# Ammonia Question



## gdwb10101 (Apr 14, 2006)

I am cycling my tank now for about 7-8 days now. I have two damsel fish, live rock, and live sand. I also have good filtration and flow. I don't understand. From what I have read, the ammonia is supposed to spike after a week or so. It hasn't spiked it remains at .5 I know that i havn't missed the cycle because there are no signs or nitrites or nitrates. 

My question is whether there is something wrong with the cycle, because it is taking a while, when i have heard cycling occur much quicker. Also, is it plausible to add pure ammonia with the two fish, or will they die (I have become attached and dont want them to die ;-) Let me know what you think or any advice.


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## leveldrummer (May 27, 2005)

dont add the ammonia, it will harm the fish even if they dont die. the live rock and sand should contain alot of bacteria that you want. it may have instantly cycled. keep checking. dont do anything else. something will eventually show up. are you getting algae?? how large is the tank.


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## fishfingers (Apr 10, 2006)

Firstly what do you classify as "good" filtration and flow and what sthe size of your tank. 7-8 days is not a very long time and you shouldn't expect anything to cycle. The cycle on my main tank took a month and it would of been a good 1.5-2 weeks before I started to see the ammonia drop. Have you check the ammonia with a different test kit? Maybe the one you have is a dud. Don't add any ammonia to the tank, the die off from your LR and waste produced by the damsels will be enough to cycle the tank.

I wouldn't get too atached to the damsels, as soon as you add some more fish your gonna hate them:chair:


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## gdwb10101 (Apr 14, 2006)

I have a 55 gallon. My salinity is good, my pH is good my alkalinity is good, basically everything is where it should be. Nevertheless, there is no algae growing on the my tank, i dont know if this is good or bad. But there havnt been any signs of significant increase in ammonia. You said that your ammonia took several weeks to decline, but mine hasnt spiked to decline (unless it will decline no matter what level it is at. Currently it is at .5) Still no signs of nitrites or nitrates. 

By good filtration, i mean that i have a power filter w/ 2 biowheels, a protein skimmer, a powerhead for movement, and a canister filter. Its a good setup i believe. Couldn't afford the wet/dry like I wanted (plus it doesn't fit in my room). 

I checked the ammonia and pH on other test kits and I took my water to the LFS for them to check. They came up with the same readings as I have. 

Lastly, I have this wierd thing on the bottom of one of my live rock pieces. At night, it stretches out tenticles (or looks like tentacles) and its pretty big. In the morning when I turned on the lights to the tank, so see what it was, it slowly shriveled up back into a little mass. Thanks (sorry for the long post)


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## fishfingers (Apr 10, 2006)

Are you washing your filter media every few days so there isn't a build up of waste? How much live rock do you have (this should be your main type of filtration) and whats your tank tunrover rate? Are you sure your ammonia just didn't spike on the first day and it's just taking a while to get down. I would give is a couple mroe weeks to you start worrying.

Also there are a number of corals that send tentacles out at nice. Could you get a pic?


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## always35 (Mar 29, 2006)

hey m8 
you don't really need to put the skimmer on yet as it shouldnt have anything much to do. I have been running my tank now for months, with fish and it doesnt need it yet. Dont forget in the beginning you need to build up algae etc so you want to keep as much goodness in the water as possible. 


Always


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## gdwb10101 (Apr 14, 2006)

I have about 50 lbs of live rock and 1.5 inches of live sand. I dont think that it spiked the first day, because wouldn't the nitrite begin to increase? Maybe not, this is my first tank so im not 100% on anything. My tank is not building up algae. I dont know why. I have the right kind of bulbs which are supposed to cultivate algae and i leave on my lights for 6-7 hours a day. 

I have not washed my filter media at all. I read that the only time to wash the filter media is every 2-3 weeks to prevent buildup. I can give that a try. Is it possible that there is not enough waste created by the 2 damsels and i should get more? I am putting a good amount of food which is also supposed to create ammonia along with the fish excrement. (This may sound wierd, because ive never seen a fish poop, but what does it look like?)

This is puzzling and frightening to a beginning aquarist. I have a powerhead that pumps up to 400gph, but i keep it a little lower. I also have my protein skimmer which provides flow, not sure how much. In addition, I have a spray bar attached to my canister filter and my power filter gives a lot of flow, again not sure how much. 

Ill try to get a pic of the thing, but my camera is pretty bad. Prolly gonna have to upgrade that soon, once the tank is settled and i have more cash in my pocket. Ill also send a picture of my polyps (or i think they are polyps).


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## gdwb10101 (Apr 14, 2006)

This link is for the stringy thing near the bottom hard to see
http://pictures.sprintpcs.com/i/120892409861_3300_1.jpg?

These are two green fans or something
http://pictures.sprintpcs.com/i/120892028165_3300_1.jpg?

This is the polyp (or so i think)
http://pictures.sprintpcs.com/i/120888910853_3300_1.jpg?


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## leveldrummer (May 27, 2005)

links are no good.


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## gdwb10101 (Apr 14, 2006)

Try again i think i fixed if not, i dont know how to fix


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## Fishfirst (Jan 24, 2005)

put them on photobucket! lol
`


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## leveldrummer (May 27, 2005)

no dice. yea ff is right, photo bucket is the way to go.


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## gdwb10101 (Apr 14, 2006)

K this is my first time w/ this photobucket so give me a break if it doesn't work.










(It is hard to see, but its a stringy thing that are tentacles, I was watching it today and it was grabbing the substrate, prolly eating leftover food










These are what I think are polyps, if they aren't they are still cool










I call these things green fans, I don't know if thats what they are but there cool 2


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