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Little bit patientand do regular wc will help to reduce your ammonia level.
My tank has been cycling for about 3 weeks but 2ppm of ammonia is still present. I'm using shrimp soil so addition of ammonia is not needed as it leaches ammonia. I'm using api water tester, readings show 2 ppm ammonia, no nitrite but 10ppm of nitrate. What exactly is happening? ?
Little bit patient
3 weeks are very short.. A lot of cases I seen that people cycled their shrimp tank for more than 2 months.. Be patience. Cheers
How often do I do water changes
So when is it safe to add shrimps
If you can see nitrate readings, then it means the cycle is progressing... it takes time for the beneficial bacteria population to grow large enough to process all the ammonia (hence the tank still has detectable ammonia levels) so you just have to wait.
Since there are not fishes or shrimps in the tank, you can do large 40%-50% water changes every 2-3 days, that will help reduce the remaining excess ammonia. Very little of the beneficial bacteria are in the water, the majority of them are in the substrate, tank surfaces and filter bio-media, so large or frequent water changes will not adversely affect your cycle process.
It'll be safer to add shrimps once you see ammonia and nitrite stay at 0ppm for a few days, and nitrate only showing readings. Try to keep nitrates under 40ppm, and ideally under 10-20ppm. Once the tank is fully cycled, do water changes to reduce the nitrate levels before adding the shrimps.
But why is the nitrite level always 0??
The bacteria that convert ammonia to nitrite (ie. Nitrosomonas species) and the bacteria that convert nitrite to nitrate (ie. Nitrobacter species) are different, and they have different growth rates.Originally Posted by Arron
When you see ammonia and nitrate showing ppm readings, but nitrites seem to still stay at 0ppm, it doesn't mean that step is skipped, it just means the Nitrobacter bacteria is converting nitrate into nitrate as fast as its being produced, so the nitrite becomes undetectable. This is quite a common occurrence.
Think of it as sort of like a factory production line, where the worker at the back of the line just happens to be working abit faster than the one in front.
Unless you are constantly testing the nitrite levels every hour, those levels might actually still be spiking up slightly for very short periods of time and then dropping back to 0ppm without you even knowing.
Last edited by Urban Aquaria; 5th Mar 2014 at 14:04.
There is a very good explanation found here.
http://freshaquarium.about.com/cs/bi...rogencycle.htm
Happy reading.
I am balding but i am still young!
Off to a side not, anyone know if crs is a good beginner shrimp
CRS are usually not recommended for beginners as they tend to require a much narrower range of water parameters and cooler temperatures to thrive and breed... RCS are easier for beginners as they can tolerate a much wider range of water parameters and temperatures.
NEW TANK UPDATE: I added atm coloney and after 2 days ammonia level dropped from 2ppm to around 1but nitrate level is through the roof at 200ppm
Is this a good sign? ?
Well, it just means the bottled bacteria solution you added introduced more types of bacteria to consume and convert the ammonia and nitrites... eventually when your ammonia and nitrite become 0, then your tank can be considered cycled.
After the tank is cycled, do remember to do a few large water changes to flush out all the excess nitrates before adding livestock.
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