cycling question

[funkincredible]

ok heres the situation: i have a 55 that i am trying to cycle. i have about 4 inches of sand bed, and maybe like 10-15 lbs of live rock that had already come out of a cycled tank. i have 2 damsles, originally 3 but one died, i just left it in there to help get a spike. Its just not happening though. i added the fish around july 25th or so. after the first couple of days the levels have staye about the same. amonia has stayed about .5, nitrite about .15 and nitrate right around 5. ph has been a constant 8.2 and SG is constant as well. i am getting a super ammount of brown colored algae all over, and all i am cleaning is the glass. is it better for the tank to spike high on everything, or will this pansy constant stuff do a good enough job?

 

[jimi]

Seeing as your rock is cured you will most likely never see an ammonia spike with two damsels. That is the advantage of using live rock. the nitrifying bacteria are already present. What are your intentions for the tank? My advice would be to buy all the cured live rock you intend to buy first then check your levels for a week and begin your stocking plan slowly. A cycle is nothing more then waste being converted it happens very rapidly and constantly in an established tank because of the amount of bacteria present. All tanks do not go through a standard 45 day cycle. It depends what you start with. You can take a tank fill it with cured live rock and begin stocking almost immediately without ever having an ammonia spike or start with nothing and wait 60 days for bacteria to multiply enough to convert the waste.

 

[tbmoore]

I am rather new but just finished a 110 gal reef end of may. It sounds like you need about another 80lb of live rock. Almost everytime I put in new rock it still had to cycle some so it was better to go ahead and put in as much as possible. I also have four max12 pumps (one in each of the back corners to just keep the water moving. I had a skimmer too small and not putting out which also held me back. Got a new and better skimmer (preditor) and tank snapped to attention.. Coraline alge growing on rear glass and with phosphate sponge changes every couple of days. I think it ended up costing me time and money by not doing it right the first time. I also got some crap live rock to start with.. finally found someone who worked out of house (taking care of hospitals, offices, ect) whohad the real thing. Had to search hard but it did make a difference. Go ahead and load it up with good rock.. you will see the difference real quick. good luck.. terry

 

[funkincredible]

I was only planning on getting another couple of large pieces of live rock, about the size of a football. I'm planning on adding another power filter and will have a snowflake and a dwarf lion when I can afford to get the tank completely done.

 

[dmh]

Okay, the 55 I just set up is exactly as you describe yours. I put in a ton of base rock, a few chunks of live rock to get some coraline going eventually, but instead of using damsels, I just threw in some fish food to rot and supply the ammonia. I have been cycling for a few weeks, and the ammonia is right at .5 (constantly) and the nitrates slowly rose to .5 and have stabilized. I also added a bacteria culture, but if your live rock was decent you can probably get by without it. It is okay if it doesn't spike, but when you add fish, be sure to add slowly so the bacteria can grow to accomidate your needs if their aren't enough. Sounds like you should be fine though.
It takes time, especially with the small amount of LR we started with. Those nitrifying bacteria have to grow off of that low level of ammonia, which is why it takes several weeks usually. If you throw in a little fish food it should speed it up some. More waste = more ammonia = more bacteria = eventually clean readings. Be patient.