Cycle done already? That was fast...one week exactly..?

[makofury]

Hey everyone, I added 53 lbs of live rock and I have a 4" DSB w/ 45 lbs of live sand from this site, the other 100 lbs are Nature's Ocean Live Sand. I saw my ammonia peak on Thursday/Friday, it dropped to zero on Sunday, my nitrite peaked on Sunday, and now is at zero. Does this mean my cycle is over? I know it seems pretty quick but I do have live rock/live sand and a wet/dry filter. Also, there is a big diatom bloom in my tank, so can I order a clean-up crew now to take care of it? Thanks!
MakoFury

 

[justchillin]

how big is you tank???
what method are you using to cycle (shrimp/damsels)?
if you didn't add something to the tank to start the cycle (ex. uncooked shrimp) that the "mini cycle" you had most likely was just the die off from the lr...
let me know what size tank you have and what if any cycling methods you've used and i can more clearly answer your question...
mike

 

[makofury]

The tank is a 65 gallon. The ammonia spike and nitrite spike was just from live rock die off. I didn't add any raw shrimp or anything. Nitrite was was at the highest level indicated on the test kit, it dropped in about 3 days. Right now brown algae is covering the bottom of my tank and is starting to spread onto all of my live rock. Would adding raw shrimp cause another cycle? Hope this info helps.
Mako

 

[jake22]

I have pretty much about the same set up, and it also only took me a week to cycle my tank.

 

[ed r]

Yes your tank has cycled. However, the biological filter is not ready to handle a large bioload. It developed just enough bacteria to handle the ammonia from the die-off. Give the tank a couple days to make sure the ammonia and nitrite stay at zero. Then slowly add hardy creatures. As you add, the bacteria level in the live rock and sand will expand to handle the increase in bioload. Good luck with it.