Tank cycled??

[EchoStar]

Hey guys,

So I started my 50 gal cube tank with dry rock, and live sand. I have been cycling for a little over a month and a half now. I have been adding dr. tim Ammonia to the tank. My tank has cycled 2ppm to zero twice now and is currently cycling about half of the Ammonia that I put in in a 24 hour span. ( if i put in 2ppm it 1ppm in the morning. If I put in .5 PM it .25 in 24hr). I currently have high nitrate in the water and I'm starting to have brown dust on my sand (not a lot but some I have a lot of flow in the tank) my question is do you guys think the tank is cycled. I have been doing so good at being patient until I found a new tank store today (been pricing coral and fish for past month) and found 3 corals that i want for a buy 2 get one free deal and he over 75% cheaper than everyone even online.. it killed me to walk away today because I knew the deal he had. He holding them until tomorrow for me .. question is do you guys think my tank is cycled. I'm itching to do a water change and get these great priced coral

 

[Big G]

How high are the nitrates?

 

[EchoStar]

I'm heading home and will test it when I get home but last time I tested about 2 week ago it was 80

 

[Jason mack]

If your tank is only consuming half of the ammonia in 24 hrs then I'd say it's not ready yet ...at only 4.5 weeks my guess is your about half way through ...the brown dust will be diatoms ....part of the cycle ...I'd sit back fof another couple of weeks yet ...don't rush it ....mine took about 10 weeks before it was cycled and had 0 ammonia and 0 nitrite.....nothing good happens fast in a reef tank ....there will always be more corals too buy ...research the corals you want...know their needs and requirements before you buy them ...never buy on impulse...that's my advice

 

[Big G]

I'm heading home and will test it when I get home but last time I tested about 2 week ago it was 80

Time to do some water changes to lower the nitrates down to the 10-20 ish range.

 

[EchoStar]

If your tank is only consuming half of the ammonia in 24 hrs then I'd say it's not ready yet ...at only 4.5 weeks my guess is your about half way through ...the brown dust will be diatoms ....part of the cycle ...I'd sit back fof another couple of weeks yet ...don't rush it ....mine took about 10 weeks before it was cycled and had 0 ammonia and 0 nitrite.....nothing good happens fast in a reef tank ....there will always be more corals too buy ...research the corals you want...know their needs and requirements before you buy them ...never buy on impulse...that's my advice

The 3 corals he had I am very familiar with and have raised in my old tank before I got rid of it.. I have a list of fish that I'm going to add to the tank and a list of coral that I want and done research on already... the research part of this hobby is one of my favorite parts..

 

[Jason mack]

I know you said you've added dr Tim's ammonia...have you also added bactostart or something similar as well ...if not ..I would ....it will help ...

 

[EchoStar]

I know you said you've added dr Tim's ammonia...have you also added bactostart or something similar as well ...if not ..I would ....it will help ...

Yes I have done microbacter 7 and dr. Tim's one and only

 

[EchoStar]

Time to do some water changes to lower the nitrates down to the 10-20 ish range.

Just tested and I'm sitting at 20ppm. Cheto must have ate some of it.

 

[Vahanyos]

I'd do a 30% or so water change and let it sit a little more. Ammonia and Nitrite should go to 0 ... non existent. Once you get them to zero in a 24 hour time frame or less, (with increasing nitrates) then you'll be ready to go and "done" with your cycle. However, the OTHER cycle will begin after you add a fish or two in there... After you get a fish or two in there I would wait a couple more weeks to let your bio filtration catch up and adjust to your fish living in it and pooping around... You don't want to put a few corals in there to learn that your bio filter is slow at keeping up and have an ammonia spike again.

You're probably tired of hearing it, but patience patience patience! Until you've lost lots of $ and dealt with so many issues, you truly won't understand why everyone keeps using the word patience lol. You will have MUCH better success with a thriving tank too by doing it right the first time. Otherwise you'll end up like me when I first started in the hobby. It took me MONTHS before my tank became stable because I didn't cycle it correctly the first time.

 

[K-Philly]

I agree with everyone that stated the part of patience. There is not much good in anything that is impulsive. However, I understand how you feel completely!

I have a thread dedicated to the research I have done on the Nitrogen Cycle, check it out if you are interested! With that being said though, I am going to go against some things said in order to help you think more critically. I do not believe that there is a "second cycle." The goal of any system is to utilize nitrogen, re-construct it to another usable element, then convert it back to nitrogen to put it back into the atmosphere. This period when you are adding new fish is not that the microbes are adjusting to the fish's bio-load, they are technically going through a die off period and back to numbers that can utilize the available food. Bacteria colonies are directly proportional to amount of food available. We usually dose over the amount of what our initial stock's ability to produce is. It's basically a measure of safety and for peace of mind. I would personally wait until nitrites and ammonia test zero, within 24 hours. That would be your surest bet. Good luck!