Is my tank cycled?

[Hetts]

I’ve been trying to figure out exactly when my tank is cycled for the past month and I’ve ran into issues but I’m wondering if it is finally done now. I’ve got 4 fish and a few hermits and snails. They all seem to be doing great and eating like crazy. I had a high nitrite issues but got it lowered after adding lots of bottled bacteria and some prime thanks!

Ph - 8.0ppm
Nitrite was at 1 last week but I got it lowered to 0ppm now.
Nitrate- 15ppm
Ammonia - 0.20ppm

 

[Bryn]

I would say after a month, and having 4 fish along with inverts, bottles of Bacteria, you should be cycled. Just watch what you are feeding, keep doing water changes and you should be good to go.

EDIT: jimk60 mentioned something below I should have added, and that is the Ammonia I think is a false positive.

 

[Hetts]

I would say after a month, and having 4 fish along with inverts, bottles of Bacteria, you should be cycled. Just watch what you are feeding, keep doing water changes and you should be good to go.

Awesome, I also have live sand too lol I was trying to do everything I can to speed this process up haha

 

[jimk60]

As long as your reading ammonia your probably not cycled. Some test kits read false positive so it could be that. That's a lot of fish for an uncycled tank and probably isn't helping.

 

[Hetts]

As long as your reading ammonia your probably not cycled. Some test kits read false positive so it could be that. That's a lot of fish for an uncycled tank and probably isn't helping.

Well I’ve never had a nitrate reading before until now. And I’ve read when you get a nitrate reading thats a good sign to being cycled or close to it, also bottled bacteria allows for almost immediate addition of fish. I added bottled bacteria a week before fish and fed the tank once a day. Then added 2 clowns and 4 hermits and then did a water change. I then added more bottled bacteria with some prime to help nitrite levels and then I added 2 bangghai cardinals and 8 snails. This whole week I’ve been watching my numbers and today they finally seemed to some what level out or look the best they have ever.

 

[Hetts]

I would say after a month, and having 4 fish along with inverts, bottles of Bacteria, you should be cycled. Just watch what you are feeding, keep doing water changes and you should be good to go.

EDIT: jimk60 mentioned something below I should have added, and that is the Ammonia I think is a false positive.

I’m using API saltwater masters test kit, I’ve heard lots of mixed reviews on it. So yeah the ammonia could be messed up

 

[jimk60]

Yes it is part of the process. You should never show ammonia, that is a problem if the reading is accurate. Just give it some time before adding anything else

 

[Hetts]

I’ve been trying to figure out exactly when my tank is cycled for the past month and I’ve ran into issues but I’m wondering if it is finally done now. I’ve got 4 fish and a few hermits and snails. They all seem to be doing great and eating like crazy. I had a high nitrite issues but got it lowered after adding lots of bottled bacteria and some prime thanks!

Ph - 8.0ppm
Nitrite was at 1 last week but I got it lowered to 0ppm now.
Nitrate- 15ppm
Ammonia - 0.20ppm

I just retested and shook up the ammonia bottles before adding them into the test tube and now my ammonia seems to be reading closer to 0? I guess it was a false negative

 

[Bryn]

I’m using API saltwater masters test kit, I’ve heard lots of mixed reviews on it. So yeah the ammonia could be messed up

A lot of things could be going on here. The 2.0 Ammonia on an API test is a good green color from the Yellow of 0.0 Ammonia, could be accurate or a false positive. With everything you have done, I believe the cycle is done, and yes you can have a high ammonia result if you are exceeding the ability of the cycled tank to process the ammonia, until it has built up the bacteria to remove the ammonia. As @jimk60 said, just give it sometime before adding anything else. Also any gill damage would most likely show up in about a week.

You could do a partial water change of 25%, skip feeding for a day or two, monitor your ammonia, and nitrate after water change, watching for a change in color moving down for Ammonia and Up for Nitrate, not so much the numbers. If you skip a water change then test again watching the color change.

Cheers

 

[Bryn]

I just retested and shook up the ammonia bottles before adding them into the test tube and now my ammonia seems to be reading closer to 0? I guess it was a false negative

False +

 

[Hetts]

False +

So you think before it was a false negative and it’s good now?

 

[Bryn]

I think you are good to go, just read reply #9. The first test you did when it showed 2.0 or Green, was a False +. But be careful, watch your feeding.

 

[Hetts]

I think you are good to go, just read reply #9. The first test you did when it showed 2.0 or Green, was a False +. But be careful, watch your feeding.

Yep that’s what I jsut told myself about feeding lol I’m probably gonna just feed them once a day instead of twice for the next few days

 

[Payne Train]

API’s ammonia tests typically show .25 even when there isn’t any ammonia present. I’d say false positive.

The live sand should help feed your bacteria in a bottle, along with the fish food and the fish waste.

It sounds cycled to me but I wouldn’t add anything for a couple weeks to let your tank catch up. I have been adding a new Fish every 10-14 days so that I’m giving my bio load time to adjust. You can add some hardy coral though and see how they do. They won’t affect your bio load nearly as much as a fish will

 

[Hetts]

API’s ammonia tests typically show .25 even when there isn’t any ammonia present. I’d say false positive.

The live sand should help feed your bacteria in a bottle, along with the fish food and the fish waste.

It sounds cycled to me but I wouldn’t add anything for a couple weeks to let your tank catch up. I have been adding a new Fish every 10-14 days so that I’m giving my bio load time to adjust. You can add some hardy coral though and see how they do. They won’t affect your bio load nearly as much as a fish will

Yay! I’ve been wanting to get some coral but haven’t yet. And I haven’t added any new fish for about 2 weeks due to me reading high nitrites. But that is down to 0 now

 

[Hetts]

API’s ammonia tests typically show .25 even when there isn’t any ammonia present. I’d say false positive.

The live sand should help feed your bacteria in a bottle, along with the fish food and the fish waste.

It sounds cycled to me but I wouldn’t add anything for a couple weeks to let your tank catch up. I have been adding a new Fish every 10-14 days so that I’m giving my bio load time to adjust. You can add some hardy coral though and see how they do. They won’t affect your bio load nearly as much as a fish will

Do you think I could add an anemone just yet?

 

[Payne Train]

Do you think I could add an anemone just yet?

Just wait until people start telling you that you will want a little nitrates and phosphates for tank health, it will get confusing lol

As far as an Nem, you really need to let your tank mature a bit before you add one of those. Most people wait 6 months or more because they need stable conditions.

coral options could be anything hardy like a Duncan, Zoa’s, trumpet coral, Kenyan tree, etc . Something cheaper to see how they do for a week or so.

 

[Hetts]

Just wait until people start telling you that you will want a little nitrates and phosphates for tank health, it will get confusing lol

As far as an Nem, you really need to let your tank mature a bit before you add one of those. Most people wait 6 months or more because they need stable conditions.

coral options could be anything hardy like a Duncan, Zoa’s, trumpet coral, Kenyan tree, etc . Something cheaper to see how they do for a week or so.

Awesome! I really like zoanthids so I’ll probably get one of those. And I got 15ppm nitrates so that should help coral then right? Lol