Need help with parameters

racoloish · Jun 20, 2014

Hi I'm making a new saltwater tank 40g tall and has been a week since I start with. Want to know if the parameters are okay. The parameters are:
Ammonia: 0 ppm
Nitrite: 0 ppm
Nitrate: 0 ppm
PH: 8.2
Salinity: 1.024

Tahoe61 · Jun 20, 2014

Did you start with live rock?
Did you add any cycling products?
Have you seen any ammonia spike?

racoloish · Jun 20, 2014

yes I start with live rock and like 30% water from a 2 years tank. No, the only thing I added is the water and rock. What do u mean with ammonia spike? I'm new to aquarium terms

Tahoe61 · Jun 20, 2014

During the initial cycle you should see a detectable ammonia/spike level first, then a detectable nitrite level and or a nitrate level, completion of the nitrogen cycle.

If there was no decay/organic matter to produce ammonia the the nitrifying bacteria will be slow to reproduce, the cycle takes longer is the short story.

Water carries very little beneficial bacteria.

Dalmatia · Jun 21, 2014

Looks like you got LR (live rock) from an established tank, so I'm guessing your good to add some fish by reading your parameters. They are good
Just who did the test for you?

Tahoe61 · Jun 21, 2014

The absence of ammonia and nitrite does does not indicate the tank is ready to stock. It may in fact indicate that the nitrogen cycle has not even started as of yet because there is no organic matter decaying to produce ammonia. Typically even a tank cycled with cured live rock should have a detectable nitrate level. You'll need to add some fish food to challenge the tank to assure the biological filter is large enough to complete the nitrogen cycle in an adequate amount of time. You stick fish in a newly set up tank and start feeding them you could very well end up with new tank syndrome.

Reefing Madness · Jun 21, 2014

Tahoe61 said:
During the initial cycle you should see a detectable ammonia/spike level first, then a detectable nitrite level and or a nitrate level, completion of the nitrogen cycle.

If there was no decay/organic matter to produce ammonia the the nitrifying bacteria will be slow to reproduce, the cycle takes longer is the short story.

Water carries very little beneficial bacteria.

Agreed. I'd have thrown in a jumbo shrimp from the grocery store for your ammonia source.

racoloish · Jun 23, 2014

Hi, I check my notes and the tank has 2 1/2 week. Put some frozen and pellets food in the tank. I make two more test and the result are: first. PH 8.2, ammonia 0, nitrite 0, nitrate 20
second. Today PH 8.4, ammonia 0, nitrite 0, nitrate 0.
Do you think that the tank already had an ammonia/spike? And if it's cycle or not?

Reefing Madness · Jun 23, 2014

If you used fully cured live rock, yes its cycled, if you did not, then no, we missed something, but it couldn't be cycled yet. As stated though, water doesn't carry enough bacteria to cycle a tank on its own.

Sully · Jun 23, 2014

It doe say that he started with Live rock which would explain no ammonia spike. His tank could very well be cycled at this point if that he did use true cures LR.

Tahoe61 said:
The absence of ammonia and nitrite does does not indicate the tank is ready to stock. It may in fact indicate that the nitrogen cycle has not even started as of yet because there is no organic matter decaying to produce ammonia. Typically even a tank cycled with cured live rock should have a detectable nitrate level. You'll need to add some fish food to challenge the tank to assure the biological filter is large enough to complete the nitrogen cycle in an adequate amount of time. You stick fish in a newly set up tank and start feeding them you could very well end up with new tank syndrome.

racoloish · Jun 23, 2014

yes, I use a fully cured live rock like 2 years. And 30% water from an stabilized tank. I added the food like 3 days ago. The nitrate was the only parameter that go up and then down to zero.