Confused with my tank cycle, need advice.

[Jenandcoffee]

Hi all, new here and also to saltwater. I have 2 freshwater tanks but wanted to give it a go with a reef tank!

 

To give you some info:

22 gal tank

Live sand

1 small peice of live rock approx 6" x 3" (added this just to help with the cycle)

The rest is caribsea life rock approx 20 lbs

2 powerheads one on each side

Ehiem 2213 canister filter

RO water

Temp -80

Salinity- 1.026

Amonia- 0

Nitrite- 0

Nitrates- 10

 

So here's my question. I was under the impression that it took at least a month or more to cycle saltwater but my tank seems to be cycled same results above for 3 days now. I've only had the tank set up since Sept 12( 10 days)?? The only other thing I did was add a peice of scampi in a nylon for first 2 days and took it out because it was getting moldy.. I've also added a pinch of crushed flake food every other day or so.

 

I saw my amonia on the 3rd day 1.0 & 4th day was at 0.50 by the 6th day was at 0

5th day my nitrite showed up at 0.50 & on 6th day at 0.25 and now on the last 3 days its at 0. This seems very fast, do I keep testing everyday and things with change? I don't have any algea so not sure if I should get a clean up crew? I'm thinking I should do a 10% water change now because I have nitrates- and I don't want it to go past 10. What are your thoughts? I can't be cycled already right??

[brandon429]

I link nr,com posts to reef2reef at a ratio of 5:1

 

So here's one from r2r to here

 

This is a big read and there is no easier way to say it. Your answer is 100% in here

 

 

 

http://reef2reef.com/threads/new-tank-cycling-tank-bacteria-and-cocktail-shrimp-live-rock-no-shrimp.214618/

[VW_TDI_02]

You're using a piece of live rock and live sand. Those should already have populations of bacteria on them so you're really not doing a full cycle where you start with zero bacteria. If you were to do a full cycle and start with a completely dead tank then you would have to wait at least a month or so in order for your bacteria population to grow large enough to support fish. Since you are starting off with a good population of bacteria then you greatly speed up that process.

[righttirefire]

It could have cycled that quickly. But I would becareful adding bioload... just because you have the bacteria doesnt mean you have enough to support a heavy bioload. I believe blue/green chromis have a low bioload, but a clown has a high bioload. Patience and Research are your strong assets

[Jenandcoffee]

I may start with my clean up crew and see how it goes, kind of still nervous....I will keep testing. Gonna do my water change tonight to get the nitates down can I siphon the sand or should I leave it be?

[ajmckay]

So I didn't read through Brandon's R2R post but I have a few comments that might help you be less (or more) confused...

 

1) Try to think of the cycle not as a one time event but rather a continuous process. Actually look up the word cycle in the dictionary and you'll see that it's never ending as long as all the pieces remain in place. So lets list all the pieces we need to keep the cycle moving (very simplified):

- We need a source of waste

- We need a process to break that waste down (this is decomposition or ammonification simply put)

- We need nitrifying bacteria from the genus nitrobacter to convert toxic ammonia to less harmful compounds

- Ultimately we need denitrifying bacteria. At this point we also rely on other organisms, plants, algaes, and corals too

 

So if you're testing nitrates then you have at least the first 3 steps functioning. Chances are there is some die off on the live rock you got and some dust/dirt on the dry rock but that's going to run out soon and you'll need to have a source of waste present or the bacterial colonies will shrink (not what we want)...

 

2) Pure ammonia is an excellent way to "test" that your tank is ready to support livestock or build up your biofilter. Look up "ammonia dosing calculator" and see how much ammonia you would need to bring your tank up to about 3ppm. Add pure ammonia (usually a few drops) and in a few minutes you should be able to test positive for ammonia. If the next day your ammonia test is undetectable then it's ready for livestock. If you still have ammonia then your biofilter (the bacteria on your rock) isn't yet mature enough so you need to introduce more waste than you currently have which will cause the bacterial populations to grow. You can toss in flake food but that's not very efficient because you're introducing phosphates and algae fueling nutrients. You could also do the shrimp thing but IMO not really that great an option. The best would be to dose small amounts of ammonia which is clean and where you have the most control over the process.

 

3) If all this is still confusing then buy a bottle of biospira or dr. tims and follow the instructions. This stuff supercharges your biofilter so that it's ready for livestock essentially right away.

 

4) Simply setting up a tank and waiting for a month is really only necessary if you're starting it with uncured live rock or really dirty dry rock where larger things need time to decompose. Waiting this long In your situation really isn't necessary.

 

Good luck.

[brandon429]

yep it basically breaks down to exactly that heh.

[Jenandcoffee]

Ordered a bottle of biospira, ill wait for that, should get that in the mail soon. So let me ask my next question. Any opinions on a cleaning crews? here is what I wanted if I can find them around here. I'm planing a reef tank so if any are not reef friendly let me know.

Skunk shrimp- is adding one OK?

3 trochus snails

3 turbo snails

3 cerith snails

2 nassarius snails

[VW_TDI_02]

Why not just get the pack from Reef Cleaners? It's cheap and they always give you extras.

[Jenandcoffee]

I would love to but I'm in Canada, they don't ship here