Mike A Posted April 2, 2020 Share Posted April 2, 2020 I've been cycling my 65 gallon for about a week and a half using the shrimp method. My ammonia is at 1.5, nitrites at 2, and nitrates at about 50. Is this normal? I thought I would see an ammonia spike. Maybe it's still coming. First time cycling a tank. Any advice/thoughts appreciated. Thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Muttley000 Posted April 2, 2020 Share Posted April 2, 2020 Sometimes the ammonia spike can be short lived but every cycle is different. My last couple I got stuck on nitrites for what seemed an eternity. When that ammonia goes to zero I would feed the tank again, but that nitrate number makes me think you are well on your way jeff70 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joe Posted April 3, 2020 Share Posted April 3, 2020 Just give it another week and see what happens. It seems there is more ammonia than nitrites can consume and more nitrates that can stable the carbon cycle. As Muttley stated, every cycle is different. But given enough time, it will straighten out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike A Posted April 6, 2020 Author Share Posted April 6, 2020 Thanks for the comments. Much appreciated! As of today my ammonia is less than .15, nitrites are at .25 and nitrates are crazy high (like 100). Should I do a water change to get nitrates down or just let the cycle continue to play out? Thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Muttley000 Posted April 6, 2020 Share Posted April 6, 2020 I always let the ammonia go to zero before doing a water change, but that doesn’t mean you can’t do one, a hundred is pretty high and you are going to have to do a few changes to get it to where you want it. I would ghost feed the tank once you start water changes and continue to monitor Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike A Posted April 6, 2020 Author Share Posted April 6, 2020 Thanks Muttley! I still have a piece of shrimp in filter sock. Should I remove at this point? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Muttley000 Posted April 6, 2020 Share Posted April 6, 2020 I would personally Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AndrewSPS Posted April 6, 2020 Share Posted April 6, 2020 Remove the shrimp. Keep the lights off. Raise the temperature to speed up reproduction of bacteria. Lower the salinity so the bacteria can spend more time reproducing versus wasting energy maintaining their shape. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jesse Posted April 7, 2020 Share Posted April 7, 2020 8 hours ago, AndrewSPS said: Remove the shrimp. Keep the lights off. Raise the temperature to speed up reproduction of bacteria. Lower the salinity so the bacteria can spend more time reproducing versus wasting energy maintaining their shape. How high can you raise the temperature? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AndrewSPS Posted April 7, 2020 Share Posted April 7, 2020 Just now, Jesse said: How high can you raise the temperature? Dr. Tim did a Macna presentation on this and his recommendations. I believe he recommended above 84 degrees. Here’s a link to his presentation that it’s well worth watching. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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