Cycle done?

[Snapper]

On Friday my ammonia looked to be at .10 (assumign its 10 as teh damn API test kit is so hard to match sometimes) possibly was at 0.

 

my Nitrite was at 2 or 1ppm

NItrate was MAYBE at 5? maybe 10? looked in between.

 

I just rechecked today, and my ammonia is at 0, maybe at .10 again.

Nitrite is at 0

Nitrate is again either at 5 or 10. Seems as if this one didnt spike.

PH- 8.4 i think? the color doesn't even match **** on this one, but when i pour it out it in the sink it looks closet to 8.4

 

Is it normal for nitrite to drop so fast in 60 hours?

 

Does this mean my water is good to go to add some CUC, urchins, corals, and my fish thats in the QT?

 

Also I REMEMBER at one point reading that nitrate should spike after nitrite is near 0 which than requires 50% water change. Since this didnt spike, do I still do a big WC? Also, wouldn't a big WC cause a cycle because hte water lacks the bacteria since you are putting new water in?

 

 

 

My tank as it stands is a 40B with 30lb of NON live sand from Tropic Eden, 16 lb dry rock from BRS, 3lbs LR from LFS.

 

Cycle started August 24, shrimp added 25th and removed after 48 hours.

 

Also, No signs of Diatom yet, rocks have changed a bit in color the past couple days and no signs of algae where one would say can't wait to get my CUC going.

[Deleted User 3]

Wait for diatoms atleast then you know to add the cuc!

[thegambler26]

I'd give it a few more days just to be safe. Cycle could've been sped up because of the live rock you seeded with. Did you test the initial level of ammonia after the shrimp? If youre worried about it and have the patience you could do the shrimp dip again. If you're tank is truly cycled it should eat up the produced ammonia fairly quick. Also the bacteria for filtration is on or in the rocks and sand, not in the water. Excess nutrients that are produced by this filtration are in the water and are removed by water changes.

[Pickle010]

To answer the question about your water change - no... you are fine when doing a large water change because the majority of your beneficial bacteria is in your LR and not in the water column.

 

It seems to me that your test results may be somewhat questionable - I'd be patient and watch it for another few days to a week and if everything seems to remain stable - do at larger water change and start ading your CUC. There is no need to add shrimp or poop or urin or anything else to your tank for that matter.

 

Remember that your cycle never really ends and that your tank will be constantly working to offset the bioload of whatever you add in the future. So stock carefully and take your time.

[patback]

Bacteria is on/in the rock. The water is negligible and will have no effect on its filtering capabilitys. You do a large water change to export the nitrates. Bringing ammonia up to .1 is hardly anything. You either need to seed with a decent amount of bacteria, or wait a decent amount of time for it to colonize the other rocks if ammonia isn't raised higher than normal. Weren't you also told by myself and others that the shrimp method is outdated and introduces heterotrophic bacteria?

[Snapper]

well I just took out the dry rock to cover up the zip ties with rock and epoxy so I am sure the rocks being out for 30 minutes and all the sand bed being shifted around might cause a small mini cycle no?

 

I think I will wait until Monday to put my fish in and CUC.

[Snapper]

Cycle update:

 

Ammonia: 0

Nitrite: 0

Nitrate looks to be in between 10ppm and 20ppm possibly.

pH: 8.4

 

Rocks look like they are gaining some bronze on them, I can see some debris/dust looking stuff on some of hte rocks/zip ties.

 

The sand in the back of the tank appears to be forming some sort of black debris type of stuff which I am assume is in route to become diatoms.