Carbon Question

[bededog]

I set up my tank with carbon in two of the trays in my canister filter. Mostly because that is what the LFS told me I needed. Will all that carbon keep my tank from cycling? I have had the tank up for nearly 6 weeks. I started with three damsels as per the LFS recommendation without any mention of a cycle. Two have since died. I bought two nice pieces of uncured live rock three days ago and put them in the tank. I also had a shimp in the tank for about 36 hours before I put in the LR. I took the shrimp out thinking that it would be too much ammonia with the live rock going in uncured.
Tank: 46 gallon
Fluval 404 Canister Filter
One Maxi Jet 600 powerhead
Skimmer should be here any day now
35 pounds base rock
10 pounds live rock
40 pounds crushed coral
20 pounds live sand
Readings: Ammonia < 0.5, Nitrite 0, Nitrate 0, pH 8.2, temp 81
Any suggestions on what to do would be helpful. Thanks in advance.

 

[daniel411]

What else do you have as a medium in your canister filter? Really, carbon is a chemical/mechanical filter. It won't be a major factor in your tank cycling IMP Reading ammonia indicates your tank is still cycleing. You lost the damsels most likely due to the tank not being cycled. Though cycling with damsels used to be quite common in this hobby. Best thing now is patience.... let the cycle run its course.

 

[bededog]

I have two trays of the ceramic tube things. I forget the actual name for them. I have been very patient. Six weeks and the ammonia hasn't moved. It has been about 0.25 to 0.50 the whole time. I plan to still be patient but I figured I would have seen a spike of ammonia or at least more elevated levels by now.
Thanks for the help.

 

[beaslbob]

Carbon may but probably not interferr with the cycle.
I sounds as if your tank has not cycled. I was looking for an increase in nitrAtes as the end product of the cycle. But then it is possible you LR has enough plant life on it to keep nitrAtes at 0.0
I would not trust ammonia readings at those low levels. My kit continuously show low ammonia with no adverse affect on livestock. If it gets into the green range than you definately have something going on. Also you could miss the ammonia spike because it happened in a few hours.
I trust nitrIte test much more. Seeing some dark blue to red means you have some. And with no feeding of fish they should return back to 0.0 in a few days.
I would add plant life. and try cycling with a single male molly. And don't feed that fish for a week.
Good luck and hope it works.

 

[bang guy]

I think you were near the end of your cycle when you added the shrimp and you're just about done now. Do you have a first fish in mind? If so you may wish to add it soon if it's a hardy one.
The Carbon is probably just acting as addition biofiltration by now and it will have no effect whatsoever on your cycle.

 

[bededog]

I don't think I have cycled yet. There is some plant life on the live rock but it has only been in there for three days. Also, I have been testing about every other day and have not seen any ammonia level above 0.50 and I have never had a recordable reading of Nitrite or Nitrate.
Another question: A lot of people have said that since I started with damsels to get the cycle going that I should not feed them or feed them very little. I have fed them twice a day and sometime even put a lot of food in so that some of it would hopefully get me some sort of ammonia spike. I still have never seen anything as that would make me think that my tank is cycled.
The orange sponge things and some of the other stuff on my uncured live rock is starting to turn white and I assume that is what it looks like when it is dying. Maybe I will get a spike sometime in the next few days.
Oh......and I still have the one all blue damsel. He/She has been in the tank for about a month.