cycling issues

[liolios]

Hello,

I have a 3 gallon aquarium cycling for 5 weeks now but still no algae. The ph is about 7-7.5, the salinity is 1.015. I have the LED light on a timer for 12 hours a day. I checked the ammonia and it is between 0.5 and 1.0. I used RO and marine salt mix and have rinsed gravel on the bottom and a rinsed black sea fan as the only decorations at this point.

I would think it would have cycled by now. Maybe I shouldn't have put in the sea fan? Maybe it is causing the ammonia?
Any suggestions would be welcome.


Thanks
Lee

[Mustafa]

Hi Lee,

Take out that sea fan immediately. It is decaying in your tank and affecting the water chemistry. I just posted about it in a topic titled: "Attempt #1 = Fail " Look it up on the main Supershrimp forum page. You should do a 90+ percent water change with new brackish water. That's the best option. The other option would be to just wait after taking out the sea fan so that your water parameters "settle down" slowly over time, but there is not telling when your tank would be ready for animals. It could be many weeks from now. When you change your water you are not resetting your "cycle". You can most likely put in the animals immediately afterwards.

Just to make sure that we have covered all corners, can you post a picture of your tank so we can see what else might be a problem? Also, what kind of test kit did you use to measure the pH? Drop tests are more accurate than dip tests.

[liolios]

Thanks for the quick response. I'll remove the sea fan and do a water change as you say.

I'm using API Ammonia NH3/NH4 test kit for ammonia and API test strips 5 in 1 for ph, nitrite, nitrate, GH, and KH.
Like you said the strips are not as accurate. I'll buy a drop test kit.

Thanks
Lee

[Mustafa]

Good! Let us know how things go!

[liolios]

Hello,

It has been 2 days since I removed the sea fan and performed a 90% water change. I tested ammonia again just now and it is slightly dark yellow which on my kit means between 0.0 and 0.25. Is this sufficient for adding shrimp, or should I wait until it is clearly at 0.0?

My shrimp and snails are arriving tomorrow.


Thanks
Lee

[Dch48]

My API master test kit ammonia tests never show the exact same color as the 0 on the chart when testing any of my 4 tanks. They are always just slightly different. Different meaning never as bright yellow as the cards show. I would say that as long as there is no greenish tint, you are good to go.

[liolios]

Thanks Dch48! Looking forward to getting the shrimp tomorrow.


Lee

[liolios]

I've had my new shrimp (30) for 10 days now and all has been good so far.

Yesterday I put in a speck of food (hikari micro pellet) and this morning they are all swimming around crazy. I checked the water:
- nitrate and nitrate are 0
- ph is 7.5
- ammonia is slightly green, about 0.25

Should I be concerned about the ammonia reading?
Should I do a partial water change?

Thanks
Lee

[Dch48]

Be careful with Hikari foods. They contain copper sulfate. Omega One foods do not. I think the best food for these shrimp is pure powdered spirulina algae which can be found online and is inexpensive. I put a little in every other week and the shrimp go crazy hunting it down. I just mix the amount that sticks to a dry round toothpick into the distilled water I'm using to top off the tank.

[Varanus]

That said the "swimming around like crazy" activity normally means a female has become receptive and the males are frantically trying to find her. They notice she's near by her scent.

[skylorvivo88]

Yea I litarly only put lava rock and live plants from this site .

[liolios]

I had a berried female and caught a video just now of some of the babies hatching!
Pretty cool. I'll see about editing the video down a bit and uploading it.

Lee

[liolios]

Looks like I was not able to upload a video so here are a few photos.
I'm very excited to see so many babies after just a few months!


Lee

[SuperProofer]

Congrats!