Tank not cycling ?

[blackpuma]

Hi

My water parameters after two weeks are.

Ammonia 0.25

NO2 0.05

NO3 <1mg/L

I am using cured LR from other reefers and did not use a prawn to cycle. I have 2 schools of thought. There is no LS in the tank and therefore no ammonia to feed the bacteria in the LR to produce NO3.

The 2nd thot is the tank has not gone thru the ANN cycle and hence the absence of NO3.

Can I try to stock the tank once the Ammonia goes to 0 hoping that the LR biological filter has enough bacteria to cope since I am using cured life rock or is it better to use a market prawn to cycle the tank to go through the ANN cycle anyway.

Kindly enlighten, I do not want to stock the tank yet in case if there is a ammonia spike if the bacteria in the LR is unable to handle the waste from the LS.

Thanks.

[hammer99]

Please be patient

[Archilles19]

Did U add any maturing fluid to speed up the process?......could be that there's insufficient bacteria to cope with the dead organism from the LR....U can try those maturing fluid if U wan....

[prec]

maybe u shld just throw in a prawn to get ammonia levels up.. since u r using matured LRs.

[barnacle]

juz wait for another 2 wks and check for ammonia and n02

[barnacle]

anyway u did the rite thing

[jackal]

Have patience and you will have a healthy LS and corals. BTW this hobby must have lots of patience. Don't be foolish to be in a hurry to stock up your tank. One false move and your tank will crash. Good luck

[blackpuma]

thanks for all the advice.

I will wait as long as it takes for the ammonia to drop to 0

[shoelevy]

eh but if it doesn't drop at the end of 6weeks then sth is really wrong

so don't wait wait until cows come home