When is new tank ready?

[Captain Jack]

I have had my tank set up for about a week now. From what I understand you want to let it sit for about a month before adding your first fish? I did add Bio=-sphere, which says makes water ready for fish right away, but figure I'm better safe than sorry. I was reading a post on R2R and it recommended waiting like 6 months until the tank cycled and was completely full of algae, but I would rather not wait that long and have my tank get that ugly! I do have a carbon reactor and UV sterilizer, to avoid algae. I have a 125 gallon tank with 160 lbs of live rock and about 1 1/2 inches of live sand, RODI water, big skimmer for 200 gallon +

 

[Tahoe61]

You started with live rock so that is beneficial to speeding up the cycle significantly if the rock is cured and there is little die off.
No you do not need to wait six months.
You need to test for ammonia, nitrite and nitrates that will allow you better insight as to how far along the tank is in the cycle process.
After you test post up some value to assist in determining how far along the cycle is.

 

[Captain Jack]

Thanks!
Here are my results: PH = 8.2; KH = 2.3; Nitrate = 20-25; Nitrite = 0.05; Amonia = 1.5; I haven't tested for calcium or Magnesium yet.
I will post some pictured of my tank also, once I figure out how to do that.

 

[PatW]

You need to cycle your tank.

You see when fish eat food, they excrete nitrogenous wastes as ammonia. Unfortunately, ammonia is highly toxic to fish. Now the right kind of bacteria can convert ammonia to less toxic nitrite and then to relatively non toxic nitrates. This beneficial bacteria will live attached to rock surfaces.

You can get bottled ammonia at many local fish stores, LFS. So you follow directions and add enough to give you 2 ppm ammonia in your tank. You will also need test kits for ammonia, nitrite and nitrate. Commonly available test kits are made by API, Red Sea and Salifert. Many people just toss a raw shrimp in their tank to serve as a source of ammonia.

You want your tank to convert 2 ppm ammonia completely to nitrates in 24 hours.

At the end of the process, your tank will have something like 20 ppm nitrates or more. Since nitrates are plant fertilizer many people end up with piles of algae growing in their tank. Nitrates can be lowered in your tank water by doing several large water changes. Many people like having nitrates below 10 ppm and I like mine between 1 and 2 ppm.

Now as to your results, you want zero ammonia. Ammonia is really toxic. But your tank is producing nitrates so it is making progress in the cycle. But it still has to progress farther.

 

[eliramos]

Perfect explanation above!

 

[Captain Jack]

I put a raw shrimp in my tank about 3 days ago, the shrimp is starting to look pretty nasty. I tested my nitrates and they are through the roof. Should I take the rest of the shrimp out of the tank, since the nitrate level is really high now, or just let it decompose in the tank?

 

[Tuffyyyyy]

I put a raw shrimp in my tank about 3 days ago, the shrimp is starting to look pretty nasty. I tested my nitrates and they are through the roof. Should I take the rest of the shrimp out of the tank, since the nitrate level is really high now, or just let it decompose in the tank?

I was reading about this last night. Saw several people say that you're done once the shrimp is decomposed and the nitrates are down to 0. Good luck! We have all been there. Just be patient!

 

[brandon429]

http://reef2reef.com/threads/new-ta...d-cocktail-shrimp-live-rock-no-shrimp.214618/

the title is don't use rotting shrimp for live rock cycling

two ways that thread applies to this thread (but we need pics of your rocks to verify)
1. no need to add ammonia to live rock, verify if its live first so theres no guessing. we add ammonia to dry base rock cycling setups. whats growing on the live rock? any fanworms or pods crawling about? coralline?
2. verify your test kits, only the ammonia portion matters. if you are using API = problem for low level readings. always get a cross compared reading of the same sample via Salifert or red sea. we have to be really rough to live rock to make it leak ammonia at a low level such that the natural filtration abilities of the rock cannot neutralize it.

Fully cycled tanks alone can process 4 ppm ammonia in 24 hours repeatedly...so its strange when pounds and pounds of live rock supposedly emits 1 ppm constantly. that means a gigantic leak of ammonia is happening and only the tail end cannot be processed, that would stink up a house like a skunk.

 

[Erik R]

Before you go putting anything in your tank that is not extremely hardy, you need to wait until your Ammonia and Nitrates are 0. Getting Ammonia to 0 may not happen, but you can get it real close. Nitrites will rise over time. Water changes helps as does macro algae, and other methods. Forgive the external link, but you should take a look at this Nitrogen Cycle article.

This article goes into a lot of topics that are very helpful and could answer some of your questions. There are some species you can add to your tank early on that will help with the cycle. However if you already put in live rock, then your most powerful tool you can use to get things on the right track is a big healthy dose of patience.