Another noob cycle question !!

I have my 55 up and running. Have had a piece of raw shrimp in since Friday. Yesterday was the first day I had any ammonia reading. It was between 0.25 and 0.50. Of course the nitrites are still at zero as are the nitrates. I have about 50 lbs of live rock that I bought from a lady locally that was getting out of the hobby. $100 for 50 lbs. Couldn't turn that down !! I rinsed the rock and scrubbed it a little before I put it in my tank. The live rock had been setting in buckets of salt water for a little while. Not sure how long. My question is what should I expect from my ammonia ? How high does it normally go before it starts heading back toward zero ? And should I leave that piece of shrimp in or add another piece.

 

Congratulations on your new system.

I would leave it be for 2 more days and retest and see where the values fall.

You have ammonia as shown by the test so you do not need more decay to produce ammonia now you just need the bacterial bed to grow.

Personally I am not huge fan of adding products that introduce beneficial bacteria to speed up the cycle, but people do it successfully.

No one can accurately predict how long it will take for your tank to be able to complete the nitrogen cycle efficiently enough to introduce live stock. Count on anywhere from 2-6 weeks and sometimes 8.

 

Yeah I started the get some Dr Tim's one and only and add it but decided to just let it happen and wait it out. First time cycling a salt water tank. Just wasn't sure how long to expect to wait before nitrites show up.

 

One more question. How long do I have to leave this shrimp in here. It's starting to stink !!! Lol. Can I take it out since there is ammonia in there now.

 

Yeah you can take it out.

Some leave it in the tank until it rots and stinks guhhhh.

 

Took the stinky shrimp out today. Tested my ammonia and it's still between 0.25 and 0.50. Color was darker than 0.25 but not quite as dark as the 0.50. Should I be running my protein skimmer now during the cycle ?

 

I've been researching the same thing. So far from what I have been able to fine it's not a bad idea to leave the skimmer off while cycling to keep from prolonging the cycle itself. Although, don't take this as a solid no, I'm still learning and reading myself.

 

I went ahead and turned it off just to be on the safe side. My ammonia has been at the same level for 2 days now. I'm only five days in my cycle though.

 

You can cycle with or without a skimmer. I did mine without. Others will tell you to turn it on. I don't think it matters either way.

Congrats on being patient on your first cycle.

 

It's very difficult to be patient during this cycle. I was at Petsmart yesterday and had a bottle of bio spira in my hand twice and put it down both times. Figure I'd just let nature do its thing and it will hopefully be better in the long run. I can see my clowns swimming around now. After the CUC those will be my first fish purchases.