Ammonia

[Thefishwrangler]

I have just started to get into the saltwater hobby and already it seems to be very against me. I have a 50 gallon SCAquarium set up. I have 60 pounds of sand, around 35 pounds of base rock, and 15 pounds of live rock that I placed on top to start helping with the cycle. I even placed a piece of raw shrimp into the tank. I have had this set up running since March 11th and have tested the water every day. The ammonia has not moved past 0 ppm and nitrites and nitrates have also remained at zero. There is a lot of white stringy substance all over my tank. covering the sides and the rocks. The live rock looks as if it has a white fuzz on it as well. Any information or input to what I could do would be wonderful.

[\Clownfish/]

If you have your lights on turn them off till you introduce your cuc at least. I would consider waiting until the ammonia goes away. It takes time some tanks take days or weeks while others take a month or two.

[nmotz]

What testing equipment are you using? It could be a faulty test kit.

I would think it unusual for there to never be any ammonia, nitrates, or nitrites in a month old tank. Not sure what to make of the white stringy stuff you're talking about. Could be pieces of that raw shrimp you put in there. Try taking some of your water to a nearby LFS to have it tested.

[thegrun]

I would add some pure ammonia to the tank to see if the tank has cycled. Use pure ammonia without surfactants (available at most hardware stores, I got mine at Ace Hardware). To be sure the ammonia does not contain surfactants shake the bottle and if it bubbles up like dish soap it has surfactants in it, pure ammonia will not have bubbles. To raise 100 gallons of water from 0 to 2 ppm ammonia you would need to add 0.8 grams (8 ml) of standard 10% pure ammonia. The white stringy stuff is likely bacteria, it should go away on its own, but increased water flow in the tank may be necessary. I am also curious as to what brand/type of test kit you are using, it may be a bad test kit or you could be following improper testing procedures. Adding the pure ammonia should get things started. If you raise the ammonia to 2ppm and the ammonia drops back to zero within 24 hours you are good to add a clean up crew and slowly start adding livestock. If the ammonia does not drop within 24 hours, wait for the cycle to take its natural course.

[Goldndoodle]

I would get an LFS to confirm that you're 0-0-0 before doing anything.

If they confirm that you're really 0-0-0, then I would remove the shrimp if it's still in there ... then test with pure ammonia. Dose your tank up to 2PPM ammonia, check to verify that you're at 2PPM. As thegrun said above, you need about 8ml per 100 gallons of water ... not tank size. So don't just dump 4ml into your tank, that will be over 2PPM, as your rock, sand, equipment, etc. are taking up some of the volume in your tank. I would start by adding 2ml, test for ammonia, figure out what 2ml gave you for PPM reading, then adjust accordingly for a second dose to get to 2PPM. Then wait 24 hours and check for ammonia again - if your tank is cycled you should get a 0PPM reading at 24 hours.

Here is what the ACE Hardware ammonia looks like - LINK

If you go to your local ACE Hardware you can buy a single bottle for around $2.50

That is what I used to cycle my tank - never ghost fed, or add a raw shrimp - just used ammonia and followed the Dr Tim Fishless Cycle guide that is available online.

[jpa0741]

Originally Posted by Goldndoodle

I would get an LAYpeople nfirm that you're 0-0-0 before doing anything.

If they confirm that you're really 0-0-0, then I would remove the shrimp if it's still in there ... then test with pure ammonia. Dose your tank up to 2PPM ammonia, check to verify that you're at 2PPM. As thegrun said above, you need about 8ml per 100 gallons of water ... not tank size. So don't just dump 4ml into your tank, that will be over 2PPM, as your rock, sand, equipment, etc. are taking up some of the volume in your tank. I would start by adding 2ml, test for ammonia, figure out what 2ml gave you for PPM reading, then adjust accordingly for a second dose to get to 2PPM. Then wait 24 hours and check for ammonia again - if your tank is cycled you should get a 0PPM reading at 24 hours.

Here is what the ACE Hardware ammonia looks like - LINK

If you go to your local ACE Hardware you can buy a single bottle for around $2.50

That is what I used to cycle my tank - never ghost fed, or add a raw shrimp - just used ammonia and followed the Dr Tim Fishless Cycle guide that is available online.

This all good advice but I just dont know why people feel the need to add comments like the last paragraph. Yes this was what you used and worked but there are obviously other ways to cycle that work just fine and shrimp and ghost feeding is some of them.

[Goldndoodle]

Originally Posted by jpa0741

This all good advice but I just dont know why people feel the need to add comments like the last paragraph. Yes this was what you used and worked but there are obviously other ways to cycle that work just fine and shrimp and ghost feeding is some of them.

You're exactly right, there is always 100 ways to do something, I was pointing out that I ammonia dosed during cycling, I did not ghost feed nor did I add a raw shrimp.

There was a typo there ... I should have typed ... "I never ghost fed, or added a raw shrimp"

There was no malicious attempt to discredit other forms of cycling. It's a big hobby with many ways to accomplish beautiful and successful tanks, other than the ways I am attempting. To each his own.

[jpa0741]

[QUoldndoodle;23649486]You're exactly right, there is always 100 ways to do something, I was pointing out that I ammonia dosed during cycling, I did not ghost feed nor did I add a raw shrimp.

There was a typo there ... I should have typed ... "I never ghost fed, or added a raw shrimp"

There was no malicious attempt to discredit other forms of cycling. It's a big hobby with many ways to accomplish beautiful and successful tanks, other than the ways I am attempting. To each his own.[/QUOTE]

No problem I just didn't want to see people panicking that may have used a different method.

[Thefishwrangler]

I have had no lights on since I started to run the tank. I have also had biopellets running as well as gfo and carbon in the same canister.

I am using the API saltwater master testing kit from amazon

[kmbyrnes]

+1 to Ace ammonia.

[julie180]

You do not need biopellets, carbon or gfo while cycling. I suspect those thing have a part in your problem. Take them off and see what happens.

[anthonys51]

ok first white kind of sand did you use, i will assume it wasn't live sand. did you rinse it, some sands can leave a white film. also next time dont cheap with the live rock, base rock can leach phosphates into the tank depending on the rock. also do you have a skimmer, what type of filter are you running and how many power-heads are in your tank (what strength) . lets start with what are you planning to keep in the tank and what kind of lights you have. Also why are leaving the lights off, lights have nothing to do with the cycling of a tank . also do you have any clean up crew in there yet. i would start with some of them.
plus it is possible if all you put in was a little piece of shrimp in a 50 gallon tank and 60 lbs of dead sand and 35 lbs of dead rock, your readings might all be zero. why not

[Mrramsey]

All have given solid advice. I suspect that the 15# of live rock you added was already enough of a jump on the cycle that it was processing any ammonia that was being released by the raw shrimp.

[anthonys51]

also when u say you have biopellets and gfo and carbon in a canister. if your talking about a canister filter and the bio rocks ( or whatever there called that comes with it) i would throw that out. dont need that with the trock, it only gets dirty