Cycle progress and levels

[JZ199]

Hey everyone, just had a few questions about my levels and if it seems like my tank may have cycled.

It's been up and running for a couple weeks now, I've been ghost feeding, it also has about 25/30lb of live rock and 25 or so of dry rock... The tank is 55g

All my live rock looks great and has all kinds of cool little things on them, I'm sure it's just from my powerhead blowing stuff but also some of the dry rock has what looks like small growth, but I think it's just loose stuff that was blown around the tank.

There probably shouldn't be, but I had 2 hermit crabs in there running around in there about a week or so, they've been eating off the live rock and some of my flake feelings.

My PH has finally made it to about 8.2
My amonia is 0ppm
Nitrates are 0ppm
And my nitrites were a little tough to compare on the scale, it was between 40ppm and 80ppm but the color was closer to 40ppm

Thanks again

 

[JZ199]

I also forgot to add it looks as though a lot of the rocks look like they're getting covered in places with diatoms

 

[gemini9]

nitrates are 0 as well? How long have you had your tank up?

 

[JZ199]

Yep nitrates are at 0,I'd say it's been around 3 weeks, my diatom growth isn't as much as yours though, I actually just noticed it earlier today

 

[gemini9]

It's my understanding, that near the end of the cycle, nitrates are usually pretty high until the LR has matured enough to clear it out. Do you have a skimmer running? Water changes? My tank is going through cycle now and my nitrates are sky high. And currently, my tank is over run by diatoms. Gets worse every day lol

 

[JZ199]

Oh great lol, I'll probably wake up tomorrow to an all orange tank haha, I've had a skimmer running, but I've also been adding bioculture for the live rock which when I add that I have to shut off the skimmer for about 4 hours a day after adding it. It's probably useless but I used it originally to clear up the crushed coral cloudiness and just kept it on ever since but I also have a hang on the back filter going.

 

[JZ199]

I guess I should add that the LR I did add in was apparently cured already, but you know how that goes when stores tell you that lol... Also I haven't done any major changes yet, it is due for a top off so I might drain a little more out and do a 20% change?

 

[gemini9]

From what I've read around here in the forums about cycling, I've seen a few comments from senior members that you don't really need to run your skimmer just yet. I could be wrong, but it is my understanding that you need the ammonia levels, nitrite and nitrate levels in order to properly start your cycle. First, you ammonia spikes high, then your nitrites sky rocket. When the nitrites come down, the nitrates go up. Then you see the diatoms and nitrogen starts getting released and then, I believe the nitrates start to drop (or so I'm hoping). I've very new to the hobby so I could be wrong, so don't take my advise too seriously. Just offering my insight since none of the senior members have been in here yet.

Did you see a rise in any of your ammonia and nitrite levels?