I think my tank is cycled?!

[The_Underwater_Gardener]

Hello all,

So I have had my 40g tank cycling for 12 days. Everyday I have been doing 2 drops of Aquaforest Bio S. Half my rock is dry and half is live. Half of the live rock was cured live rock. 40lbs total of rock. I’ve been testing ammonia nitrite and nitrate everyday and I have never seen a spike is ammonia or nitrite, it’s always been zero and nitrate has been 2-3 consistently. Salinity is 33ppm. I have noticed some diatoms and browning on the rocks and a little algae. I feel like it has cycled but I just want some opinions, I don’t want to put livestock in too soon [emoji21]

 

[Geebs19]

Did you feed the tank at all? Piece of Shrimp, pellets, pure ammonia? You will want to get some ammonia in there to determine how quick the beneficial bacteria is cycling it.

 

[cromag27 Verified Sponsor]

to verify you can dose pure ammonia until it reaches 2ppm then wait and see how long it takes to get back to zero.

 

[Mr.Asbury]

Bottled ammonium chloride is fairly cheap. Best bet is to get a bottle of this and add until it reads 2ppm (the bottle will tell you how much to dose to get to 2ppm depending on water volume). Once this goes from 2 -> 0 overnight and nitrites read 0 as well, you're good to go.

 

[ReeferBean]

Plus three to the above. I used the Dr. Tim's version.

 

[cromag27 Verified Sponsor]

Bottled ammonium chloride is fairly cheap. Best bet is to get a bottle of this and add until it reads 2ppm (the bottle will tell you how much to dose to get to 2ppm depending on water volume). Once this goes from 2 -> 0 overnight and nitrites read 0 as well, you're good to go.

we typically want ammonia to go back to zero within 8-12 hours.

and i use the seachem ammonia badge for this.

 

[The_Underwater_Gardener]

Ordered Dr. Tims ammonia chloride! Thank you everyone [emoji4][emoji106]

 

[cromag27 Verified Sponsor]

Ordered Dr. Tims ammonia chloride! Thank you everyone [emoji4][emoji106]

or run down to the hardware store and you can buy pure ammonia.

 

[brandon429]

Nothing is needed for purchase here. The per this thread below you are doing a blended cycle and the live rock portion is carrying all the normal filtration requirements an aged system would present. When you measure your water, you are measuring the live rock portion oxidation action.

The action that adds bacteria to your dry surfaces is time submerged... thirty days fact. Per this thread, your tank is a skip cycle tank because the amounts of previously submerged rocks are enough to handle your current bioload, live rock is excessively able to filter tanks well beyond its apparent ability.

If you are wanting the dry surfaces to take on bac for whatever reason, then the action is to wait thirty days doing nothing special... by then all surfaces are coated.

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/the-microbiology-of-reef-tank-cycling.214618/

The time to add fish is after you feel comfortable reading up on/executing fallow and quarantine fish preparation.

 

[cromag27 Verified Sponsor]

Nothing is needed for purchase here. The per this thread below you are doing a blended cycle and the live rock portion is carrying all the normal filtration requirements an aged system would present. When you measure your water, you are measuring the live rock portion oxidation action.

The action that adds bacteria to your dry surfaces is time submerged... thirty days fact. Per this thread, your tank is a skip cycle tank because the amounts of previously submerged rocks are enough to handle your current bioload, live rock is excessively able to filter tanks well beyond its apparent ability.

If you are wanting the dry surfaces to take on bac for whatever reason, then the action is to wait thirty days doing nothing special... by then all surfaces are coated.

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/the-microbiology-of-reef-tank-cycling.214618/

The time to add fish is after you feel comfortable reading up on/executing fallow and quarantine fish preparation.

maybe but sometimes people want to experience confirmation and learn more about the nitrogen cycle. so it’s no big deal to spend a couple bucks on ammonia and rest away.

 

[brandon429]

Agreed, live rock should be able to repeatedly oxidize any samples given to it. Merely pointing out a neat way to know where a cycle exists at any phase, helpful when moving tanks or upgrading/downgrading etc.