i have just set up a 25gal. saltwater tank and i have filled it with about a cm of coral sand and around 15kg's of coral rock (all of which i have used in an african cichlid tank for about 2years+) i have set the whole tank up (lights filters ect) and i have waited a week, testing for ammonia every day but the ammonia level is still a 0ppm and nitrIte level is also at 0ppm

i was told to put a small peice of mussel in the tank, which i did about 3days ago

is there anything i should be doing to 'trigger' the ammonia spike or is there anything i can do to speed it up?

this is my first marine tank and how long does it take for the spike to occur?

From what I understand if the coral has been in a freshwater tank before now it has already cycled and there won't be anything left on the rock to die off and create ammonia to feed the cycle. I'd try to find somebody local with some live rock to add to the tank to add good bacteria and maybe feed the tank for a while to keep the ammonia up too.

I'd still leave the tank for 4-6 weeks before considering adding anything else to the system.

Just wait, and be patient, another week or 2 and you'll see ammonia, and nitrite. Another month after that and all your readings should be zero.

Nothing good happens fast in a salt tank.

thanks, il leave it for a bit the mussel looks pretty discusting should i put a new one in or just leave it?

also, should i add biological additives once the ammonia and nitrIte are at there peaks?

Leave the mussell, doing what you want it do - decomposing.

No, you dont need to add anything.

i went away for the weekend thursday - monday and mussel is gone???????? it was in a mesh bag so i cant of just drifted away?

ammonia is still low (between 0ppm and 0.25ppm) and nitrIte is at 0ppm.

and half the coral in the tank is like a brown/orange colour??????

the journey has started :sage:

my ammonia level has finally gone up to 1-2ppm and has been sitting there for about 24hours, is this as high aas the ammonia will go?

is there anything i should do do aid the nitrogen cycle process eg, airation, water flow, aquarium starter chemicals eg, JBL denitrol ect.?

Sit back and wait.

i have just set up a 25gal. saltwater tank and i have filled it with about a cm of coral sand and around 15kg's of coral rock (all of which i have used in an african cichlid tank for about 2years+) i have set the whole tank up (lights filters ect) and i have waited a week, testing for ammonia every day but the ammonia level is still a 0ppm and nitrIte level is also at 0ppm

i was told to put a small peice of mussel in the tank, which i did about 3days ago

is there anything i should be doing to 'trigger' the ammonia spike or is there anything i can do to speed it up?

this is my first marine tank and how long does it take for the spike to occur?

You haven't used any medications, snail rid or similar when they were used in the FW tank, have you? Copper meds will contaminate the base rock and can poison any inverts you try to put in the tank when it's used in a saltwater.

i have not used any chemicals exept 'api algaefix marine' because about 2 weeks into the cycle i had a large bloom of algae that spread like wild fire over all the rocks and sand, my lps thinks it would have been triggered by the nutrience being released by the rocks. i wouldnt risk using freshwater chemicals/products on my tank.

i have not used any chemicals exept 'api algaefix marine' because about 2 weeks into the cycle i had a large bloom of algae that spread like wild fire over all the rocks and sand, my lps thinks it would have been triggered by the nutrience being released by the rocks. i wouldnt risk using freshwater chemicals/products on my tank.

coral sand and around 15kg's of coral rock (all of which i have used in an african cichlid tank for about 2years+

i think ira is talking about previous use of chemicals

oh :sml2:

um, ive used things like melafix and tonic and whitespot remover and biological additives but cichlids eat snails so i have never had to bother with snail killing products.

but i got the coral sand 2nd hand so who knows - but i will be keeping a fish only setup, im only 14 and cant really afford to get suitable lighting for corals and anemones.

whitespot remover

what did it contain and how long did you use it for

fish only should be OK

just personal opinion but i do not use any "instant fix chemicals" in my marine tanks

just lots of patience

yea im not sure - i havent used it for about a year or so - and i have only used it in my small treatment/qt tanks so only the smaller pieces of coral would have been in the tank with it.

if say, i had a marine fish that was sick in some way what would you do????

just personal opinion but i do not use any "instant fix chemicals" in my marine tanks

just lots of patience

+1, there is no way you should be adding anything to kill alage at this stage of your cycle - it is all normal, goodness knows what else is in it that you are adding to a new tank!!

LFS will sell you all sorts of crap, thats what they do and how they make money - most of these ____rid, or exit___ etc etc are crap, expensive and unneeded.