Tank cycle question. Time frame.

[jgonier]

Ok, here goes. :notsure:
I have a 20 gal. I just set up right at about 7 days ago. The water is finally clearing up after my sand storm from adding the water and it's starting to look real nice now. My question is on the time frame of a certain phase of the cycle process.
Once your ammonia level starts to climb, how long after that does the nitrates start to rise to fight the ammonia. My ammonia is now up around 1.0 to 2.0 (can't really tell, color look so much alike), but my nitrates have yet to move.
Does this process take awhile, and at what point (or week) can I expect to see it start rising?
I used plain dry powder (grade 0 I believe) sand I got from the LFS. No live sand and no live rock. I am conditioning the tank with two mollies (I know, this will cause a debate) and I am also adding Stress Zyme (bacteria) to the tank as directed on the bottle to start my bacteria growth.
Any info. on the time frame to expect would be great.
Thanks

 

[jgonier]

Just did a test on my tank and here are the results.
Salinity = 30
SG = 1.022
PH = 8.2
Nitrites = 0.0
Nitrates = 0.0
Ammonia = 2.0 to 4.0 (hard to tell, but somewhere in there)

 

[sashimi]

:happyfish Good Morning!
Just keep taking your readings once a week for about 4 to 6 weeks, then go to every other day. Just go slow you can not rush anything. Why aren't you going to use live rock?
Have fun and read as much as you can about this hobby!

 

[capschamp]

If you use live rock your cycle will go quicker but I agree you should take your time. With live rock my ammonia spiked in 2 days, and nitrite spiked after a week.

 

[jgonier]

I am on a small budget, that's why I went with mollies instead of live rock.
20-25# of live rock = $99.00 and up
2 mollies = $3.50
Yea, the mollies win.
My ammonia spiked after the third day, I'm just wondering when I can expect the Nitrates or nitrites (still can't get those right) to start rising?

 

[capschamp]

After ammonia comes down nitrites will go up, I am not sure if nitrates will go up yet or not. But nitrites should begin to rise within the next few days-week. Then those will come down and your nitrates will rise. hth

 

[reefnoob]

I'm confused here.. you have no LR, no LS, and no bioload... Why are you expecting a cycle? And if your amonia is at that level and you have no source, then there is a bigger problem somewhere. You have to get a biowheel or something at the very least or your doing waterchanges very very often to deal with the amonia. GIve some more info on your tank.

 

[nacl-man]

What type of filtration are you using? Agreed with above, you're gonna need something to keep that bio-filter going.

 

[jgonier]

Originally posted by Reefnoob
I'm confused here.. you have no LR, no LS, and no bioload... Why are you expecting a cycle? And if your amonia is at that level and you have no source, then there is a bigger problem somewhere. You have to get a biowheel or something at the very least or your doing waterchanges very very often to deal with the amonia. GIve some more info on your tank.

As stated in my post above:
I used plain dry powder sand (grade 0 I believe) I got from the LFS. No live sand and no live rock. I am conditioning the tank with two mollies (I know, this will cause a debate) and I am also adding Stress Zyme (bacteria) to the tank as directed on the bottle to start my bacteria growth.
So I do have a bioload and source. The mollies and the feeding of the mollies. I am also adding bacteria to the tank which comes bottled from my LFS. This would be why I am expecting a cycle.
As far as filtration, I am using an emporer 280 biowheel power filter, and my power head to move the water around. I have not got a skimmer as of yet because many people said that I shouldn't need one with FO tank, so I'm trying it without one for now. As for the sand, it's about 1 1/2 to 2 inches deep.
One other question....
Should I be running a carbon filter in my emperor while cycling, or should I just use the white fiber only?

 

[nacl-man]

Sounds like you are on your way. Unfortunately every tank is different and an exact time frame is impossible to give. Cycles on my tanks have taken about 4-6 weeks.