swimmatte March 9, 2013 March 9, 2013 I started my first SW tank two weeks ago and have a question about the cycle. My tank is 56g with almost 60lbs of live rock (taken from tanks that have been established for over a year), 20 lbs of live sand, and some regular aragonite sand. Along with the rock came a brittle starfish, a bunch of snails, some copepods, Bristleworms, etc. I've been monitoring the levels for a while which were reading 0,0,0 for Ammonia, Nitrite, Nitrate for a while. I decided to use the shrimp idea to jump start the cycle. A few days later I was reading 0,.25, 40. Now it seems I'm reading 0,0,40+. My question is, am I ready to do some water changes to bring the Nitrates down? I'm guessing because of the active bacteria in the rock and sand (mainly rock), my tank only did a mini cycle? I may have seen a slight green tinge in my Ammonia at one point, but nothing major. I have since pulled the shrimp out btw. Thanks!
swimmatte March 9, 2013 Author March 9, 2013 Just tested again today (I took the shrimp out this afternoon), and I'm 0,0,between 40 and 80.
Tracy G March 9, 2013 March 9, 2013 Sounds like it is progressing well I would just begin to build the bio load up. Use food instead of the shrimp and watch for a day or 2 then add a fish or 2.
swimmatte March 9, 2013 Author March 9, 2013 Significant water change first? Try to get the Nitrates down? What are your thoughts on adding a CUC before adding fish? My plan was to start with a pair of clowns when I went in the fish direction. My complete readings are: pH: 8.0 Calcium: 420 Alkalinity: 160 sg: 1.026 Temp: 80 Phosphate: .25 (using API kit) Ammonia: 0 Nitrite: 0 Nitrate: 60 Equipment: 56g Reef Octopus bh1000 Koralia 700 Maxi-Jet 1200 Aquaclear 70 (Just running Chemipure Elite, which was added yesterday) (2) Kessil a150w 15,000k Ocean Blue LED Fixtures
Tracy G March 9, 2013 March 9, 2013 I would increase your flow for sure depending on what your keeping. I would do maybe a 20% water change to help with the Nitrates but its obvious you are able to process bio. Ghost feeding will help progress some but if you are not seeing Ammonia or Nitrite it means its progressing. I would add a fish if you do a few days of ghost feeding and you still don't see ammonia or nitrite. I'm guessing no sump based on your equipment?
swimmatte March 10, 2013 Author March 10, 2013 (edited) Yep. No sump. I checked my levels again and my Nitrates have come down a bit. Still 0 and 0 for Ammonia and Nitrites. I'm really thinking that the LR and LS has allowed me to cycle in 2 weeks. I'll probably head over to either Aquarium One or Congressional tomorrow to pick up a pair of clowns. Thanks! Edit: Forgot to mention that I did a 20% WC after taking my readings..... Edited March 10, 2013 by swimmatte
Tracy G March 10, 2013 March 10, 2013 Yep. No sump. I checked my levels again and my Nitrates have come down a bit. Still 0 and 0 for Ammonia and Nitrites. I'm really thinking that the LR and LS has allowed me to cycle in 2 weeks. I'll probably head over to either Aquarium One or Congressional tomorrow to pick up a pair of clowns. Thanks! Edit: Forgot to mention that I did a 20% WC after taking my readings..... Sounds like its going great. Just go slow and it should work out great!
howaboutme March 11, 2013 March 11, 2013 I had a similar cycle to you albeit for a 29G and less cured LR. It took about 2 weeks or slightly less thought my nitrates never got above 20. I did a 5G water change to get the nitrates to <5 and just added CUC's, then clowns this weekend if all params are good still.
swimmatte March 12, 2013 Author March 12, 2013 Checked the levels again this morning and things are perfect. Even dropped my phosphates down to zero (I guess chemi-pure elite does it's job). Picked up two younger clowns and a pink tipped anemone. We'll see how things worked out. Thanks for all the responses Tracy.
Tracy G March 12, 2013 March 12, 2013 Checked the levels again this morning and things are perfect. Even dropped my phosphates down to zero (I guess chemi-pure elite does it's job). Picked up two younger clowns and a pink tipped anemone. We'll see how things worked out. Thanks for all the responses Tracy. You are very welcome. Be cautious with you water chemistry now that you added the Anemone They can be pretty sensitive to changes. If you see any levels slipping bump up water change frequency because they can add a good amount of bio load.
swimmatte March 13, 2013 Author March 13, 2013 nem is doing awesome! Eating well and looks great. Traded for a couple frags today too, adding a PPE single polyp and a birdsnest. Both opened almost immediately and seem to be doing great. Fingers crossed!
Tracy G March 13, 2013 March 13, 2013 nem is doing awesome! Eating well and looks great. Traded for a couple frags today too, adding a PPE single polyp and a birdsnest. Both opened almost immediately and seem to be doing great. Fingers crossed!Nice! Post some pics
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