Monday, May 24, 2010

Saltwater reef tank, 55 gal. how long for nitrites?

anyways, i have a 55 gal reef tank, it has been set up for only a few day.
the ammonia is at 1 today and was at about 1.5 yesterday...
so it came down a little but there is no nitrites OR nitrates (well, it could have been 10ppm, its hard to tell)
i use an API test kit.
i have 60lbs FULLY cured live rock (that has only been in the tank for 1-2 days, and
30lbs agronite and 20lbs live sand
i also put in 1 lbs live sand from an established tank...the live rock was also from an established thank.
my problem is, i still have ammonia in the tank, but no nitrites...how long before they how up? i have shown from .5ppm to1.5ppm of amonia for 3 days now...
i guess i just expected the amonia to go away in like 2 days and have nitrites start showing up...thanks.
Answers:
It pretty much should be anytime now really. Once your ammonia has been in the tank, if it's being oxidized, the nitrites are beginning to develope. It's only just a matter of time now, but for your bacteria to build up and clear the nitrite stage, be patient with that, because it's going to take longer to clear that stage then it will with the ammonia. You also can help keep the ammonia levels down by reducing the amount of food going in the tank, and if you have an established tank, adding filter media or gravel from it will help, but in your case, it would have to be another salt water tank.
You can also get more advice if you google up fishless cycling.com, full staff on hand to answer anything you need.
JV
i personally never put a living thing (petliving thing, not like the bacteria on the rocks and stuff) in a tank before 2 weeks of starting the cycle.
if the nitrites haven't shown up yet it will be a few days and it will be a few weeks before the nitrites go down to 0, which is when you should add the fish.

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