Question about my new reef tank (Has it cycled?)

[bryan1354]

Hello,

Recently I purchases a 40 gallon cube tank with a sump. I purchased cured live rock from a fellow reefer from an established tank that crashed. I placed 20LBS of live pink fiji sand and i put about 4 raw shrimp inside to rot and start the nitrogen cycle. This was about 1 week ago when I placed the shrimp and it has been running for about 1 week and a half. My question is why have I not seen any ammonia spike? is it because the rock I purchased had all the beneficial bacteria I need and therefore I do not need to cycle the tank? FYI I made my own saltwater with Kent Reef salt mix.

Any ideas? I would appreciate it.

Thanks,

 

[bryan1354]

40lbs of live rock to be exact

 

[Alex27]

The rock that you purchased, why did that tank crash? in addition to ammonia you should also check for phosphates. The rock you purchased might have phosphates stored in the rock. In testing for ammonia make sure your kit is not old and that you test on a daily basis until the ammonia spikes then drops. If you don't see a spike then test for nitrates and nitrites and see what your readings are. It is possible that the rock has enough beneficial bacteria.

 

[bryan1354]

The tank crashed because the power went out while he was on vacation but he took all the rock out and placed it in tubs with salt water and power heads. My test kit is not old and I have used two different test kits and both register ammonia as 0. Nitrite, nitrate 0 as well. I have not tested phosphates yet.im starting to think the rock just really did have the bacteria I needed. Been testing every day 0 all across. How can I test this new tank should I add my clean up crew wait a few weeks then add a couple hardy corals from my other tank? Then a fish or two. Planning on having mostly corals.

 

[bryan1354]

Also, should I remove the shrimp now? Or wait a couple weeks? And let it completely rot?

 

[Alex27]

I would remove the shrimp. Add your clean up crew and then let them do there job. Take a slow adding livestock and test again. It is possible that the rock has what you needed. Beneficial bacteria will increase and decrease based on your bio load so going slow will build it back up if it went down.

 

[bryan1354]

Alright, so I am going to remove the shrimp add some crabs from my nanocube and a couple snails. Then ill leave it like that for a couple weeks since I don't have led fixture yet. Also should I add my protein skimmer now so it can break in?

 

[bryan1354]

I wonder if I will still see some diatoms?

 

[Alex27]

I don't believe you'll have much to skim since the tank doesn't have live stock. However you may have some die off from the rock so adding the skimmer won't hurt.

 

[bryan1354]

Yeah I just taught it would be best to get it up and running and break it in now. I took the shrimp out and added two hermit crabs to see how it goes I will test my water and observe for the next 4 weeks until I get my LED fixture. LFS told me to throw in a clown fish and see how that goes? what do you think about that? I didn't want to do it.

 

[Alex27]

When you add some lighting you may get a diatom bloom or algae. As for the clown, if you plan on adding a clown anyway, then this is ok. In this hobby taking it slow is always a good idea. Adding the clown will help you continue your cycle but you may have problems when you try to add a second clown. Just go slow

 

[bryan1354]

Yeah I figured that's when I will start seeing it. I do plan on adding a pair of clowns but not until I see stable paramaters. I will go slow I will probably add another two hermit crabs in two weeks. I put my Coralife Super Skimmer 65G last night and so far it has not skimmed anything just makes bubbles but no green nasty looking stuff. My water is to clean since I dont have really anything inside. As for the shrimp I removed it and during the process it sort of disinigrated. lol Some food for the hermits!!

 

[Alex27]

Add the cleaner crew and feed them if necessary. A piece of nori attached to a rock will do the job if you don't have any algae or other things for them to eat in the tank. This also helps with cycling the tank.

 

[bryan1354]

They should have enough food from the shrimp that disintegrated its only two hermits for now they should be fine. Tested my water again Ammonia 0 Nitrite 0 Nitrate 0-5PPM. I think I am all good thank you for your opinions. Now I will just wait for me LED fixture, A.T.O, Wavemaker, Calcium, Alkalinity and Magnesium doser and I will be a happy reefer.