Is my tank cycled?

[Cell]

Personally, I'd vacuum the sand completely over the next couple water changes, but don't stir at all, just straight down and straight up with the tube.

 

[Feet Pixel]

Chances are you should be fine.
Fish look well.
No new additions of fish for now.
What lights you have for the coral?
Most likely a bacterial bloom

that makes me so happy! I am running two Hydra AI 32 fixtures. Should I do anything special?

Happy fish, I doubt ammonia is an issue at all. Might have dodged a bullet reusing the old sand though depending on how old and how much got kicked up during the transfer. Recommendation is to never reuse old sand, but you are past that and seem ok. Adding more sand slowly is fine. If you aren't rinsing said sand though before adding, then your tank will be cloudy for a bit. Not sure if that's the current issue or not though. It may just be a bacterial bloom. Provide extra aeration and a UV will clear it up. Absent a UV, just time.

Oh my gosh now that you mention, I totally remember reading that! Nitrogen gas or something like that? I don’t know how I forgot. I rinsed the last 20 lbs and intend to wash the next batch too even though it’s labeled as live sand. That’s ok right?
I do not have a UV filter

Looks like a bacteria bloom. Do you run a skimmer? Make sure that you have good water movement at the surface. I would also consider adding an airstone until the bloom goes away. Bacteria blooms can remove oxygen from the system.

I have a skimmer but I turned it off yesterday when I added the bacteria. should I turn it on again?
I will add an air stone right away

Personally, I'd vacuum the sand completely over the next couple water changes, but don't stir at all, just straight down and straight up with the tube.

Okay got it, will continue to do so. Thanks for the tip, I was vacuuming in lines like a vacuum cleaner haha

 

[Cell]

Rinse the live sand with tap water until it runs clear and do a final RODI rinse and good to go. The idea with the vacuuming method is to disturb the sand as little as possible outside of the tube to minimize any potential release of hydrogen sulfide gas pockets or other accumulated nasties into the tank. Had you not reused the old sand, vacuuming the sand is pure personal preference and livestock dependent. In this case, I would personally do it just for a fresh start.

 

[brandon429]

Good posts all. That degree of surface area saved it all I'll bet.

 

[Feet Pixel]

Do you guys think I should do another water change?
Today ammonia is measuring between 0-0.25, and the water in the test tube was murky whereas last time it was a very transparent light green.
Nitrates registered at 10-20 today

I'm concerned about changing a large volume of water out when I just added bottled bacteria yesterday.

 

[Spare time]

You really just need to test ammonia and nitrAte. Nitrites aren't a problem like in freshwater. If you have the biospira, please add it ASAP so the bacteria can help reduce the ammonia more quickly.

Nitrite is an indicator in the cycle. If someone has 0 nitrite, they likely have no ammonia present as the bacteria that processes nitrite is slower growing than their ammonia processing counterparts

 

[brandon429]

There is nothing wrong with this cycle, take no action for cycle issues, those are the common ammonia readings we see for cycled reefs, you can see in searches all running reefs pretty much post those ammonia levels

run some carbon in a filter or a uv sterilizer to beat the cloudiness

 

[EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal]

Do you guys think I should do another water change?
Today ammonia is measuring between 0-0.25, and the water in the test tube was murky whereas last time it was a very transparent light green.
Nitrates registered at 10-20 today

I'm concerned about changing a large volume of water out when I just added bottled bacteria yesterday.

I'd consider your tank cycled for the current bioload. As for the water change, if you feel you want to do this due to the cloudy water, that's fine... Very little nitrifying bacteria stays in the water column, by now it's all in the rocks, sand, and other biomedia.
Good job

 

[EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal]

Nitrite is an indicator in the cycle. If someone has 0 nitrite, they likely have no ammonia present as the bacteria that processes nitrite is slower growing than their ammonia processing counterparts

But why wouldn't you just measure ammonia directly then? Depending on the specific strain of bacteria, nitrite is converted to nitrate almost immediately, so it never shows up on a hobby test.
No problem to test for all 3, but ammonia and nitrate are the 2 important ones in SW.

 

[Garf]

Do you guys think I should do another water change?
Today ammonia is measuring between 0-0.25, and the water in the test tube was murky whereas last time it was a very transparent light green.
Nitrates registered at 10-20 today

I'm concerned about changing a large volume of water out when I just added bottled bacteria yesterday.

Murky? You using your finger as a stopper when you shake the vial, lol. It’s probably something organic messin with your test kit. Looks like your tank is good. Happy reefin.

 

[Dburr1014]

that makes me so happy! I am running two Hydra AI 32 fixtures. Should I do anything special?

Oh my gosh now that you mention, I totally remember reading that! Nitrogen gas or something like that? I don’t know how I forgot. I rinsed the last 20 lbs and intend to wash the next batch too even though it’s labeled as live sand. That’s ok right?
I do not have a UV filter

I have a skimmer but I turned it off yesterday when I added the bacteria. should I turn it on again?
I will add an air stone right away

Okay got it, will continue to do so. Thanks for the tip, I was vacuuming in lines like a vacuum cleaner haha

I was asking about the lights for coral support.
Should be good to add your coral.