Is my cycling done? Help!

[grovetsly]

Hello guys. I need your help. I'm not quite sure if my cycling is completed or not. I ran the tank with just the live rocks and sand for about a month. I tested it reguarly. But I didn't see any spike in nitrite. Recently though, I tested it and my these are my tank parameters now:
Nititrite: 0ppm
Nitrate: 10ppm
Amonnia: 0ppm
Ph: 8.2
Alkalinity: 240ppm
Recently there appeared some diatoms on some of my live rocks. Can anybody tell me if the cycle been completed?
Thanks!

 

[grovetsly]

Also, my salinity level is 1.024

 

[coraljunky]

Your close, but not there yet. The diatom will go away as the nitrates diminish. Patience is the most important piece of advice in this hobby/addiction.

 

[1journeyman]

Did Ammonia ever spike?
Looks to me like you are done. I typically associate a diatom bloom with a new tank, but not neccessarily a cycle.
Ghost feed th tank bits of fish food for a few days and watch for Amonia. No Ammonia=good things...

 

[grovetsly]

Yes, my tank is brand new. I've been cycling it for 1 1/2 months now. Ammonia might have spiked, but i might have missed testing it. Should I get clean up crews?
Thanks!

 

[1journeyman]

Well, without knowing how exactly the cycle progressed....
Best bet is to feed the tank every few days a bit of fish food. Test for Ammonia. A week or two from now if no ammonia is present you should be set.

 

[grovetsly]

So, the point of feeding a ghost tank is to get Ammonia levels up and let it spike? Couldn't I just buy a product that just de-amonnizes it?

 

[geridoc]

Originally Posted by grovetsly
So, the point of feeding a ghost tank is to get Ammonia levels up and let it spike? Couldn't I just buy a product that just de-amonnizes it?
You could - but only if you wanted to keep using the product forever. During the month and a half that your tank was "cycling" had you added any organic source? If not, then you should be very careful when you add your first organisms - add a clean-up crew first, then slowly add other organisms so that your tank can accommodate the bioload. The point of cycling a tank with a shrimp or ammonium chloride is to force the development of a heavy bacterial population that can handle pretty much any addition without going into a mini-cycle.

 

[tarball]

Originally Posted by GeriDoc
You could - but only if you wanted to keep using the product forever. During the month and a half that your tank was "cycling" had you added any organic source? If not, then you should be very careful when you add your first organisms - add a clean-up crew first, then slowly add other organisms so that your tank can accommodate the bioload. The point of cycling a tank with a shrimp or ammonium chloride is to force the development of a heavy bacterial population that can handle pretty much any addition without going into a mini-cycle.

 

[grovetsly]

Yes, I added a package of live bacteria that my LFS advised me to put into the tank.
More diatoms appeared on my live rock. Tested the water parameters. Here are the specs.
Salinity - 1.025
Temp: 82
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: 10ppm
Ammonia: 10ppm
My phosphate levels seems to be high though. I've been using well water.
What are your guys thoughts?

 

[lexluethar]

Since your ammonia is present you are not done cycling, or do not have enough bacteria to hold any tpye of bioload. Continue ghost feeding the tank until ammonia reaches 1.0. Then stop feeding and the cycle will begin AM to NI to NA, then do a 25% water change and your good to go. At that point you SLOWLY add animals, one or two fish every few weeks.
I would not be using well water - i'm not even going to get into this debate. Just use RO/DI, you'll be happy you did down the road.

 

[sepulatian]

Originally Posted by grovetsly
Yes, I added a package of live bacteria that my LFS advised me to put into the tank.
More diatoms appeared on my live rock. Tested the water parameters. Here are the specs.
Salinity - 1.025
Temp: 82
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: 10ppm
Ammonia: 10ppm
My phosphate levels seems to be high though. I've been using well water.
What are your guys thoughts?
Your well water is likely the reason for the phosphates. Phosphates are what your diatoms are feeding off of. After your tank cycles do water changes using RO water. You can pick up a phosphate sponge to remove any remaining phosphates in the tank.