Questions about cycling my tank

[Adam Hurley]

So I've had my tank cycling for 10 days now. It's a 40 breeder with a 40 breeder sump I have 30 lb of dry reef saver rock 10lb of live sand and 30lb Dry sand.

Im running my protein skimmer, filter sock as of right now

I added bio spria and raw shrimp to cycle the tank.

My question is about my test results currently they are at.
Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0.50
Nitrate 10

They have been at these levels for two days and not move sould I just have patience and let it good or is there something I can do to help it along

 

[redfishbluefish]

Sit back, relax, pour yourself a cool beverage.....it's going to take a while.

If you wish, you can test the cycle by adding ammonia and watching to see if it quickly disappears.

 

[Adam Hurley]

Sit back, relax, pour yourself a cool beverage.....it's going to take a while.

If you wish, you can test the cycle by adding ammonia and watching to see if it quickly disappears.

Thank you for the reply

 

[Maggie321]

10 days is nothing. I waited over a month at about those numbers. I finally got tired of waiting and added a baseball size live rock from my LFS. It finished the cycle in 48 hours. Not the "uncontaminated" cycle I was looking for but a cycle none the less. My tank is happy and healthy almost a year later.

Enjoy the wait, once the cycle is done, you'll have lots more time to enjoy the tank.

 

[Adam Hurley]

10 days is nothing. I waited over a month at about those numbers. I finally got tired of waiting and added a baseball size live rock from my LFS. It finished the cycle in 48 hours. Not the "uncontaminated" cycle I was looking for but a cycle none the less. My tank is happy and healthy almost a year later.

Enjoy the wait, once the cycle is done, you'll have lots more time to enjoy the tank.

Thank you for your reply

 

[Adam Hurley]

Should I change my filter sock well cycling or just leave it

 

[Tautog]

I never used socks, and was still told I was running my tank too clean. In fact, running socks all the time is removing good stuff from your system. I wouldn’t run socks until your tank cycles, and then only to stop stuff from going back in to the DT. 2-3 fish with a small amount of food each day is all you need to cycle. Your skimmer will not produce much, and you properly don’t need it yet either.
Sit back, relax, wait.....wait.....wait! But start deciding on tank stock, and make sure to read or ask about compatibility and which fish should be added first or last.......very important!

 

[Mikedawg]

You're doing it right, just a little more time and now you can be making out your fish and corals list.

 

[Adam Hurley]

Thanks everyone for the great information

 

[Jesterrace]

Yup, leave it alone and let it do it's thing. The more you mess with it, the more it prolongs the cycle.

 

[Wildblue4]

I agree. You are doing it right. Just let nature do its thing.

 

[polyppal]

The Bio Spira definitely works wonders! It will speed things up for you so that it wont take forever...

I use a very clean cycle method where I pour in a whole bottle of Bio-Spira and use Ammonium Chloride instead of shrimp/food. The last two tanks have only taken about 2.5-3 weeks for the initial cycle.

Once your cycle completes, add fish slowly as it will still take some time for the bio filter to expand and develop, otherwise you will almost certainly have algae problems a week or two later!