Cycle problem, or is it over

marchingbandjs

marchingbandjs

Member
Heres the background.
I started a 38 gallon tank in the end of june. I put live sand in but no LR. I went away for 8-9 days and couldn't test the water. Now its 2 weeks later and the lvls of Nitrite and ammonium haven't changed, but the Nitrate is slowly climbing about 5 per week. Im starting to think that the tank cycled while i was away. 9 day should be enough for most of the cycle.... and, it might have started before i left.
What do you guys think.
I also have brown crude on my sand...
I use biomyze
 
tank a holic

tank a holic

Active Member
i never saw a spike during my cycle, I'd say you've cycled if all is zero but trAtes
as for the brown crud, you need to adjust your PH's you evidently have dead spots
 
marchingbandjs

marchingbandjs

Member
Alright So quick update.
There is im guessing die off on the sand still, and ima try to get my PH up. Water change?... on todays test levels were going Down.
And i got live rock.... 15 pounds... so i got half of what i need. Put in tank, there was very little die off.
Now working on getting a better protein skimmer, and a lighting system this weekend.
 
spanko

spanko

Active Member
If the live sand you put in the tank was the bagged stuff there was probably enough dead matter in there to initiate a cycle and what you see coming back is the end of it. So if you did nothing else you would have an establised biofilter (bacteria) in your tank capable of converting that small amount of matter.
Now that you have added live rock to the mix you will probably have another spike in ammonia until the bacteria colonizes to the new level of ammonia and nitrite being generated. Ifwhen you add more live rock this will happen again. Ifwhen you add a clean up crew this will happen again. Ifwhen you add fish and other critters this will happen again.
You see each time you are introducing a new source of ammonia and the bacteria has to colonize to that level again. This will happen until you have overwhelmed the tank area that the bacteria can colonize on. At that time you will have, if it ever happens, overstocked your tank.
Pretty quick description here, if I am not clear please ask more questions and others will probably chime in to.
 
d-man

d-man

Member
Originally Posted by spanko
http:///forum/post/3092071
If the live sand you put in the tank was the bagged stuff there was probably enough dead matter in there to initiate a cycle and what you see coming back is the end of it. So if you did nothing else you would have an establised biofilter (bacteria) in your tank capable of converting that small amount of matter.
Now that you have added live rock to the mix you will probably have another spike in ammonia until the bacteria colonizes to the new level of ammonia and nitrite being generated. Ifwhen you add more live rock this will happen again. Ifwhen you add a clean up crew this will happen again. Ifwhen you add fish and other critters this will happen again.
You see each time you are introducing a new source of ammonia and the bacteria has to colonize to that level again. This will happen until you have overwhelmed the tank area that the bacteria can colonize on. At that time you will have, if it ever happens, overstocked your tank.
Pretty quick description here, if I am not clear please ask more questions and others will probably chime in to.
but all this is not a "bad cycle" it is just changes in the tank needs, any of these things can cause a "bad cycle" but I have been able to do all of them (carefully and slowly) and not had a true bad cycle that could be a problem for my tank but as far as I know tanks are cycling all the time it's just how much and in what way so the key is to make your part of the cycle constant.... the one thing that I wonder about is why people talk about live rock in pounds we should be talking about surface area
 
spanko

spanko

Active Member
Not sure what the refernece you make to "bad cycle" is all about here D.
The other thing is you are correct about surface area being important, but I havn't seen a LFS selling rock at X$ per sqaure inch of surface yet. Is probably just easier to talk in terms of lbs.
 
marchingbandjs

marchingbandjs

Member
So the only thing i can do now is just wait for Ammonium and nitrite to settle. The Nitrates are in the 50's so should i do a water change or just wait.
There is a lot of brown stuff on sand now.
 
outsdr2

outsdr2

Member
I would do small daily water changes for a few days to keep the water quality heading in the right direction.
 
mopar9012

mopar9012

Active Member
Originally Posted by Marchingbandjs
http:///forum/post/3093199
So the only thing i can do now is just wait for Ammonium and nitrite to settle. The Nitrates are in the 50's so should i do a water change or just wait.
There is a lot of brown stuff on sand now.
i havent read the whole thread...i dont have the attention to do so
.
but anyways the brown stuff could just be diatoms...which could be from the cycle coming close to an end, lack of flow, tap water....etc.
those 3 reasons are the most common though.
 
marchingbandjs

marchingbandjs

Member
Mkay... update
Well there is alot of brown stuff.. all sand is covered... LR i think has some on it and the house i have in there has some...
I think ima get more power heads the ones i have are working a lil... i put them near bottom
And the cycle
Ammonia has just hit 0 so im hoping Nitrite will drop in next couple days.
Will the diatoms, if thats what they are, go away after cycle?
 
outsdr2

outsdr2

Member
Originally Posted by Marchingbandjs
http:///forum/post/3094852
Mkay... update
Well there is alot of brown stuff.. all sand is covered... LR i think has some on it and the house i have in there has some...
I think ima get more power heads the ones i have are working a lil... i put them near bottom
And the cycle
Ammonia has just hit 0 so im hoping Nitrite will drop in next couple days.
Will the diatoms, if thats what they are, go away after cycle?
What are you using when taking the water out? I would try to pull out the brown stuff when taking water out. Where does your water come from?
 
marchingbandjs

marchingbandjs

Member
Right from the sink, we have a well... was that a bad idea im think about using RO water from now on....
Mmm taking it out.. impossibly.. when u go to touch it it like vaporizes and is gone... but ill try a lil... just comes back
 
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