New setup- no cycle happening?

[Pudge&Bubbl]

First piece of information: ZERO ammonia, nitrite, or nitrate

Okay- so here it is. (My 2nd salty tank.) Newly setup 120 gallon tank (5 days old). 100 pounds of Live sand, some live rocks (from a mature tank, even some mushrooms and a little agae), some dry rock.

2 clown fish, added first day.
Testing daily: No ammonia. No nitrite. No nitrate.

Thought maybe not enough bio load to be noticeable in 120 gallons?

Adopted 2 green chromis, acclimated and added.

Still no change in tests. Zero across the board.

So.... is it that I have more than enough beneficial bacteria already, with the rock and sand?

I'm not used to zero, but having only 2 (now 4) fish in such a large tank- could it just not be measurable?

What should I do?

I have a fish in QT that's been waiting for his tank to be ready. But... is it ready? I'm used to seeing measurable changes almost immediately. But that's been in smaller tanks. I use this same test kit on every tank I have, and it is not expired. I get differing results on different tanks- so I know it works.

Any insight? Advice? Recommedations?

 

[brandon429]

agreed its a skip cycle setup, they make 500 instant reefs at macna conventions this way. no concern here. the #pounds of live surface area used is simply enough to handle bioloading or the whole thing would have died first nite, the system is fully, not partially able to manage ammonia and only ammonia matters in reef cycling, not nitrate, and not nitrite.

am aware old info says they do, we have new threads that now says nitrite and nitrate dont matter. you are proving it too, currently. each day the fish live is another proven cycle closed day. if nitrate or nitrite mattered in cycling, all your fish plus the new ones would be dead.

*we got merely lucky your ammonia doesnt say .25 or .5 and holding. 99% of posts like yours say that, and they're all still cycled anyway all based on the fish living. false ammonia readings also dont factor in updated cycling science

the takeaway from all this is that you arent going to wake up one day and find yourself partially cycled. there is no middle ground, a given set of surface area can either handle X bioload or it cannot, if it can, it never retroscales or works backwards.

as time goes by, your cycle increases in efficiency, though its already sufficient, as the dry surfaces become active in addition to the skip cycle live rock portions.

 

[Pudge&Bubbl]

agreed its a skip cycle setup, they make 500 instant reefs at macna conventions this way. no concern here.

So you think it's safe to add one more fish?

Dont get me wrong- I like and enjoy the 4 fish in there. I would be sad or disappointed in myself if something happened to them. But my heart would break if the other fish gets sick because I have done a lot for this guy. Patience is not my greatest virtue, but I'm trying. QT and observation periods.... all of it.

 

[brandon429]

for sure it can handle another fish, your fallow/qt procedure is the challenge not the ammonia control portion. live rock is simply this powerful...football fields of comparatively flat area if all pressed and laid out thin. your system would be creeping up on cloudiness if you were pushing the biofilter currently, its laser clear.

 

[JoshO]

So you think it's safe to add one more fish?

Dont get me wrong- I like and enjoy the 4 fish in there. I would be sad or disappointed in myself if something happened to them. But my heart would break if the other fish gets sick because I have done a lot for this guy. Patience is not my greatest virtue, but I'm trying. QT and observation periods.... all of it.

I would stick to the current stocking and complete the QT of the fish. No point in rushing the fish in to end up with an ammonia spike or risk introducing ich or other parasites

 

[Pudge&Bubbl]

I would stick to the current stocking and complete the QT of the fish. No point in rushing the fish in to end up with an ammonia spike or risk introducing ich or other parasites

His QT period was over a while ago. Had a delay in getting the tank setup. So not rushing the QT

 

[MTBake]

I would hold off on adding another fish. Give the tank a couple weeks to adjust to what you've added already.

Out of curiosity, what fish do you have in qt right now?

 

[JoshO]

His QT period was over a while ago. Had a delay in getting the tank setup. So not rushing the QT

In that case if you are confident in your testing then I can't see why it wouldn't be safe to add him. Might still be worth monitoring the DT for a few more days to be sure the parameters aren't going to change

 

[Pudge&Bubbl]

Definitely going to monitor it to make sure. Thank you all! I needed more than just my own brain second-guessing itself.

 

[Pudge&Bubbl]

I would hold off on adding another fish. Give the tank a couple weeks to adjust to what you've added already.

Out of curiosity, what fish do you have in qt right now?

I will try to wait a bit longer.

It is a very long story and not an intentional fish. But I'm trying to do right. I will be setting up a 180 later this summer, perhaps bigger.

He is a juvenile (still transitioning to full blue) Caribbean blue tang.

 

[Quietman]

If you had a significant proportion of mature live rock then the term "cycling" probably didn't apply to your tank. "Cycling" as it's normally used in SW is when there's enough of the bacterial driven nitrogen cycle in place to process highly toxic ammonia so it's safe to add the first fish. The bacteria processing ammonia are rapidly prolific compared to others downstream in the N-cycle so bringing them in with live rock is easily sufficient to explain your issue.

If you have ammonia being produced and none detected then you're tank is safe for more fish. Of course that assumes sufficient ammonia to be measured and accurate testing and understanding that tanks have to adjust to new load which I'm sure you're aware.