My tank wont cycle !!

[charvel]

Could it be possible because my lfs is 10 min away for my 60lbs.cured LR. and maybe my fluval 404 and 2 whisper filters that were in my fresh water tanks contributed to my tank not cycling ? It has been 9 days and the levals are the same as day one. Might sound crazy,I'd just thought i would ask. Thanks, Mike

 

[charvel]

Originally posted by jamesurq
not sure I understand.... The LFS is huh?? what? Do you have the 60 lbs of cured rock??
9 days is not long. Put some pure ammonia in there and test. You should get a reading. Give it a day and see if it processed the ammonia. Maybe because the rock is cured, you had a quick cycle....
The lfs is 10 min from me I wrote my,sorry I usally go back and check spelling,just forgot.

 

[attml]

No Worries! Some tanks just take longer to cycle than other tanks! Not all LR is fully cured (which imo is a good thing) and if there are organisims in the rock that are slowly dieing off (which is normal) it will extend your cycle time! Although your levels are high right now, your tank is creating nitrifying bacteria as we speak and before you know it your ammonia will start to drop then your nitrite, then nitrate. If it hasn't started yet you will probably begin to see diatom algae shortly and at that point your tank has started to turn the corner of the cycle process. Good luck!
...But after looking at your signature it looks like you already have a tank up & running so you propably know this so I'll shut up now!

 

[fshhub]

won't cycle?
does this mean that all levels are zero, or all levels are high?

 

[majakarot]

i think he's saying all levels are 0, maybe you don't have enough die-off to start the cycle- are you just using lr or did you add dead shrimp or anything else?

 

[charvel]

Originally posted by majakarot
i think he's saying all levels are 0, maybe you don't have enough die-off to start the cycle- are you just using lr or did you add dead shrimp or anything else?
Yes my levels are 0 I have had 3 green chromisis in there four six days. Maybeyour right there is no die off from my lfs lr. Should I get more chromisis or dead shrimp? i feed those fish alot of brine and mysis and flake. Maybe I shouldnt have the filters going. Or cmaybe it wont cycle because the rock is so cured, there is nothing on it to die except coraline. I remember doing this with my first tank with his rock,it only took 10 days to cycle. Thanks everyone, Mike

 

[fshhub]

actually, it will cycle, teh question is more like how long it will take. AND if you use all cured LR, it can be hours or days, and almost unnoticable(if enough were used).
My opinion is that I would wait for a couple of weeks and see what happens. It may well be that you may have already cycled, but to be sure, it cannot hurt to wait some more.

 

[charvel]

Thanks alot everyone.

 

[attml]

Sorry - I read the post incorrectly! I thought you were saying that your levels were still peaking after 9 days and not showing any signs of dropping! My guess is that the rock was fully cured and you just don't have enough bio-load to elevate your numbers because you have good biological filtration (but that is just a guess). Do you have any signs of Diatom Algae at all?

 

[j21kickster]

some tanks (including my first) can have live rock so fresh that there isnt die off and it can instantly handle the bio load of a few small fish- thus there is no cycle!

 

[charvel]

Originally posted by attml
Sorry - I read the post incorrectly! I thought you were saying that your levels were still peaking after 9 days and not showing any signs of dropping! My guess is that the rock was fully cured and you just don't have enough bio-load to elevate your numbers because you have good biological filtration (but that is just a guess). Do you have any signs of Diatom Algae at all?
Yes there is nice amount of brown algae onthe sand, I thing that is Diatom,right.Should I through in some snails or hermits? Thanks. Miike.

 

[charvel]

Day 15. 65lbs LR, 9 blue leg hermits, 1 emerald,1 arrow crab and three green chromis in a 120gal. The levels are still perfect,brown algae on sand still. I think either It will not cycle or maybe like a few of you said, not enough die off. I hope that is not the case because I am getting ready to get some more cured LR and then a couple expensive fish and if it starts to cycle I might lose the fish. Maybe I will just get more rock,a few more cheap chromisis and hermits and see what goes on first.Mike.

 

[fshhub]

Originally posted by j21kickster
some tanks (including my first) can have live rock so fresh that there isnt die off and it can instantly handle the bio load of a few small fish- thus there is no cycle!
Not to argue, but MY belief is it still cycles, jsut that it may be unnoticable and very fast in some cases. maybe only a day or so(give or take). There are some of us who are fortunate enough to have it happen this fast. LUCKY YOU.

 

[broomer5]

On a brand new tank - with clean new substrate and a hang-on filter - you would expect the tank to "cycle" in the traditional manner.
Like the books say - like the charts describe - with ammonia/nitrite peaks - then falling off towards zero.
Whenever you add live rock, or an established filter media from another tank, or in your case - BOTH
All bets are off on how this tank will respond.
It will most certainly not follow the traditional curves - and you're water tests will not follow these curves either.
Someone need to write a book - describing tank cycling with live sand, live rock or other means of cycling a tank.
The "fill it up and add a couple fish" traditional cycling tank descriptions found in "most" books - are not current in my opinion.
The description still holds true - if you follow the older cycling approaches ~ but these days ~ it's more common to include some live sand or live rock.
When we do this ~ the cycling outcome is normally very different indeed ~ as you've seen for yourself Mike.

 

[mlm]

I just set up a 120 gallon tank with 235 pounds of live sand and 80 pounds of live rock straight out of another tank (out of the water maybe 20 seconds) and I had absolutly 0 readings of ammonia or nitrite. Its going on 9 days now with no readings. I putin some rew krill on the fisrts day just to see if there would be a spike but nothing happened. Now I have a few peppermint shrimp in there to eat some aptasia and there doing just fine.

 

[charvel]

Originally posted by mlm
I just set up a 120 gallon tank with 235 pounds of live sand and 80 pounds of live rock straight out of another tank (out of the water maybe 20 seconds) and I had absolutly 0 readings of ammonia or nitrite. Its going on 9 days now with no readings. I putin some rew krill on the fisrts day just to see if there would be a spike but nothing happened. Now I have a few peppermint shrimp in there to eat some aptasia and there doing just fine.
Thanks everyone for your posts. mlm,do you have a 60'' 120? if so what lighting do you think you are going to go with ? Mike.

 

[mlm]

My 120 is 48x24x24. I have 2 400 MH Blueline e ballasts. I am awating a chiller before I can move anything into it.