14 days of cycling

[ricky1066]

Hello I have had my 75 galolon tank cycling for 14 days All my reading except nitrate are 0 nitrate is between 10 and 20 I think because of the canister filter I had which I removed last night. So now it is 75 gallon tank 60 llbs live sand. 2 koralio #3 pwerheads and the oneDamsel clown That was recomended by fish town I added 2 days agao.
I wastold to add a cleaning crew But also told not to ovepopulate the tank ?
Is it ok to add some cleaners now? if so any recomendations.. My wife is hounding me for a starfish But what do you guys recomend?

 

[sk8r_dave]

The cycle only took 14 days? It usualy takes longer than that... . Anyway, cleaning crew, usualy consists of hermits, and snails. I say no to a starfish, because they need a meture tank (6 months or so.) It would help if other people could cime in...
^ It would be better to wait. sorry about the pevius post...

 

[ricky1066]

Well here lies the Problem I have heard yes to the water change and then I have been told no becuase it shuld sit for a while longer?
I will not do anything until I hear more results But the damsel clown is doin gok.

 

[dmjordan]

i would hold off on adding anything. i would also get some amquel + incase your ammonia decides to spike. there is no way, that i can see, that a tank has started and completed a cycle in 14 days. did you test your parameters everyday? my guess would be that the clown hasn't added enough ammonia into your tank yet to start the cycle. you need to test all parameters everyday during your cycle to make sure your tank did actually cycle. tell your wife she will have to wait a while for any starfish. i would not do a water change either.
i would take the fish back to the store and throw a raw shrimp or 2 in the tank and start the cycle. once ammonia has spiked take the shrimp out and test water daily. i would only do a water change during a cycle if the amonia gets to 1 ppm.

 

[ejensen]

I had a short cycle once but it's only because i was using LR from my other tank. I would not change any water. Let the tank become strong without any of your help. Do you have any LR? If not I would invest in some before buying and fish. That should send your tank though a cycle.

 

[m0nk]

Well, here's the thing; cycles can take any number of days. I had one take 2 weeks, I had one tank take 3 days, and one that's been going a month and still has nitrite (it's a QT that's not needed yet). So, long story short, you can't say just because it's taken only 2 weeks that it really didn't get a good enough cycle.
If your ammonia spiked and went down, and nitrite spiked and went down, with the level of nitrate you have, I would say your cycle is complete. This means you can do a water change (which will lower the nitrate levels). DON'T add chemicals to your tank such as amquel, there's no need for it if you're not registering ammonia, and adding chemicals is something I will only do when absolutely necessary. Now, if you've already added a fish (and as long as ammonia and nitrite were already at 0 when you added the fish), just keep an eye on the ammonia levels and if you don't see any show up for a day or two then yes, you can add a cleanup crew. Chances are you're safe at this point. The biggest concern is that there was enough time to build-up the biological filtration, but if you had a true cycle, that shouldn't be an issue. That's the reason to test for ammonia now that it's done, so that you can be sure that the bacteria is able to sufficiently break down the food/detritus before it breaks down into ammonia.

 

[dmjordan]

Originally Posted by m0nk
Well, here's the thing; cycles can take any number of days. I had one take 2 weeks, I had one tank take 3 days, and one that's been going a month and still has nitrite (it's a QT that's not needed yet). So, long story short, you can't say just because it's taken only 2 weeks that it really didn't get a good enough cycle.
If your ammonia spiked and went down, and nitrite spiked and went down, with the level of nitrate you have, I would say your cycle is complete. This means you can do a water change (which will lower the nitrate levels). DON'T add chemicals to your tank such as amquel, there's no need for it if you're not registering ammonia, and adding chemicals is something I will only do when absolutely necessary. Now, if you've already added a fish (and as long as ammonia and nitrite were already at 0 when you added the fish), just keep an eye on the ammonia levels and if you don't see any show up for a day or two then yes, you can add a cleanup crew. Chances are you're safe at this point. The biggest concern is that there was enough time to build-up the biological filtration, but if you had a true cycle, that shouldn't be an issue. That's the reason to test for ammonia now that it's done, so that you can be sure that the bacteria is able to sufficiently break down the food/detritus before it breaks down into ammonia.
i didn't say to ADD amquel. i said they should get some to have on hand incase the ammonia spiked (because there is already a fish in there). the nitrate reading could just be from the water they are using and not necessarily the nitrate left over from a cycle. we need to know if the water ever spiked at all. did the tank ever start its nitrogen cycle or did we just let the tank be and 2 weeks later test the water and assume that the cycle has started and finished. not to mention that there is 60 lbs of LS in the tank but no LR. the fish has only been in the tank for 2 days. I see nothing that would have started the cycle at all. no source of ammonia mentioned except for the fish that was added 2 days ago.

 

[m0nk]

Originally Posted by dmjordan
i didn't say to ADD amquel. i said they should get some to have on hand incase the ammonia spiked (because there is already a fish in there). the nitrate reading could just be from the water they are using and not necessarily the nitrate left over from a cycle. we need to know if the water ever spiked at all. did the tank ever start its nitrogen cycle or did we just let the tank be and 2 weeks later test the water and assume that the cycle has started and finished. not to mention that there is 60 lbs of LS in the tank but no LR. the fish has only been in the tank for 2 days. I see nothing that would have started the cycle at all. no source of ammonia mentioned except for the fish that was added 2 days ago.
I missed that there was no live rock.
Also, as far as the starfish, you can't add one of those until your tank has matured (6-12 months) as they don't do well in new tanks.

 

[m0nk]

Oh, and I forgot about this:
If the tank hasn't gone through a proper cycle (ammonia spike, goes down, nitrite spike, goes down), then get the fish back to the LFS and let it cycle properly asap. Then you won't need to get the amquel.

 

[ricky1066]

ok i DID START the tank with 75 pounds of lIve rock And 60 pounds of live sand, I tested it 4 days i the 2 weeks and the amonia only went as hight as 0.50 then it went back down everything else was 0 excpet nitrates which have been that way for a few days .
Fish was in for 2 days now no spikes.
Thank you

 

[ricky1066]

jUST DID ALL THE TEST AGAIN 14 DAY CYCLE AND 2 DAYS OF THE DAMSEL CLOWN FISH
aLL THE tests are 0 except the nitrate which is 15 for two days now
the ph is 7.8

 

[m0nk]

Originally Posted by Ricky1066
ok i DID START the tank with 75 pounds of lIve rock And 60 pounds of live sand, I tested it 4 days i the 2 weeks and the amonia only went as hight as 0.50 then it went back down everything else was 0 excpet nitrates which have been that way for a few days .
Fish was in for 2 days now no spikes.
Thank you
So it sounds like you had a good start, but I'm wondering about nitrite. You said ammonia went up (that's actually about where most of the more experienced people would do a water change, just so there's not too much die off from the live rock) and everything else was 0? For a proper cycle, the nitrite should have spiked as well.

 

[ricky1066]

Well as I ssaid I am trying to get cleared up is should I do a water change or not?
What is considered a spike I keep hearing wait to the numbers spike then go down .
I was also told to not change the water during the cycle ?
So i am alittle confused..I have just purchased some water form petland (yes I know Oh petland) I was passig it is nutri seawater
11,000,000 bacteria a gallon 100% natural live ocean seawater only bought the bucket of 4 gallons it says it is planktonic
Should I use that or do more of a change?

 

[dmjordan]

i would still not do a water change until i at least tested the cycle. feed the tank or put a shrimp in it to see if you spike. if you don't spike than your tank has produced enough bacteria in it to sustain marine life.
as far as the nutri seawater...just be careful. i don't know the SG you keep your tank at but nutri seawater is at 1.027. if you keep yours lower than this you will need to mix with ro or ro/di water before adding it to your tank. otherwise the increase in salinty could be detrimental to your fish.

 

[ricky1066]

well I guess I have been lucky had the fish for 3 days no spike I just have that drop in salt which I will go today and buy some salt take out 4 gallons from the tank and put in3 cups of salt (into the 4`gallons ) alitlle more then uual to raise it up alll should be ok then.
NOw I asked about a few cleanersbecause I am feeding the fish and he is going to the bathroom so someone has to cleanit.
So should I pick up a couple while I am at the pet store