No noticeable ammonia spike...

[klmt]

I set up my first tank, a Biocube 32 10 days ago. I added like sand, 16lbs of live rock and 10lbs of base rock. I read about cycling with and without lights, I chose to cycle with lights on and not surprisingly have developed a diatom bloom as I have read this is normal. I have been "ghost feeding" a pinch of fish food per day (skipping a few days when I was out of town). I have no filter media in there yet but I have one powerhead. I have been testing and have yet to see any spike in ammonia, nitrite and nitrate. My temperature is 78F, pH 8.2 and Salinity 1.023SG. On the live rock I got a lot of hitchhikers including one blue leg hermit and two red leg hermits, a lot of bristle worms, a handful of small brittle stars, a limpet or two and two mushroom coral polyps. I am wondering if there is anything else I should be doing. I am thinking that maybe I have not been adding enough food in my ghost feedings to really spike the ammonia or nitrites, but in theory I should begin to see nitrates rise if this is the case. Thank you!

[jservedio]

If you started with live rock and have lots of live critters, including stuff sensitive to ammonia, you will almost certainly never experience an ammonia spike or cycle. Keep an eye on it for another few days, but you are almost certainly good to go for adding the rest of your CUC and then start adding fish and more coral. As long as you go slowly, you will be just fine.

 

None of my tanks ever had a true cycle either because I started with live rock from an established system and transported it carefully in water so there was extremely limited die-off.

[rough eye]

sounds great. you might not see ammonia but i wouldn't trust the tank is safe until you see 20 or 40ppm nitrates. if there is a cycle happening you have to see nitrates build up.