Question on the cycle

[rane]

Ok I started to cycle my Tank about 2 weeks ago with 44lbs of precured live rock, I went through the whole amonia spike, now my amonia is at 0 but everthing else is sky rocked here are my readings I took this morning
Ammonia 0-0.25ppm
Nitrate 20-40 ppm
Nitrite 2.0-5.0 ppm
PH 7.8
and I have alot of brown dusting on the rocks and sand
can someone tell me at what point I am in and how much longer would I have to wait?
I was thinking of getting 2 small tangs and putting them in QT till the tank is done do you think I should do this? or wait and then get the tangs I figured by the time it was done cycling the QT of the 2 tangs would have been done, Sorry for the long post..also should I keep my skimmer on during this process? think it will help speed it up?
any answeres would be appreciated like always
Thanks in Advance

 

[cboyfan2020]

here is how the cycle goes: Your ammonia levels rise>ammonia begins to fall as nitrite begins to rise> nitrite begins to fall as nitrate begins to rise>When ammonia and nitrite are 0 then tank is cycled.
I would say you are about in the middle. Cycleing usually takes 4-6 weeks.
The brown dusting is called diatomic algae and every new tank gets it. It is the first phase in the algae process.
IMO I wouldnt run the skimmer because it would retard the cycle.
I don't see why you couldnt QT the tangs but make sure you monitor the levels in there too since there isnt any bacteria to combat ammonia/nitrite.
HTH

 

[mightyoxjuice]

Depends on how big your two tangs are that you are getting.

 

[flamingkingofhe]

IMO i would not use tangs as the first fish in my tank i would use something extremly hardy like damsels if it were me

 

[wolffam]

I agree on not getting the tangs first. But in my opinion, damsels are cool looking and colorful, but once you get your tank up and start stocking it with other fish, it's then that those cute little fish become troublesome. You'll probably want to catch them and that will require a lot of work and possibly having to remove the LR to get them out. They get to the point where they own the tank.

 

[bonermeister]

Wait it out and hold off on the fish; have a lil' bit of patience.

 

[flamingkingofhe]

i would use green reef chromis damsels they will school are good looking and wont cause any problems

 

[mightyoxjuice]

Also how big is your Qt?
Has this been fully cycled yet?

 

[rane]

My QT Tank has established water from before I emptied my big tank (155gl) so that tank wont need cycling the water came from an established system, the QT is a 20gl long Tank, the tang I was going to get are around 1-2 inches really small, I dont want to put any damsels in my tank