Tank Cycle Question

[grimreefer]

How long does it take to get an Ammonia Spike / Cycle in a new setup? I have had water in my new tank for five days now and all my perimeters are still good. The rock was live and the sand was live that I added. Of course, the sand was stirred up alot when I got it out of the existing tank and then I just poured it in from the top of my tank, so in was very much stirred up to release all the Nitrates it had captured. But still my Nitrates are reading 0. Ammonia is less than .25, so my question, is when will I see a spike?

Edit: Water was made with new RODI and Salt, not existing tank water.

 

[jennm]

You may not see a spike using cured rock and existing sand.

If your sand released nitrates, that's not a good thing, so be glad it didn't.

Ammonia at 0.25? Let me guess... API test kit? My bet is it's a false positive if it is.

I'd let it settle as it is until you see the diatom bloom, then proceed.

A spike is not necessary when moving settled/cured rock/sand from an established tank.

Jenn

 

[grimreefer]

Thanks Jenn, and yes it is API tests . I thought they would be good enough to test during the tank cycle. I will upgrade the tests once I am ready to add livestock. How long will it take for the diatom bloom? Do I need to add something like a piece of shrimp or something else to get things started?

 

[jennm]

Agree with Bratliff on all counts. Usually diatoms can take anywhere from a few days to a few weeks to appear - sooner if you have lights on, later if not.

Yes - GO SLOW. Once you see the diatoms most start with a small clean up crew, then a week or so later, one or two fish, depending on the size of tank, and proceed slowly from there, always monitoring the water quality as you go.

Jenn

 

[grimreefer]

With the live sand I added, they were about four hitch-hiking Hermit Crabs, two Snails and about a half dollar size GSP. All of them are doing fine. I was not going to add any live stock but since they came with the sand, I left them in.