cycling a 14 gal

[FindingPonyo]

hey guys,
first off I wanna say that as a new reefer I need more help than anyone so please follow me so you can answer my threads when I make them. Thank you in advance but right now I need help deciding timelines for a 14 gallon tank. I started cycling it last Thursday and I was wondering when it would be fully cycled. I have a running filter and power head on in the tank I have the aquarium light turned on and I have live sand and live rock in the tank. Without any added nitrifying bacteria or ammonia other than the ammonia from the rock, how long should i wait?

 

[SteveG_inDC]

Are you testing daily? Adding any ammonia sources?

Normally if you have live rock and live sand, you should already be cycled. To test it out, add a source of ammonia and test after 2 hrs and then at 24 hrs and daily for a couple of days. What you should see is an ammonia spike, a nitrite spike, and then both parameters down to zero, with non-zero nitrates (like 20 ppm or greater).

Most readily available ammonia sources, like flake food or a grocery store cocktail shrimp are inefficient. You don't know how much ammonia they actually add, they add other not-good stuff, and they take a while to break down. The best method is to pour some pure ammonia but carefully measured. For 14g you don't need much.