NYfishies Posted March 26, 2015 Share Posted March 26, 2015 Hi all, Firstly thanks for any advice you can provide from your own experiences. I have read a ton and this is my 2nd tank. My first tank cycled in about 4 weeks and I used ~30 lbs of live sand and ~30 lbs of cured live rock. In this tank (http://www.nano-reef.com/topic/354579-custom-10g-w-3g-frag-tank-7g-sump/) I am using 10 lbs of Bahamas Oolite Arag-Alive! Reef Sand and ~8 lbs of dry rock (3 lbs of BRS Reef Saver and 5 lbs of BRS Fiji). I scrubbed the rock pretty darn well and then rinsed in RODI water prior to putting in the tank. I am only using a filter sock at this point - no other filtration. The tank holds 20 gallons total (10 gallon DT, 3 gallon FT, 7 gallon Sump) not including the water displacement from the rock and sand. Today is day 44 of the cycle. I check for Ammonia, Nitrites and Nitrates about every other day using the Red Sea Marine Care test kit. The tank is running a full Apex setup. Salinity has been constant at 1.025. pH ranges from 8.06 to 8.30 with an average of 8.24. Temp ranges from 78 to 80. Ammonia hit zero 22 days into the cycle and has remained there since. Nitrites began falling 24 days into the cycle. 33 days in it hit 0.4. 41 days in it hit 0.1. 42 days in it hit 0.05. 44 days <0.025 (impossible to tell if it is 0 at this point). Nitrates hit 15 ppm 26 days in. It has been at 7 ppm ever since. Patience is a virtue with this tank. I am in no rush. Just trying to understand if the tank has reached its cycle or if the Nitrates will further fall. Could use some advise! Thanks! Link to comment
Azedenkae Posted March 27, 2015 Share Posted March 27, 2015 To know if it has cycled, you need to test your filtrative capacity: http://sosofishy.blogspot.com.au/2015/02/how-to-know-your-aquarium-has-cycled.html Link to comment
reef55 Posted March 27, 2015 Share Posted March 27, 2015 Do you have any fish in the tank providing additional ammonia? The bacteria population needs time to grow, and constantly added ammonia to keep them all alive Link to comment
Bill Nye Posted March 27, 2015 Share Posted March 27, 2015 Do you have any fish in the tank providing additional ammonia? The bacteria population needs time to grow, and constantly added ammonia to keep them all alive Do not add fish to an uncycled tank. That is how people cycled tanks in 1995. 40 days is a really long time for a cycle to happen. My cycle on my latest tank took about 3 and a half weeks. If your nitrite are 0 (which is seems it is) then your tank is cycled. I would do a large water change to bring nitrates down then add a fish like a clown. Link to comment
NYfishies Posted March 27, 2015 Author Share Posted March 27, 2015 Do not add fish to an uncycled tank. That is how people cycled tanks in 1995. 40 days is a really long time for a cycle to happen. My cycle on my latest tank took about 3 and a half weeks. If your nitrite are 0 (which is seems it is) then your tank is cycled. I would do a large water change to bring nitrates down then add a fish like a clown. I am with you. We would never use a fish to cycle the tank. I think you may be correct in the fact that I should do a large water change (50%) to bring the Nitrates down below 5 ppm and then we will add a Green Clown Goby (only adding 2 fish to the tank and the other will be a Firefish). Should we add some snails/crabs first? Link to comment
Steve973 Posted April 1, 2015 Share Posted April 1, 2015 Don't add any scavengers until there is something in the tank for them to eat. And it sounds like your cycle is done, as long as you have been feeding the tank some ammonia to keep the bacteria going. Link to comment
Azedenkae Posted April 1, 2015 Share Posted April 1, 2015 I am with you. We would never use a fish to cycle the tank. I think you may be correct in the fact that I should do a large water change (50%) to bring the Nitrates down below 5 ppm and then we will add a Green Clown Goby (only adding 2 fish to the tank and the other will be a Firefish). Should we add some snails/crabs first? Like I said, test your filtrative capacity. Otherwise you can't know for sure, without risking lives. Link to comment
NYfishies Posted April 1, 2015 Author Share Posted April 1, 2015 Like I said, test your filtrative capacity. Otherwise you can't know for sure, without risking lives. I am in the process of doing this now. The Nitrates in the tank read 0 yesterday after adding 3 Sexy Shrimp and 1 Pom Pom Crab late Saturday night. I have been adding pellets to the tank since then to feed them / test filtration. Thanks for the help everybody! Link to comment
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