intentional ammonia spike?

I was told today that i should make my ammonia spike to get my cycle going in the 125. For the last 10 days all my levels have been pretty much the same. The most ammonia i saw was .5, but that went back to 0 in 4 days. still no nitrites, nitrates have always been 5-10 since day 1, and PH has been a constant 8.2. The tank started with 150# of live rock and over 100# of live sand all from an established reef, the water is RO/DI mixed with instant ocean. There is a damsel in there along with a dozen or so of small hermits and snails.

So should i throw in a fish chunk to rot to get some ammonia spikes, or just keep coasting along?

thanks!

~Will.

 

if the rock was already cured you probably only went through a mini cycle.

 

if you had established sand, cured rock you will not cycle

 

Mine did roughly the same. Just keep it mellow for the next month or so and let things cook. After a month, if all params are still OK, I would add one fish every 10 to 14 days. Then corals if you want at month three.

 

now i'm really confused . . .

last night at around 6pm or so i added a chunk of frozen / thawed fish (before i started this thread). today before i removed the fish i took some readings and saw something different. for the first time ever the nitrates were at 0. not a toss up between 5-10 . . . 0. the ammonia had crawled back up to 0.25, and i finally have some nitrites at 0.25 mg/L.

is this just a coincidence, or did the fish chunk kick start something last night? do i leave it in, or take it out?

~Will.

edit: after re-checking, ammonia is still at 0, and nitrites are at .5

 

i wonder if you can pee in a fish tank to get it going?!

 

Yes, you can. No, you shouldn't

 

iLL even with everything cured I wouldn't worry too much. You did see an ammonia spike. You can begin to add fish as normal in a few weeks. The only BIG variance you might see is a late diatom bloom. These are harmless snail fodder.

You know, it strikes me that many don't realize that the rocks are the biggest filter in the tank. A lot of people like the look of less rock, but don't fully appreciate the increased work. Good cured rock will level out a cycle quickly, as will good live sand. I'm not necessarily advocating paying more to shorten a cycle, and the time's still going to have to be put in, but everything you can do to protect rock and sand while building your aquarium (primarily DONT EXPOSE THEM TO AIR) will massively decrease the severity of the cycle.

 

I agree with cured rock and sand your bacteria should be ready to go. Get some fish in there and keep the bacteria going.

 

.5 ammonia (my highest to date) counts as a spike? the only reason i was told to introduce the fish chunk was to get a "real" spike of around 5-8. i was going to remove the fish today, but the first appearance of nitrites really threw me through a loop.

to me, it seems waaaay too early to be seeing any nitrites as a product of the newly introduced fish chunk. but i am still unsure if i should leave in the fish to fuel the cycle, or remove it before it has any effect.

~Will.