six days and no signs of ammonia

[cgh38]

After six full days since introducing the LR , LS and a few hitchikers from TBS there's still no signs of ammonia on my 90G tank, I've been doing a test every other day with my Salifert kit and here are the results tested today:

Ammonia :0
PH :8.0
Nitrate : 25 ( it's gone up since 2 days ago)
Nitrite: 0
Temperature: 77
Gravity: 1.023

Any advice or comments as to what should I expect or do ? I will greatly appreciate.

CGH

[reefworm]

Try throwing in a piece of shrimp. You may not have enough life in the system to produce an appreciable amount of waste.

keep us posted.

regards,
-rw

[hurricanedrift]

When cycling my tank with Tampa Bay rock and sand the ammonia spike in my tank was very subtle. A small rise due to little die off. Never saw a sharp increase in Ammonia. Levels of nitrate and nitrites only rose a small amount as well.

[cgh38]

thanks guys!
Hurricane how many days it took for you to show any ammonia ?
Thanks

[DT's_Reef]

I cycled 100 lbs. of Tonga rock last year and mistakenly thought it was instantly cycled because after the first week, no sign of ammonia. At the end of the second week, I started to show a bit of ammonia and then bam, lots of ammonia, but it then cycled quickly, about a week after.

Just keep watch....

[seasmurf]

Hi. We're in the same boat. I added 165 lbs. LS and 135 lbs. Kaelini LR in my tank two days ago. Testing zip on ammonia, 0.2 pm nitrite and 5 ppm nitrate. Protein skimmer removed some junk initially but is now not really bringing anything over. Temp is 80, S.G 1.025. pH 8.0, calcium 440 and alkalinity 9.0. Guess we need to wait a while and see what happens. I cleaned my rock pretty well when it arrived and it shipped in only 8 hours from Dr. Mac who said the rock wasn't fully uncured from his tanks. So I think it's likely I won't see a huge ammonia spike.

Let me know how you're progressing and good luck!

[hurricanedrift]

As I recall it was a week or ten days. I let the tank cycle for some time. I then added a good cleanup crew of snails and hermits.
The tank is about 4 months now and I have added a pygmy angel and an atlantic goby. It is stable and doing well and I am ready for some new additions.

[jay24k]

TBS rock has very little to no cycle because of the way it is shipped. I would wait another week but due to the nitrates going up, I would be willing to bet you won't get a full blown cycle. Their rock is amazing on how fast your tank cycles especially if it was bagged good. The down side is due to the amazing abundance of life on the rock, if there is alot of die off, your tank will spike very hard. But from what I've heard from talking to them, it is very rare. I personally wouldn't drop a shrimp in there if the rocks you got have tons of life. I would wait another week and if all is well do a nice water change to drop nitrates and add your clean up crew. Then after another couple weeks, start off with a pair of fish or a single one. Feel free to call TBS and they will explain it all. They were really nice to me even when I screwed it all up the 1st time.

[cgh38]

thanks again! I will wait another week and see what happens I will keep an eye on the nitrates , Richard and Mary from TBS are really nice and helpfull I think they're on vacation this week so I did not try to contact them about this, they send me really nice rocks with a lot of life on them and hitchikers including a tiger goby, he's growing nicely hope he survives the cycle.

[bbeck]

Originally posted by seasmurf
Hi. We're in the same boat. I added 165 lbs. LS and 135 lbs. Kaelini LR in my tank two days ago. Testing zip on ammonia, 0.2 pm nitrite and 5 ppm nitrate. Protein skimmer removed some junk initially but is now not really bringing anything over. Temp is 80, S.G 1.025. pH 8.0, calcium 440 and alkalinity 9.0. Guess we need to wait a while and see what happens. I cleaned my rock pretty well when it arrived and it shipped in only 8 hours from Dr. Mac who said the rock wasn't fully uncured from his tanks. So I think it's likely I won't see a huge ammonia spike.

Let me know how you're progressing and good luck!

Seasmurf: how do you like the LR from Dr. Macs? Which "grade" did you purchase - fully cured, partial or uncured?

Thanks,
Brad

[seasmurf]

I was very happy with Dr. MAc's LR.It shipped from Baltimore around noon and would up here in MAnchester NH by 6 p.m. so even though it wasn't covered in water, there was no smell. Kaelini LR pieced were HUGE with no rubble and I wound up chiseling one down to get a more stable placement. I'd say the 135 lbs were 7 or eight pices with no rubble. There was a lot of purple and green corraline growth on the rock with little white or black patches that needed cleaning off. Hih not see any large hitchhikers at all though. Lots of caves and great knarly shapes making aquasculpting a bit easier for a novice like me.

I asked about the uncured LR and was told that even the uncured is rally partially cured in their holding tanks so I recievd "partially" cured rock. I'm treating it as if it were fully uncured and being very patient before adding any new life to the system .

[bbeck]

Looks great - nice aquascaping

Unfortunately, I'm on the other side of the country so I'm not if shipping across without water would be beneficial for me.

[Diehl]

My 90gal Cycled in one week with no ammonia at all. I have 125lbs of Gulf view rock:p

[cgh38]

Diehl,
Forgive me I'm new at this , but how did you tell that the tank cycled with no ammonia showing? I did a test today again and I get the same results.
Thanks.

[Diehl]

Originally posted by cgh38
Diehl,
Forgive me I'm new at this , but how did you tell that the tank cycled with no ammonia showing? I did a test today again and I get the same results.
Thanks.


If you have good quality LR you probably will only have a very quick cycle or miss it all together:) The first and second day my rock smelled bad and sponges were dying all over the place so I had alot of stuff that would cause ammonia. But I checked my water twice a day for a week and still no ammonia. So in my case I never had a cycle. But I had 125lbs of LR and my tank is 90gal. so it might of been different if my tank was smaller? I think your cycled though:D