Cycle quesiton

oiliaN · Nov 6, 2014

After some research I've found that my LFS, which is over 40 miles away, lied about needing stock in the tank for it to cycle properly. They sold me a clown and a damsel saying it would "speed everything up" I now realize that I'm really just making the fishes life miserable while my ammonia spikes. So now my question is, how long should my tank take to cycle past the ammonia spike? Its been about a week, and my ammonia reads almost 1ppm. how high should it get before it starts being converted? I used bagged "live" sand and about 15lbs of live rock from a healthy tank along with 40lbs of cured rock. In a 55g tank.

Reefing Madness · Nov 6, 2014

If you did indeed use Cured Live Rock, your tank should only take a week to cycle, and your ammonia should not have gotten that high. The rock in that tank, white rock, is not cured and doesn't contain the bacteria needed for a fast cycle, I believe your looking at a normal 4-6 week cycle, only way to keep the ammonia down is to keep up on the water changes so it doesn't get any higher than where it already is. Unless you take the fish back for holding until your tank is cycled completely.

MarkDarnell · Nov 6, 2014

My 220g tank cycled in about 10days. I added Microbe-Lift Nite-Out II to my tank to help. I had about 100lbs of dry rock, about 60lbs of liverock, and regular substrate (not live).

MarkDarnell · Nov 6, 2014

Forgot to add, I also put in Microbe-Lift Special Blend after 2 days and before I put in the Nite-Out

oiliaN · Nov 6, 2014

They used the word cured, sadly I didn't do my research to learn what that actually should have meant. They told me 15lbs of rock from a cycled tank would be enough to get it through the cycle, and the rest could be dry (I think that would be the accurate description of the rest of the rock they sold me.) Suck for them, because I would have paid more for all live rock if they would have up sold it. So now its pretty much just time waiting for the bacteria to grow? Is there a chance that the bacteria wont grow? I feel the LFS didn't really prepare me for this adventure, but I'm more than willing to learn from people who actually know what their doing.

CaliO · Nov 6, 2014

I would return the fish and research The shark by ATM .. Heard awesome things about it and claims to cycle in 24-48hrs. So if you are not happy with your setup? Now's the time to change it and not have lost that much time... When I started it was a 3month cycle.. The hobby has come a long way in a short time.

oiliaN · Nov 7, 2014

Would Nitrifying Bacteria do any good? Do I need to take the fish out to incorporate it or would it be ok to use while they're still in? I'll be doing a water change tomorrow and hoping my much more local, however only has limited SW equipment and no stock, LFS has some.

Randy Holmes-Farley · Nov 7, 2014

Yes, adding a good quality bacteria source will speed up the cycle, even with the fish present.

gemini9 · Nov 7, 2014

Yeah don't trust LFS. They don't care about you or your tank. Like any other business man, they will tell you whatever they can just to talk you into buying something. I've had bad experiences with my LFS as well. It's a business, just like any other, and they are salesmen. Can't trust a salesman. My LFS has tried selling me Tangs for my 30g tank and every time I go in there, they try to push their chemicals and additives. "You need this, you need that, your fish will die if you don't put this in there" And they are way over priced, too.

gemini9 · Nov 7, 2014

What do you have in the way of equipment? I don't see any equipment in your pics. Do you have any powerheads? Skimmer? Need some powerheads in there to get that water moving. Also, Damsels are known to be quite aggressive. Might want to keep an eye on that one later on down the road. May cause you some problems. Especially if you add peaceful fish with no place to hide.

oiliaN · Nov 7, 2014

It is a little bare right now. The only flow I have is from a 1200gph return pump that I outfitted with a pvc diffuser to give it some direction. I have 2 power heads and a protein skimmer coming today.

gemini9 · Nov 7, 2014

Sounds like you're on the right path. I've been in the hobby for about 7 months myself. I've got a 30 gallon tank that's sloooowly coming together. Takes a long time and allot of work! You'll probably be seeing some of those ugly diatoms here before long. Well hey, welcome to the forums. There are allot of good people here with the knowledge to help you with any problems. It can be a bit confusing sometimes, because you'll often times get different answers. I think it's because every tank is different, and how you run your tank will differ from the way someone else runs theirs. That's what makes this hobby interesting. Every set up is unique and no two people have the same thing! Very cool.

oiliaN · Nov 7, 2014

As it turns out one of my buddies had an old bottle of nitrifying bacteria. However he's had it for over a year? Can it die? Does it expire?

gemini9 · Nov 7, 2014

There is probably an expiration date on the bottle somewhere.

Randy Holmes-Farley · Nov 7, 2014

It certainly does decline in effectiveness, assuming there was ever anything useful and alive in it to begin with.

oiliaN · Nov 7, 2014

He got it from an old fish store that closed down. It came in an unmarked bottle. Soooo I question it's effectiveness to begin with. I think I'll stick with ordering some. ATM colony or api quick start?

MarkDarnell · Nov 8, 2014

Dr Tim's is popular also.

oiliaN · Nov 9, 2014

Ok, so I did about a 40% water change and dosed with some nitrifying bacteria. It looks like my cycles accelerating a it because my ammonia is nearing 0. However I have this stuff growing. I know all sorts of algae pops up at some point, I just wanted to make sure this was nothing to worry about.