New Tank- Does this seem right?

[kmoze2001]

Hi all-
Long time lurker, first time poster. Seems like a good forum.
One week ago today, 55 gallons of tap water went into a tank along with 3 fresh bags of live sand, roughly 50 lbs of LR (fresh out of the tank at the LFS), a big ol' bag o' salt, and we turned on the wet/dry filter and watched and waited.
Last Monday or Tuesday evening, I did an ammonia test and found the levels to be essentially zero. I was surprised. Just this evening I did a full panel of tests with the following results.
pH: 8.0
Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: <0.2 (I say that because it wasn't dark enough to qualify as 0.2, but neither was it completely clear.)
Nitrate: <10 (Ditto)
CaCO3: 800 ppm
Salinity: Perfect (Hydrometer, yeah I know)
There is "hair" growing on the LR (at least it seems that way, though I can't say categorically that it hasn't been there from the get-go), nothing else seems to be crawling or swimming around in there. There is no significant odor, just smells a bit like the ocean.
Is it remote possible that the tank has cycled and is ready for the next step? Or has the cycle not yet even begun (as evidenced by the total lack of an ammonia spike of any kind, though it was only tested twice, at 3 and 7 days post start).
Thoughts? Thanks in advance.
KM

 

[nuro]

most likely youre just at the begining stages. the hair is likely hair algae, which is common during the cycle and for young tanks. my advice would be to wait and continue to test, i expect youll see the levels spike shortly. if you dont, may be bad test kit.. take a sample to the LFS and have them check the water.

 

[kmoze2001]

Should I toss a dead shrimp in there?

 

[flower]

Welcome to the site.
Tap water has a bunch of yuck that you can't test for. Hence the hair algae. You need something to jump start your cycle so a shrimp is perfect. You are going to be battling bad water problems as long as you use tap water.

 

[nuro]

Originally Posted by Flower
http:///forum/post/3200188

Welcome to the site.
Tap water has a bunch of yuck that you can't test for. Hence the hair algae. You need something to jump start your cycle so a shrimp is perfect. You are going to be battling bad water problems as long as you use tap water.
+1
i forgot to mention that. its not totally awful to start with tap, i did, but any future water changes you'll likely want to use RO to mix with the salt.

 

[kmoze2001]

Yes, absolutely intend to use RO/DI water for changes/adds once we have life (besides hair) in the tank. I kinda like the hair, it adds character! One dead shrimp, coming up!

 

[ophiura]

It is still entirely possible, if the LR was cured, that you will not see an ammonia spike in the tank. In which case you would be generally free to add the hardiest of your fish to the tank. But at a very slow pace...to allow the biological filter to always stabilize and not be overrun.

 

[kmoze2001]

I looked at some online images of hair algae, not sure what's growing on our rocks but it didn't look like that. The algae was all green, whereas what we have, while hair-like is tan, brown, and a few fat almost black strands.

 

[ophiura]

can you get a picture? If it is uncured live rock, then die off and rotting can kinda look funcky...

 

[nycbob]

as stated above, if u r using cured lr from lfs, u wont see much of a cycle. there isnt a need to toss dead shrimp since the rocks r cured already.

 

[srfisher17]

Originally Posted by nycbob
http:///forum/post/3200412
as stated above, if u r using cured lr from lfs, u wont see much of a cycle. there isnt a need to toss dead shrimp since the rocks r cured already.
True; but when there are a lot of variables, its nice to see the ammonia spike and then disappear. You can then proceed, slowly, with complete confidence. Patience is very necessary in this hobby/addiction----but often a real pain in the dupa for people like me, who usually have none.

 

[vgl12]

Im guessing when you said tap water you meant cured water? Becuase tap water will kill your live sand and rock because of the chlorine and other chemicals found in it.

 

[ophiura]

Originally Posted by srfisher17
http:///forum/post/3200421
True; but when there are a lot of variables, its nice to see the ammonia spike and then disappear. You can then proceed, slowly, with complete confidence. Patience is very necessary in this hobby/addiction----but often a real pain in the dupa for people like me, who usually have none.
Definitely agree.
A rotting shrimp is a worst case scenario in some regards. If you can leave it in there for several days and still not see an ammonia spike, it is a great confidence builder.
More than a few people have thought they were cycled, only to buy a fish, and learn it wasn't.

 

[florida joe]

Can someone tell me how cured live rock is equal to rock that has nitrification and di nitrification bacteria colonization established

 

[ophiura]

Technically if I took a rock from my tank, that I've had for ages, and gave it to you, I would be giving you cured live rock. Clearly bacteria is well established.
Uncured rock, though it still has bacteria, has so much die off that it overwhelms the capacity of the biological filter to use it.
This is my opinion at least. But it is all relative. I can overwhelm the biological filter of even cured live rock.

 

[srfisher17]

Originally Posted by vgl12
http:///forum/post/3200425
Im guessing when you said tap water you meant cured water? Becuase tap water will kill your live sand and rock because of the chlorine and other chemicals found in it.

What "other chemicals"? Chlorine is easily removed.

 

[florida joe]

Originally Posted by ophiura
http:///forum/post/3200454
Technically if I took a rock from my tank, that I've had for ages, and gave it to you, I would be giving you cured live rock. Clearly bacteria is well established.
Uncured rock, though it still has bacteria, has so much die off that it overwhelms the capacity of the biological filter to use it.
This is my opinion at least. But it is all relative. I can overwhelm the biological filter of even cured live rock.
With all due respect ,let me state my point. It does not matter how long you have your rock in your tank. Bio filtration is predicated on supply of nutrients . A consciousness hobbyist not overfeeding his live stock can in fact have very little if any bio filtration on his rocks as the most likely place for this colonization would be on some sort of mechanical filter pad. This area coming in constant contact with nutrient rich water would be the first to colonize this bacteria and may very well be the only colonization needed to sustain the tank. IMO just because we introduce anything into our tanks rocks included it does not guarantee we will have said bacteria present on them

 

[kmoze2001]

Yes, we used regular old tap water. Well, actually "we" didn't do anything, the LFS installed it for us so if it kills the rock or sand I suppose that'll be their problem. I actually questioned it and he said that adding the salt will kill the chlorine, and from all appearances we do have life going on in there. So far, they seem to know what they're doing, time will tell.

 

[kmoze2001]

And we've got life! A couple of what appear to be feather dusters have made their presence known, though thus far anyway, they're tiny and hard to see.

 

[nuro]

Originally Posted by kmoze2001
http:///forum/post/3200625
Yes, we used regular old tap water. Well, actually "we" didn't do anything, the LFS installed it for us so if it kills the rock or sand I suppose that'll be their problem. I actually questioned it and he said that adding the salt will kill the chlorine, and from all appearances we do have life going on in there. So far, they seem to know what they're doing, time will tell.
??