120 gal tank not cycling

biscuit · 01-09-2004, 06:57 AM

I have a 120 gal tank w/ ~130 lb of LR. I set it up over ten weeks ago. Have had up to 18 damsels in tank. Now just 2 blues, a domino and a clown. I tried adding cocktail shrimp. 4 the first time and 3 more when the ammonia levels came back down. The highest the ammonia has been is 1. It stays at .5. I want to try adding ammonia but thought I would ask before I kill the fish. Additional info: No water change, Aq. Pharmaceuticals test kit, tidepool biowheel filter, med and large coral bottom,
Ph stays at 8.2 Nittrites and nitrates 0, and temp 78

tangcrazy · 01-09-2004, 07:40 AM

It has been my experience that you do not want to add any more chemicals to your tank then you have to. I would defenately start doing water changes. I may be wrong here but a 10 week old tank is old enough to start a regular water change cycle. Your tank should be on the bottom side of the cycle nearing the end. I would never add ammonia to one of my tanks but there are a lot of fish keepers here with more experience then me. I would ask that question on a new thread and see what they say.

traip93 · 01-09-2004, 08:43 AM

if you are just setting up at tank, read this article, it's great...scroll down under the micro bubble "MYTH"

http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2004-01/eb/index.htm

beach bum · 01-09-2004, 12:10 PM

Do you have any algae growth yet?

What happened to the other damsels?

It probably has cycled and you just have a funky test kit for ammonia.

traip93 · 01-09-2004, 12:31 PM

read that article for real, it will answer all your questiones. It illustrates exactly what happends in the first few years of a tanks "maturity"

biscuit · 01-09-2004, 01:12 PM

The damsels died. Four got sucked up into powerheads before I covered the intake. There is hairy looking algae and bubble algae. There are feather dusters and what seem to be small anemones, and a clam. There are snails and even a pretty good sized crab. All were on the live rock.

traip93 · 01-10-2004, 11:03 PM

you need to read man...

biscuit · 01-11-2004, 01:22 AM

Thanks. Good article.

JennM · 01-11-2004, 11:23 AM

Aquarium Pharm test kits are junk. We all bought them because they were inexpensive... been there, done that.

IMO replace it with either Seachem or Salifert.

If your rock was cured, you might not have needed to go through all that with damsels and rotting shrimp... if the rock was cured you didn't need to go through all that with damsels and rotting shrimp.

Get your LFS to test your water (unless they use the AP test kit

) and post the results and we can go from there.

Chances are you're cycled, and need to start regular maintenance, and can s-l-o-w-l-y begin with livestock.

Whatever you do, don't add any more rotting matter, ammonia or pee.

Jenn

salt creepette · 01-11-2004, 01:20 PM

wow, nobody even welcomed biscuit yet!

WELCOME to TRT, the friendliest place on the net!

that said, I read the article linked too, and boy is it great. we all had a lot of reading to do when we started our tanks.

do you have any basic books yet, like The Conscientious Marine Aquarist by Robert Fenner, or The Natural Reef Aquarium (I believe by Tullock)?

I would just leave your tank be for now except maybe start with weekly water changes, and do a lot of research and reading, while your tank stabilizes. I know the tendency is "what can I do to help my aquarium?" but sometimes you just have to pretty much for the most part just do minimal maintenance and let it sort itself out. keep us updated, we really do want to know how it goes!

I would like to know though, does your tank have a sump or skimmer of any kind? are you running carbon in your filter at all? and what kind of lighting do you have now?

--Erin