Nitrogen cycle taking forever!

[Gmanmundie]

Hi,

I'm fairly new to aquarium keeping. I've had my reef aquarium running for 3 months now and have my been taking water tests for ammonia, nitrates and nitrites etc, once a week since then (sometimes longer than a week). My readings have been 0 for nitrates and nitrites and fluctuating slightly for ammonia from 0 - 0.2. Salinity readings constant at 0.025. There's are signs of life in the tank like feather dusters, pods and other critters, coralline algae and other forms of algae. After reading up in the subject I thought the nitrogen cycle should be done by now but looks like its not. Any suggestions or advise on what to do would be appreciated.

Thanks

 

[Poseidon]

Hello! Welcome to R2R!

It can be very frustrating, and 3 months is on the outside of normal for a cycle. I would double check the test kit that you are using, maybe buy a second NH3 kit to confirm your reading, a different brand as well.

If that comes out the same, do you have access to a friends tank that has some fully cycled rock in it? I am going to trade some dry rock for some wet fully cycled rock today myself.

 

[Young Frankenstein]

It sounds like you will be a good reefer you waited and that is responsibility how much rock you have in the tank ?

 

[Gmanmundie]

Thanks for the quick reply guys. Sorry forgot to mention I'm using 'red sea' complete test kit and my tank is 175 litre (90x35x52cm). I'm using the marisys 240 filtration unit.

I got 13kgs of live rock from the local aquarium store. They assured me the rock was cured and ready to go. Not sure how long they had the rock before hand. I'll take a water sample to the store to get it tested.

Once the cycle is complete I'll get my clean up crew but afterwards I'm unsure if I should start with corals or fish.

 

[kmaintl]

If you cycled your tank with 100% live rock, it only takes about 7 days to cycle. When you use completely dead rock, it takes a minimum of 3 or 4 weeks. Your tank is probably already cycled.

 

[Gmanmundie]

Hey, your right. My tank has cycled. I took a water sample to my store to get it tested and turns out that it has cycled. I've since put a cleaning crew in of 3 turbos, 2 cleaner shrimp and 2 hermits. They've been in for about a week now and all doing well. Thinking about coral now. Just a single coral for now as obviously don't want to overload. Any suggestions for a newbie?

 

[kmaintl]

Just take things nice and slow... especially on any fish and you won't push you tank into another mini-cycle.