New 56g cycling

Scott Tuttle · Feb 2, 2018

I just started my first saltwater aquarium Sunday, a 56g, added dry rock, live sand, lfs also gave me a bottle of Matrix to put in the mechanical filter, and put everything in Sunday. I just got my water test kit today My gh = 180, kh = 180, pH = 8.0, no2 = .5, no3 = 0 and salinity is currently 1.026 (I know it's a little high, plan on slowly getting it down before adding fish), does everything look ok and since no2 is .5 does that mean the cycling has begun?

Crabs McJones · Feb 2, 2018

Scott Tuttle said:
I just started my first saltwater aquarium Sunday, a 56g, added dry rock, live sand, lfs also gave me a bottle of Matrix to put in the mechanical filter, and put everything in Sunday. I just got my water test kit today My gh = 180, kh = 180, pH = 8.0, no2 = .5, no3 = 0 and salinity is currently 1.026 (I know it's a little high, plan on slowly getting it down before adding fish), does everything look ok and since no2 is .5 does that mean the cycling has begun?

Correct! And 1.026 isn't high, that is actually ideal salinity for corals so don't concern yourself with lowering it

any idea what your ammonia level is?

Scott Tuttle · Feb 2, 2018

No, the test kit I have doesn't test the ammonia. I need to get one, any suggestions.

Crabs McJones · Feb 2, 2018

Scott Tuttle said:
No, the test kit I have doesn't test the ammonia. I need to get one, any suggestions.

I really like the salifert testing kits

TyroAquaria · Feb 3, 2018

Once your ammonia and nitrites hit 0, I would recommend continuing to add small amounts of ammonia until however much you add can be entirely converted to nitrate within a few hours. This way you can be confident that you have not only completed the nitrogen cycle, but have established a STRONG population of beneficial bacteria that is ready for the bioload of a fish

Scott Tuttle · Feb 4, 2018

What do the levels usually spike up to during the cycling?

Brew12 · Feb 5, 2018

Scott Tuttle said:
What do the levels usually spike up to during the cycling?

It changes with every tank depending on bacteria content and ammonia sources. Some tanks never see anything detectable other than nitrates while others see 5ppm+ of ammonia and nitrite.

I also noticed you are using gh and kh which is unusual for a reef tank. Guessing you are using test strips? Is this going to be a fish only system?

Scott Tuttle · Feb 5, 2018

Brew12 said:
I also noticed you are using gh and kh which is unusual for a reef tank. Guessing you are using test strips? Is this going to be a fish only system?

Yes, currently it will be a FOWLR, with this being my first saltwater tank I want to get use to everything before going reef. I plan to get a different test kit after it cycles. The strips was all my lfs had.

Brew12 · Feb 5, 2018

Scott Tuttle said:
Yes, currently it will be a FOWLR, with this being my first saltwater tank I want to get use to everything before going reef. I plan to get a different test kit after it cycles. The strips was all my lfs had.

I would get the API ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate test kits. You can skip nitrite if you want.

Just be aware that the API ammonia test kit can read 0.25 and still actually be zero. Nitrites are a huge problem with fresh water but have almost no impact on marine fish.