When Will It Cycle

[kilbys4]

I have had the 45 gal corner up 2-weeks with about 20 lbs of cured LR from my lfs and a CC base. PH is 8.2, amonia is at 0, nitrites are at 0, nitrates are at 0 and the temp is 76F. Nothing has changed for 2-weeks all levels have stayed the same. I have been testing amonia daily and the others every 3 days. What am I doing wrong, or am I just expecting to much to quickly.
Thanks

 

[foulbrew]

Actually, you're not expecting too much. What's probably happened is you actually got rock that is fully cured, and you got it in your tank befor there was any die off. Rock ordered mail order will always have enough die off to start a pretty good cycle, but rock from a local store may not.
It would be a good thing to generate a decent cycle to build up the bacteria levels in your tank befor adding livestock. You can do this by adding a chunk of raw shrimp to your tank and let it decompose for a while. Once you see a healthy spike of amonia take it out and let the cycle finish completely. Then do a large water change to get your nitrates down befor adding livestock.
Unsolicited.... have you considered a DSB instead of CC. It is worth it.

 

[kilbys4]

Thanks, Yes I wanted the DSB but my wife liked the look of the CC. I thought about adding some LS in parts of the tank on top of the CC but I'm not sure if it would be a good idea.

 

[foulbrew]

Unfortunately, the large CC particles rise to the top, so the sand look would only be temporary. I know it doesn't seem like it would, but it does.
I agree with your wife on the look of crushed coral (and so does my wife). We used it in our first tank. Those looks are hard to maintain, requiring regular vacuumimg. Crushed coral traps a lot of waste, which since it doesn't get handled by your filtration creates alot of nitrates, which cause other issues. It's your call and people are succesful with CC, but it does require more work and more water changes$$$.
Goodluck