Do a waterchange or let it ride?

[AbjectMaelstroM]

This morning Ammonia and Nitrites were both 0. Dosed ammonia to 2ppm and will see where we are tomorrow morning.

If the rock is cycled, then tomorrow both ammonia and nitrites should once again be 0, correct? Or does the ammonia hit 0 then ~24h nitrites should follow? Though I would think they should be dropping at the same time as ammonia gets processed into nitrites, nitrites, as soon as they become available, get processed into nitrates.

 

[BeejReef]

When are you planning on setting up your tank?

The standard definition of cycled is 2ppm ammonia turn into 0 Ammonia and 0 Nitrite in 24 hours.
It's just an approximation though... a rule of thumb.

That "cycled" rock wouldn't be "cycled enough" to support 6 large fish and it's probably more than enough for two dime-sized clowns.

Can't imagine you're more than a day or thee away from the benchmark. I mean, if your plan is to get the tank set up this week and maybe buy a fish this weekend... that's pretty reasonable. Patience is always best, but give yourself some credit for already having shown a lot.

 

[AbjectMaelstroM]

When are you planning on setting up your tank?

The standard definition of cycled is 2ppm ammonia turn into 0 Ammonia and 0 Nitrite in 24 hours.
It's just an approximation though... a rule of thumb.

That "cycled" rock wouldn't be "cycled enough" to support 6 large fish and it's probably more than enough for two dime-sized clowns.

Can't imagine you're more than a day or thee away from the benchmark. I mean, if your plan is to get the tank set up this week and maybe buy a fish this weekend... that's pretty reasonable. Patience is always best, but give yourself some credit for already having shown a lot.

Tank is probably about a month away, maybe a bit more.

 

[BeejReef]

Oh!.. lol.

you're golden. set your mind at ease. that rock will be killer by the time you're ready for it. Give it a pinch of flake food once or twice a week. If you keep dosing it with ammonia, it'll be processing 8ppm into 0-0 in 12 hours by the time the tank is wet

If that little bit of phosphate is bothering you, the occasional water change might allow more to leach out and for the overall levels bound in the rock to come down a touch. u could also put a pinch of gfo into a media bag in with the rock. I wouldn't bother, but you seem proactive.

You're so far ahead of the game, I'm scratching my head thinking of what else you might do in advance of tank day... if you're gonna run a sandbed, I suppose you could go ahead and add it to your rock so it's nice and cycled as well.

U could even take a piece of your cycled enough rock and get a quarantine tank up and running so in a month's time, your first fish and inverts are ready to go to the big house.