Concerns about my cycle

[Azure Phoenix Reefing]

I have got a question about my cycle period and if everything is going as it should be. I've read several topics and questions on NR on cycling, but seeing as every aquarium is different and this is going to be a home for live animals, I want to be sure everything is alright. So I hope you guys and girls don't mind me asking a question that's probably been asked a thousand times over.

 

So here goes. I've started with Dry Rock from Caribsea and Arag-Alive 1-3mm live sand, from CaribSea as well. No skimmer, no light, just a filter sock and heater, in a 20 gallon Waterbox Cube. The cycle started ten days ago, I added the water and a piece of raw shrimp. Two days in, the smell in the room was pretty foul, haha, so I figured everything was going well. I removed the shrimp on day 4 and added another piece of raw shrimp to be sure the bacteria had food enough. That piece of shrimp is still in the aquarium at the moment, planning on removing it later on today.

 

Now, as for the numbers, I tested ammonia pretty much everyday, sometimes twice, cause I like testing and was curious how things were coming along. Later on I started testing nitrite and for the last couple of days I started testing nitrate as well. The thing is, I never really saw the ammonia spike most people talk about. It spiked up to about 2ppm, same goes for nitrite, which reached 1ppm at one point, but just like ammonia, it's decreasing now. My last test was about 1 hour ago. That showed pretty much 0ppm ammonia and about 0.4ppm nitrite. Nitrate is a different story however, that has showing 100+ over the last couple of days. Salinity at 1.025sg and temperature at 79°F.

 

I have two theories, about this cycle. The first one involves the live sand, already holding the beneficial bacteria, which multiplied because of the ammonia source and the population is now large enough to eat away the ammonia. The nitrate eating bacteria are growing in population, seeing as the concentration of nitrite is decreasing and now we wait for the algae that will eat away the nitrate. The second theory is that the spike wasn't high enough and the bacteria are dying off and there aren't enough nutrients to see an increase in ammonia/nitrite. I'll add the graphs from the app I am using as well.

 

Ammonia

 

Nitrite

 

Nitrate

 

What do you guys think? One of my concerns is that I am not seeing any algae yet, be it diatoms or green hair. Might that be because I am not using any lights? (I have and AI Prime HD at the ready) I hope everything is going as it should be and if not, I can help things along with your guys' input. Thanks a bunch!

 

Quick edit: I forgot to mention I am using Salifert test kits.

Edited December 8, 2018 by Azure Phoenix Reefing
Added the Salifert kits

[Donny41]

Not unheard of for tanks to cycle that quickly. Once your ammonia/ nitrite read 0 for a day or two and you have a nitrate reading you should be good. Just do as close to a 100% water change as possible to remove the nitrates then you can add something small. And yes the algae need light so that's why your not seeing any

[MrObscura]

You may very well have missed the spike, it happens fast. Especially Nitrite. 

 

I personally don't like the shrimp method, or the food method. I prefer to cycle by dosing pure ammonia to a specific level. 

 

Anyway, if you have n03, the cycle is doing its thing. There's really no way to stop it from doing so as long as you feed the bacteria ammonia. Keep at it and when you can add ammonia and get 0 ammonia and  0 nitrite after 24 hours, you're done.

 

Then do as many water changes as necessary to get no3 to 5ppm or so. 

[Azure Phoenix Reefing]

Thanks a lot @Donny41 & @MrObscura that is quite the relief! 😀

 

I will keep an eye on the nitrite concentration and see if I can find some ammonia to add and watch what happens after 24 hours. I am also glad that my first theory seems about right and that the algae are not showing up cause of the lack of light. It kind of confirms my understanding of this part of the cycle/hobby.

[Clown79]

That's what supposed to happen with a cycle.

Ammonia rises and processes to 0, then nitrite does the same, followed by nitrates which are only removed by waterchanges.

 

 

 

Unfortunately there is no control with the shrimp/food method, it's also a dirty method. Unnecessary waste is added to the tank. 

 

The cleanest and most controlled cycling method with dry rock is ammonia and bacteria dosing.

 

With 100ppm nitrates, you will have to do a 95- 100% waterchange to get it down to 5 or 10ppm.

 

Small waterchanges are not necessary in a new tank and will take you forever to get rid of those nitrates.

[Azure Phoenix Reefing]

Thank you @Clown79. What surprised me is the speed of my first cycle. Reading up on cycling, I prepared for 4-6 weeks of cycling and testing, before introducing a clean up crew. I'll be sure to keep checking my parameters next week and see if the nitrites will go down and both ammonia and nitrite will remain stable. Then I'll do a major water change of 95-100% and see if all remains well, before introducing a clean up crew.

 

On a side note, as much as I like the biology behind it, I doubt I'll use the shrimp method again, I agree with you @Clown79 and @MrObscura, it's rather dirty. The water actually "looks" dirty as well. Next time I'll give the bacteria dosing a try!

[MrObscura]

My tanks always take numerous 100% WCs after the cycle to get the n03 down. Lol