New tank tests are getting weird or not?

[SEAG]

Hello all,
I am a bit concered with my water tests on my new tank. I put 16 Lbs of live rock in my tank Friday and added another 10 lbs on Sunday.

It appears that my Ammonia has gone from 0.0-.25-.5-.25ppm over the last 4 days.

The Nitrites have lept - 0-.5-.5-2.0-2.5(roughly) - the purples are a bit hard to read.

The Nitrates have read - 0-5-10-10 over the last 4 days.

SG has been 1.022-1.023. Water temp is 77 deg.

I know the LFS had several fish in the LR tank. Should I put a few damsels in the tank?

I did put a shrimp in the bottom of the tank to feed the LR...should I take it out? or is this normal?

Thanks,
Sean

BTW - should I put the light on at all?

[Meric]

Sounds about right. I am assuming you put a dead cocktail shrimp in the tank. As the shrimp rots away your ammonia will rise until the bacteria catches up with the amount being produced then Ammonia will drop and Nitrites will rise until bacteria catches up with it, then Nitrites will drop and nitrates will rise. Although you need to wait until Ammonia and Nitrites are 0, it's not really that high.

When I put my uncured live rock in my tank my Ammonia rose to greater than 7.0 ppm (scale only went that high) and my Nitrites were over 100, after 3 weeks everything was down to almost undectable and this week everything is back to 0, except Nitrates they are around 10.

If you have a cocktail shrimp in your tank, there is no need to test everyday. Just watch the shrimp, once it starts to turn into powder then test Ammonia and Nitrites, should take at least 2 weeks to start to change and 4 weeks to completely dissolve.
You should not add any living animals to the tank until Ammonia and Nitrites have dropped to 0 and stay at 0 for a few days (ie: No Ammonia/Nitrite bounce)

[SEAG]

Yep..a dead cocktail shrimp..only one though. It is starting to get a gross film on it. This LR is supposed to be cured already. I guess it might not ammonia spike as much?

I just don't want to harm my LR...

Thanks,
Sean

[salttanker]

It sounds like you are on the right track. Just let the shrimp get really nasty for another week or so, then test it again. You'll probably be surprised at how low the numbers will be in the end. I wouldn't add anymore fish until you get the proper readings, and the spikes are complete. Remember, each time you add live rock to the tank, the cycle process has to catch up to balance the bio load. That is most likely why you are getting sporatic readings. I would get all the live rock you want first, then add your fish. HTH
BTW, Thanks for not cycling your tank with fish!

Mike

[saltjunkie]

yep, everytime you add a considerable amount of live rock, you will get a small spike....

[SEAG]

I don't think I asked this...I added 22 more Lbs of LR to the tank..I have a total of 48 lbs in my 40L gal tank. The ammonia did peak before to about .5 but now is at about zero. The nitrites are probably around 3 and the nitrates have really jumped to over 80ppm. I would say I have had live rock in the tank for 9 days.

Should I be doing any water changes during cycling to bring down the nitrates?

BTW...there is some cool life on the my LR...I tried to take pics but the camara won't focus...

Thanks,
Sean

[salttanker]

I would continue to do water changes once a month even with live rock in there. This will help get the levels down. Live rock is awesome.


Mike

[SEAG]

I would continue to do water changes once a month even with live rock in there. This will help get the levels down. Live rock is awesome.


Mike

Cool...I thought that I should be doing them once per week untill cycling is complete..but a month is fine...
Thanks..