I am cycled,need some advice

[saltfreak4]

Ok, I think I am completely cycled.
Ammonia at 0
nitrites at 0
trates at 40
alk 300 ppm
ph 8.0
First, this tank has been up since friday, so should I wait to add anything?
Second, is it important to get something in there to continue the cycle as quickly as possible?
The reason why this tank cycled so fast is because I used rock from a store that was already in a tank, I don't want to say cured because it really wasn't. My ammonia spike pretty hard on monday. But everything looks ok now, but I don't want to lose anything or put a bioload on the system it can't handle.
Thanks everybody

 

[mandarin w]

You will almost always get your LR at a LFS already in a tank.
I would say your tank isn't cycled yet. It has only been 5 days. I takes longer than that. Even taking all my rock from a tank I had running for three years, that I knew was live my cycle lasted two weeks.
You have to wait for the amonia to spike, then it turns to nitrite, you will have a nitrite spike and then the nitrite turns to nitrate, Lastly you will have a nitrate spike and then it will go to zero. After it gets all the way back down to zero, you can do a water change. and then add a cleaning crew. Cleaning Crew does not consist of fish or corals, And your hermits, and snails, Give them a few weeks to do their job and gives to tank time to build up enough good bacteria to handle the cleaning crew, and then some extra to handle a fish when ready. About 2 to 3 weeks after you added the clean up crew.

 

[saltfreak4]

My ammonia spiked on monday. My trites spiked on Tuesday. Everything is at zero currently except the trates. Also, I meant that my LR wasn't shipped. So, I should have minimal die off.

 

[saltfreak4]

BTW, the trates won't go to zero by itself, will it? The WC is for that, or plant material.

 

[saltfreak4]

bump, please

 

[nigerbang]

5 days...It took my 92 5 weeks to cycle..I would wait to add any livestock for around..dunno a month and keep tabs on the water just to make sure..

 

[saltfreak4]

maybe because mine is so small? Don't know, but the numbers are low. I am concerned about waiting because without the complete cycle will the bio stop working?

 

[petieaztec]

how big is the tank? and it should take a couple weeks. like the previous person said put some live rock in there to get the process going because you want to be sure it is cycled. I have a 30 gallon and it took like 5 weeks to cycle fully. good luck and let us know updates.

 

[vtfishies]

some cycles are quicker than others..i cycled in 9 days.. although i used shrimp to help along..i would wait at least a week .and yes the wc is to help the level of trates to go down..but not all tanks have a trate level of 0..keep checking the levels..
my tank is 75 gal..started with 32 lbs of uncured live rock and reef bone..i totally missed the amm spike..definitly get a few more opinions before adding the clean up crew..when u add them...i would say not to long after u should be able to add a fish..clean up crews dont add much bio load to the tank..( or corals for that matter) but the fish do...dont forget to wait a couple weeks to add any other fish..

 

[saltfreak4]

When you say fully cycle, do you mean that your ammonia and trites never reached zero together in the whole 5 weeks? It's my refugium, I am cycling this first then adding my DT later. So, my fuge is 20.

 

[saltfreak4]

yes, I understand that is desirable but not required. I have been watching it everyday.
my ammonia maxed out at 1.0 on monday
my trites maxed out at .8 on tuesday
and today these are at zero. I don't want to add before the cycle is done, but I don't want it to stall out either. Delicate balance. Ok, I will hold until friday, check the numbers and then start the cleaning crew if they are still at zero.
Yes, no plan on adding fish to this tank as it is my fuge. My hubby is making my stand. He's really cool with the torch, it will be metal. Thanks for the reply.

 

[saltfreak4]

Ok, to update here is what I am doing. I went to this new (to me) LFS this guy is amazing. He has this shop in an industrial building in town. Literally it looks someone's garage. He has more stuff in there than a candy man carries candy. I just about wet myself when I went in. Anyway, he gave me some caulerpa and some chaeto. I have placed that in the fuge, just to see how things go. I figure killing a plant is not as bad as a baby. They will be my babies you know. So, thanks, I will keep you posted.

 

[acrylic51]

The tank isn't cycled due to there was probably nothing living in the water.....So once you make an addition of LR, fish, whatever then you'll see it cycle....

 

[hot883]

YOU have NOT cycled yet. Not in 5 days, not in 15 days, not in 25 days. 4-6 weeks. ALL parameters MUST be at zero and IMO you did not go high enough to actively start good bacteria. Don't trust me, start feeding the tank a pinch of food everyday and see what your readings go to in a week?!!!!

 

[gen1dustin]

I think it is possible for a tank to cycle in a week. I've also have heard of this happening from many people. However your ammonia didn't spike to high. So therefor it might not be cycled good enough. You might would cause a huge ammonia spike once adding fish, since the tank hasn't built up enough bacteria to take care of more ammonia.

 

[acrylic51]

Anything is possible in this hobby, but with information given saying the rock was from a store in a tank that wasn't really cured.....There is no way in gods green earth that he cured live rock in a week, unless he had one mad skimmer, and did water changes constantly on the system, to get levels down to that.......Either way he would have defeated the cycling purpose with the water changes.......Either the rock was cured or it wasn't is what I'm saying......A week is barely long enough to get things on an upward climb IMO......The tank didn't cycle!!!!!!

 

[saltfreak4]

Originally Posted by Gen1Dustin
I think it is possible for a tank to cycle in a week. I've also have heard of this happening from many people. However your ammonia didn't spike to high. So therefor it might not be cycled good enough. You might would cause a huge ammonia spike once adding fish, since the tank hasn't built up enough bacteria to take care of more ammonia.
My ammonia was really high and someone here told me it was too high to support the bacteria, so I did a water change to bring it back down. When I started my first tank many years ago it cycled in 6 days, and never spiked when I put fish in it.
I have had two local fish guys tell me yeah, that's all it took for their tanks to cycle. Two different. The one guy I just went to go see says he doesn't know where I am getting such stuff from??? Here is all you need....yada yada.

 

[saltfreak4]

Originally Posted by acrylic51
The tank isn't cycled due to there was probably nothing living in the water.....So once you make an addition of LR, fish, whatever then you'll see it cycle....
There is LR in the tank. more than 1 1/2/gallon in there.

 

[saltfreak4]

Originally Posted by acrylic51
Anything is possible in this hobby, but with information given saying the rock was from a store in a tank that wasn't really cured.....There is no way in gods green earth that he cured live rock in a week, unless he had one mad skimmer, and did water changes constantly on the system, to get levels down to that.......Either way he would have defeated the cycling purpose with the water changes.......Either the rock was cured or it wasn't is what I'm saying......A week is barely long enough to get things on an upward climb IMO......The tank didn't cycle!!!!!!
I had to bring the rock home, that's what I meant by not being cured. I was thinking it would have die off from the trip.

 

[saltfreak4]

Originally Posted by Gen1Dustin
I think it is possible for a tank to cycle in a week. I've also have heard of this happening from many people. However your ammonia didn't spike to high. So therefor it might not be cycled good enough. You might would cause a huge ammonia spike once adding fish, since the tank hasn't built up enough bacteria to take care of more ammonia.
Ok, this is the only thing that makes sense out of all the posts. So, instead of arguing about something I know to fact, let's figure out how to avoid the massive ammonia spike before I add fish. You guys are so damned confusing I can understand where newbies get frustrated. This LR was in the fish stores sump that was being moved. It took the load of all their saltwater tanks. I think it has enough bacteria on it. But, let's test it. How do I do that?
AND for christ sake, no one said I was adding fish!!! I was asking about a clean up crew.