Cycling

[Guest LudavicoTechnique]

After I have added all my live rock and sand, how long should  I wait until adding livestock?

[Nishant3789]

test ure amonia nitrites and nitrates. after you have seen a spike in everything and everything has gone down to 0 or anything sagfe for nitrates, then wait a few days just incase, then go and get ure first corals, dont go and buy a whole lot, just 2 or 3 then wait a week then buy more, then after 2 weeks, add fish. If you have cured live rock and dont see a spike at all in anything, wiat a week then put in ure corals and follow the same process. personally my reef tank has been setup for 7 months now and i still dont have a fish but that has more to do with my mom not letting me get one till i get my grades up then the question of wether r not its safe... hope this helps

nishant

[Sahin]

You need to test for Ammonia, nitrite and nitrate.

The spikes occur in that order respectively.

 

You can add the critter (snails, hermits etc) one week after the rocks are cured (takes upto three weeks normally).

Once you get no futher detectable readings of ammonia and nitrite, then I'd say wait a further week and then add the critters.

 

Wait about 3-4 weeks before adding corals.  I know most people dont and cant wait this long but the patience helps in the long run.

 

I'd add no more than one coral purchase per week.

I would wait at least 2 months before adding fish.  The longer you wait the better.

 

Hope this helps.