Cycling question

[hebbah]

Hi there - we are very new to Marine/Reef Aquariums! We have decided to set up a 50G saltwater aquarium. We will start out with as a fish only with live rock aquarium and hope to proceed to a reef once we get our bearings a little more. While we are waiting for the 50G tank to arrive we set up a 10G quarantine tank. We set it up with filters, powerheads, heater, live sand and live rock. The tank came with some pretty lame incandescent lighting so we ordered some PC lighting and are waiting for that to arrive.
We have been running the tank for about 8 or 9 days now. There are little molluks and other things on the rock but we obviously have not added any invertabrates or fish yet. Salinity and temperature are correct. We have tested our water for the last 7 days and all the levels are always perfect. PH 8.2 Ammonia, Nitrite and Nitrate are 0.
Here is my question: I thought the tank was supposed to go through an Ammonia/Nitrite spike so the good bacteria could develop but it seems as if nothing is happening in our tank. Should we wait longer? Are we doing something wrong?

Thanks so much for any pointers on this...
Hebbah

 

[Oscarsdad608]

It will happen in time. Sometimes it can take a couple weeks even up to a month or two.

 

[Bifferwine]

Hi and welcome!

Did you buy the rock "cured"? If you buy cured live rock, the tank may not cycle.

If I were you, I'd take a little bit of fish food and drop it in the tank to rot. The rotting food will kick of a cycle. Ammonia will rise first, then nitrites, then nitrates. Once ammonia and nitrites are back down at zero again, your tank is cycled, and you can do a water change before adding your first fish.

 

[yote]

A lot of times,when you start with good live sand and live rock,you'll completely skip the cycle.It dont happen all the time as there are exceptions.
Since you used live sand and rock in your QT,I wouldnt use any medications in it.As the meds will kill all the life forms thats in there.
You could put it all over in your dipplay though,once its ready.Then just use the QT without the sand and rock,for treating your fish.

 

[Smitty]

Welcome...

+3 to the above advise...

 

[hebbah]

Thanks so much for your fast replies! I did buy fully cured rock. For some reason I thought the tank would still cycle but a little faster and less smelly. I think I will try the fish food and see of that does anything.
Yote - we are planning to move the live rock over into the big tank if we needed to medicate. I agree it wouldn't be very happy otherwise.

 

[dustin_P74]

i would move the sand also, just leave the QT bare bottom with the only decorations in the tank being some PVC pipe for the fish to hide in, that way you can use any medication needed in the tank and not have to worry about it