Cycle done after only 3.5 weeks??

[b4tn]

I started with 40lbs or caribsea live aragonite, 5 pounds of live rock, 50 pounds of reef saver dry rock, and 30 pounds of dry aragonite. I used a shrimp from the freezer and random heavy feedings with no livestock as an ammonia source.

Total water volume in 75 DT and 40b sump is about 80 gallons. I got a very small diatom bloom. Very small! And a very small amount of hair algae on the glass but nothing major. I noticed today after 3.5 weeks that the diatoms where gone. I have several bristle worms crawling around and some sort of LPS coral that was a live rock hitchhiker seems to be flourishing. I also have about 1 cup of chaeto algae under an LED grow light in the sump that is alive and well after about a week now.

So I tested nitrate, nitrite, and ammonia this morning and got 0 across the board. Is it possible that it's already done? I may go get a few chromis today to test the waters.

 

[veselym]

yes it looks cycled...there is really no time frame, as long as you get a spike in ammonia then nitrites and they fall to zero after it is cycled

I have had a tank cycle in a week but you need to add fish slow, I would do one fish and wait 2 weeks

 

[b4tn]

I guess I was expecting a huge algae/diatom bloom and a month or 2 before it settled. I guess I had a quick one. My first SW tank years ago I didn't wait for the cycle, didn't use RO, water, and about everything else you could do wrong was done. I am trying to do this one right.

 

[b4tn]

Also, isn't it strange that ammonia never spiked above .25 ppm? I thought it was supposed to get all the way up to 2 ppm or higher. Is it because I used so much live sand?

 

[hatfielj]

Keep in mind your tank won't actually mature for many months which means it still has a lot of changes to go through first. My opinion is that a tank isn't actually "cycled" until you start seeing coraline algae growth.

 

[veselym]

If you left the shrimp in there the entire 3.5 weeks and there is no ammonia registering then it is cycled...if you are that worried then keep feeding the tank and wait another 2 weeks

 

[b4tn]

Yup shrimp was there until it slowly disappeared. I just did a 5 gallon water change. I took the 5 gallons of DT water and put it in my 15 gallon quarantine tank with another piece of shrimp.

Hatfielj, I will take it slow. I think like mentioned above I may go get a clown fish or a couple chromis today.