Day 3 of the cycle. New guy ;)

Hi guys, This is my first post so let me just say hello and thanks for having me.

I wanted to run some numbers by you experts from my water testing so i know where to go from here. Im using the API master saltwater test kit

PH- 8.2

AMMONIA - 0.25 PPM

NITRITE - 0 PPM

NITRATE - BETWEEN, BUT ON THE LOWER END OF 0 - 5PPM (MAYBE 1PPM)

Heres a pic of the colors incase maybe im off a little being a first timer.
the pic was taken 10 mins after of The PH on the far left, so it is darker then it was at time of reading.



Thanks Guys!

Joe Cerillo

 

you won't see anything going on after 3 days. wait a couple weeks. you'll see that ammonia spike and turn green then go back yellow. The Nitrates will get darker and that's good. You should consider throwing a raw piece of grocery store shrimp in there now to get the process going. You can do a 10% water change when the ammonia turns dark green if you want. Some new tanks spike up to about 4.0
bad is good, at this stage.

 

Shrimps in as of yesterday morning, as well as live sand and live rock since day 1.

The guru at the fish store gave me saltwater Smart-Start Complete ( i think he said was a bacteria) so i put 2 oz's in last night and have to go pick up another 2 oz's today

EDIT: He wanted me to take out the shrimp and instead add 2 damsils. But i thought id double check before i did anything.

 

There are several things to consider about cycling with damsels:
- A lot of people here will tell you not to cycle tanks with fish. They are not exactly super comfy in the water with high amonia/nitrites.
- Damsels are freaking hard to catch, especially if you have a lot of rock/caves etc. Getting them out of a tank is gonna be a huge pain in the ...
- You'll probably find yourself wanting to get them out of the tank, because they'll bully your new fish as you add them. Very aggressive and territorial.

 

hahaha!! Damsels are hard to catch. Smart little B's. I had my tank perfectly aquascaped and had to take out every single piece of rock when I was ready to return mine.

Oh! And, if you can get like a gallon of water from an established tank, I would. I did and it helped my cycle a lot. You gotta be careful though. Some people's water is garbage but I say it's better to take the risk than not to.

 

I wouldn't add a damsel, just my opinion. Just let the shrimp do its thing.

 

+1; I cycled my tank this way.

I don't think it will cycle much (or any)faster with damsels, and then you have all the probs mentioned above.

Also, everything about saltwater is patience and going slow. Waiting an extra week or so for your cycle to complete is good training.

 

Very true. Only bad things happen fast in reef hobby

 

I imagine that people like to cycle with damsels because dead shrimp are very drab and don't move much and get very boring after watching them for a while.

But I don't think I'd mess with damsels....

Doesn't look like you have too many nitrifying bacteria at work yet.

 

If you're using truly live sand and rock I'd imagine your cycle could be fairly fast. I'd keep the shrimp and avoid the fish for now. Definitely watch the shrimp though, and pull it when it starts to disintegrate!