ammonia at 0, nitrite at 0, nitrate around 15

socko6774

Member
now what? am i done cycling? its only been like a week and a half.
i think im supposed to do a water change? if so how much, 25%?
and after that what do u recommend i put in there as a first fish, or should i do clean up crew?
again, i have a 29 gallon tank, with about 40 lbs of live rock and live sand.
 

rs1831

Active Member
If its only been a week and a half I would try feeding the tank a little more to see if the ammonia goes up at all. Worst case you just wait a little longer to put fish in but if the tanks not ready it could save you money. I would wait another week while feeding the tank and if nothing goes up I would do a water change to bring down the nitrates and then add a good sized clean up crew. Do you know what kinds of fish that you want in your tank?
Good luck.
 

sepulatian

Moderator
After a week and a half it is no where near done cycling. Add more fish food as stated above. Its going to be at least 4 weeks
 

whyamisofl

Active Member
Mine cycled (150 gallon) within 6 days. 1.5 months later and everything is still going fantastic. Have 1 maroon clown, 4 emerald crabs, 12 asteris snails, and a cc star...
 

dut

Member
Originally Posted by whyamisofl
Mine cycled (150 gallon) within 6 days. 1.5 months later and everything is still going fantastic. Have 1 maroon clown, 4 emerald crabs, 12 asteris snails, and a cc star...
It didnt completly cycle in 6 days, Im sure that after that time you prob had a ammonia spike go unnoticed. Ive heard of peoples tanks testing for ammonia and then "cycling" less then a week later. Its not completly cycled at that point, any waste product will cause another ammonia spike since not much of the beneficial bacteria has been established into the system.
 

socko6774

Member
actually, its ben 15 days, so a day over 2 weeks.
but i'll take all your advice and keep feeding the tank to see what happenns, im in no hurry.
as for the fish i want... not sure yet, i have to research a bit more. :thinking:
 

teen

Active Member
Originally Posted by sepulatian
After a week and a half it is no where near done cycling. Add more fish food as stated above. Its going to be at least 4 weeks
not true, a tank can cycle in less then 4 weeks. a week and a half does sound a little quick, but tanks can cycle in two and a half weeks.
my 30 gallon cycled in two weeks and like three days or somthing, and that was using 3lbs live sand, 30lbs uncured LR and adding two muscles that i cracked open and threw in. theres no way i was getting just a mini cyle from all that.
 

tugglife2

Member
My tank cycled in 5 days. I used about 30 lbs of live sand, 40 lbs of live rock, and ocean water. This in a 38 gallon tank.
Haven't noticed any ammonia spikes a month later.
 

threed240

Member
If you use LS and LR that is cured, your tank can almost instantly cycle. I have a 10 gal with 20lbs of ls and 20lbs of cured lr and it cycled in a few days. The live rock was definitly cured before I placed it in the tank. So, tanks can cycle in days instead of weeks.
 

gexkko

Member
Exactly, saying a tank cannot cycle in under four weeks is ridiculous. If you start with only uncured live rock (or base rock for that matter) and play sand or cc, then yes, it will take 4+ weeks to cycle. If you start with as much ls/lr as he had in that small of a tank, it is quite possible to cycle that quickly. Mine sure did.
Before you say it was just a mini-cycle, I had an ammonia spike that lasted for a few days, gradually came down as trites went up, and those gradually came down as trates went up. About the time that the trites were climbing I added a 10g fuge with 20lbs more ls and some caulerpa. There was a little die-off in the caulerpa, but I left it to "feed" the tank a bit more and make sure I was getting a real cycle. Sure enough, even with the decaying plant material the ammonia still dropped to 0, trites to 0, and my trates have been at a steady 10.
However, I'm not rushing to add fish by any means. I'm just as wary as anyone else about the quick cycle, so I added a moderate sized clean-up crew to increase the bioload a bit (I am also lightly feeding the crew since there is no waste from fish atm). So far, nothing has changed measurably. I'm going to give it another week and keep testing, just to be sure.
I guess this long post is just trying to show that a tank can and will cycle in under 4 weeks given the right amount of lr/ls...
 

socko6774

Member
thanks guys!! im gonna let it cycle a bit longer just to be on hte safe side and copntinue to feed the tank, ill throw in a small cleaning crew ina week or so
 

gexkko

Member
Probably a good idea. I wasn't saying to rush livestock into the tank. Its always better to let it age a bit just to be safe. You can't hurt anything by giving it a longer time to establish itself :)
 
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