A non-cycle?

[Mark2431]

so two months into a tank with highly cultured live rock.
Never had ammonia.
Never had nitrites.
With one fish and hermit crabs I now have Nitrate at about 20 ppm. Been there for two weeks or so now.
Is this normal due to the live rock eliminating the ammonia/nitrite portion of the cycle?
To follow will I need to allow nitrate to fade or do large repeated water changes?
When will I know it's safe for more animals if I haven't seen the expected normal cycle??
Thanks!

 

[andyg1960]

Did you use RO water or tap? If you happened to use tap, wondering if there are nitrates in there. That happened to me before I switched over to RO/di

 

[Diesel]

No3 isn't that bad for your livestock as No2.
You can do a 25% WC to see if that brings it down.
Your LR is probably leaching out some dead matter as why your No3 is a bit elevated.
Having a good skimmer works wonders too, not to mention a refugium with some macro's in there.
You can always go the carbon dossing way but you need to read up on that yourself first.
Tell us more about your system, sump, lights, skimmer, etc.
Pics are nice too as we have an idea what we looking at.

EDIT, sorry about the No4 as this should be No2, these early Saturday mornings

[HASHTAG]#reefsquad[/HASHTAG]

 

[Mark2431]

I'm on very rural well water. I haven't checked it for nitrates but will add to my list of things to do.

 

[Mark2431]

Not a lot to tell. Old 55 gallon I've just recently converted. Aragalive substrate about 40#. Another 40# or so of live rock. Two Hydor circulators. Coralife 65g skimmer that I'm still learning To use/understand. Fluval 306 still running (I'm old school). 2 bulbs one blue actinic and one 10k.
I've been out of the marine hobby for 25 years or so. All fresh cichlids for years. I'm on a steep incredibly interesting learning curve.

 

[Diesel]

Yes you are old school but even old school can work you just have to find the balance.
Keep on asking a lot of questions here, it will give you quicker answers.
As in your skimmer, there might be some members on here that can tell you a lot about it.
For now a WC is your best friend in lowering your No3.