the cycle.. I'm talking about how much in general should I see these spikes? 0.25 ppm or more?

[dfurbee]

If you have live rock, your spikes will be large (at least mine were)

[Salt-lick]

Yes Debra, I have 29-32 lbs of LR including 30 lbs of Live sand.

[swinginbeef]

this, I don't quite know what to tell you because they can very. Starting my tank, I dropped in a half piece of frozen cocktail shrimp and let it rot in there. It had completely disintegrated into nothing in a few days. I didn't even check my water until a week later and my readings were:

Ammonia - between 0.25ppm and 0ppm
Nitrite - 0.2ppm
Nitrate - WAY over 50ppm

so my ammonia is back down to almost 0, nitrite is working it's way back down to 0 and my nitrate was probably near the peak of it's spike. This was last friday, I'll probably check again this friday. I'm expecting this friday to read 0/0/50ish. Then I'll check again the following friday and expect to see 0/0/0. Once I see 0/0/0, I'll wait one more week and if I test 0/0/0 again, I'll start shopping a cleanup crew to clean up this algae caused by the high nitrates of the cycle.

I knew my cycle was going to last a while so I decided to only check once a week instead of every day like you did, so I don't have any numbers for you on how high the spikes were.

[lynnvangsnes]

The amount of spike with ammonia will depend on the amount of die off. If you drop 5 lbs of frozen shrimp in your tank, your ammonia will be off the charts, and would kill anything you put in there. The spiking is relative to whatever is biodegrading.

[Krazy]

The ammonia spike will vary tank to tank, as some used cured rock (which will have less ammonia if any) and some used uncured (has die-off) Either way it sounds like your learning the correct ways and what to watch out for..

Ammonia will rise first then break down into Nitrites and then break down into Nitrates, water changes remove Nitrates. Dont do water changes until Ammonia and Nitrites are at zero or your cycle will take forever..

Feel free to Private message myself, glampka, or ryan g if you need further help

-Keith

[Salt-lick]

Sweet thanks Ladies and Gents, So should I be adding fresh water to my evaporation line?? Or will that also make my cycle last longer?

[Krazy]

Always top off with fresh RO/DI water, never use salt or you'r salinty will go up and up over time..

[kh6sat]

Salt does not evaporate. Thats why you top off with fresh RO/DI water.

[Salt-lick]

k, i know about salt not evap'n but i wasnt sure if i should hold off on that

[Tonz of fun]

Originally Posted by Salt-lick

k, i know about salt not evap'n but i wasnt sure if i should hold off on that

Add your water and be patient. It takes about 36 days to cycle a tank. Even if you use chemicals around 21. Im sure a lot will disagree but If you do research you have two people with PHDs and the ones without. People who do this for a living say it takes 36 days. It will come big guy. Im on day 6 and Im already getting edgy moving stuff around so I feel ya. So what im trying to say is stop thinking about if things are going to make you cycle longer. It will happen when it happens. So add the water.

[Salt-lick]

See the problem with that comment is that I am being patient(as much as one can be), i just want to learn as much about the process as I can so in the future when i start another tank, i know exactly what to look for.. I mean who isnt impatient.. someone said before.. We are Americans.. we want instant results\gratification...

[Tonz of fun]

Originally Posted by Salt-lick

See the problem with that comment is that I am being patient(as much as one can be), i just want to learn as much about the process as I can so in the future when i start another tank, i know exactly what to look for.. I mean who isnt impatient.. someone said before.. We are Americans.. we want instant results\gratification...

I wasnt trying to start anything. I was juat saying you have made it this far and to keep being patient. Dont worry so much. Keep up the good work. Go team!

[Salt-lick]

i wasnt implying that at all.. I was saying im trying as much as you are to keep myself from running to the FS and grab anything that looks perty No hard feelings my friend.. none at all.

[Tonz of fun]

lol ok. At any rate keep up the good work. Even though your levels are good dont forget about water changes. Are you going to use a qt tank. That helps with impulse buying at the lfs

[Salt-lick]

I have considered it, however my funds at the moment eep me in check. If I were to do a QT, is this something that i need to consider in gallons? As my tank is a 29 does it need to be the same? Smaller bigger, on Thursday I have a lady that is selling me a 55g. Salt aquarium for 100 with cabinet stand. But not sure if i will have the cash.but if i do, would it be ideal to use the 50 as my reg tank and the 29 as my qt?

Note: it doesnt come with anything else but some lighting, not even sure of the lighting.

[reefnoob1991]

If you were itching to get your cycle done with there's a good product out there called BioSpira. It's a package containing millions of the denitrification bacteria that you have to wait for in your cycling tank so they will start reducing your levels, so with the extra help by BioSpira the levels go down quicker and VIOLA a cycled tank!

[Salt-lick]

I itch alot to do it.. but if i do that way i wont see the "natural" way, however if i do my 50 gal. i might use that as its ALOT more water.

[reefnoob1991]

It is natural...it's denitrification bacteria in a package

BIO-Spira is a "live" bacteria culture that is sold refrigerated and must be kept refrigerated until used. It can not be overdosed. Repeated dosing of your aquarium with ammonia removing liquids (such as BIO-Safe, Amquel, Ammo-lock and Aqua-Safe) can inhibit the beneficial action of BIO-Spira. Ammonia removing liquids should only be used to initially treat tap water. It is normal to have a small (<2 ppm) amount of ammonia or nitrate during the first few days after set-up. These concentrations are not harmful and will quickly drop to zero with proper use of BIO-Spira