No spike

[Sunnie]

Hello again, guys!

I've been testing the levels on my 46g periodically since setting it up 3/17. I set it up with cured LR/LS from a well-established tank that was transported in water from the same tank and placed in my tank less than 8 hours later, so I didn't expect any huge spikes. All I've gotten is a slightly increased (<0.5ppm) NH3. Nothing else. The tank has been up for 2 and a half weeks. Am I in the clear to put in a cleaner crew, or should I wait a couple more weeks?

Meanwhile, my nano levels are still up. I've got ~0.5ppm NH3 and 5ppm NO3. I did a 2g water change last week, and a 1g change yesterday. While everyone looks fine, I'm wondering if I should do a larger change (3-5g?) this week or just wait it out.

I took some pics this weekend of my bfs tanks, including the corals he's babysitting for me. I'll post some of those pics soon. He also took my larger leather and large blue mushroom for me. The leather was saggy for a few days, and the mushroom never fully relaxed, so I thought they'd do better in his 20g tank, which has 6wpg as opposed to my 2wpg. Yeah, now that I know a bit more about lighting I'm pretty disappointed that all the nano has is 2. The DX has 4, so I'm contemplating upgrading to a DX hood or getting a custom once I run into some more moola.

[Sunnie]

The bf said the same thing about water changes during cycling. All I've done is top it off.

So far the ammonia has not gone back to zero yet, though it's getting very close. I use a sera kit, and Monday night it was barely green at all.

I'm definately not going to add anything until it does, but I was curious as to what's been going on. Definately didn't want to jump the gun.

Thanks Travis!

[Travis]

Hi Sunnie,

If you got that small of an ammonia spike, and with the already-seeded LR, I would think you're good to go. How long since the ammonia went back to zero?

On the nano, IMO water changes during a cycle just prolong the cycling process. But there are definitely different schools of thought on this!

T