Noob question about the cycle

I'm consideering myself a noob becuase I havn't kept an aquarium in about 10 years...

So now that I'm trying to get back into the swing of things when the new tank is cycling is it important for the amonia to reach a certain concentration as well as nitrite and nitrate lvl's before they level off?

Also do I need to consistently be supllying additional sources of ammonia. (will the bacteria starve to death if they don't get more within a few weeks?) I started setting everythig up before reading some of the new tricks to start a cycle without fish yet and I used the old method of peeing in the tank. Ammonia is up at the momment waiting on it to go down at the momment and nitrite to spike.

Now that I've read a few posts I kinda like some of the other ways people have suggested starting the tank cycling :-[

 

what size tank is it?

 

you can use raw shrimp from the market to kick start it or you can get chromis. I would say chromis as they are not as violent as there counterparts Damsels are and can stay in the tank. benifits are Hardy, Cheap, & look good. in scholes< miss spelled that word

 

It's a 55 gallon

 

I don't support cycling with fish as even if they survive it is very stressful for them. If you must than chromis are the ones for you, I agree. I like to use Bio-Spira, or what I used for my seahorse tank a few weeks ago that I like a lot is Seachem Stability.

 

yeah chromis are for the impatient ppl like myself lol but if you have Patients then shrimp form the sea food section will work great non seasoned and raw

 

After you have cycled your tank(ammonia and nitrite back down to 0) you should not wait too long to start adding livestock. If you have a good amount of liverock the bacteria should last a while but will die off if it has nothing to feed it. If you are not using liverock, then it will probably die off faster. Just remember to stock slowly so your bacteria can adjust.

 

I have 80lbs of used sand. It was somewhat moist but I am very doubtfull it still ahs any bacteria in it, well living anyway. I purchased one small live rock just because when i was at the fish shop i saw it and it was totally covered in pink algae. I am planning on getting some dry rock this week and letting that one seed the rest. Will the sand get me to a place stable enough to have fish before the dry rock is seeded well enough to be live rock?

 

+1 on the raw shirmp or just seed your sand bed with some one elses established sand