nodogrules
Reefing newb
Greetings!
I have a tank cycling question. After a year of freshwater tropicals, my kids "nudged" me to make the jump to saltwater (it didn't take much). I have had our new tank set up for twelve days (prior to that I was warming the water, getting the salinity right, hooking up equipment, etc.).
Here are the details of my setup:
55 gallon tank
38 watt standard flourescent aquarium hood (for now)
Rena FilStar XP3 (up to 175 gal, rated 350gph)
In the filter i've got (from top to bottom) the micro filtration pad, carbon media, fluval pre-filter media, two layers of fluval biomax filter media, fine foam media, course foam media)
seaclone protein skimmer (for better or for worse...seems to be working fine)
using instant ocean and tap water with dechlorinator added (our city tap water is very pure per water reports so i'm going to try that first)
40 lbs live sand
30lbs crushed coral
20 lbs bare argonite rock on top of sand & coral
20 lbs live rock on top of argonite
saltwater master test kit
Per the attached water test history screenshot, I had ammonia present for days 2-4 and possibly from days 5-9 (I didn't test my water days 5-9 and my next test was on day 10 during which no ammonia, nitrites, or nitrates showed up on the test).
My ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate level tests have been at zero for the past four days (possibly more days during time period i wasn't testing).
I originally thought I bought 20# of "cured" live rock given the stuff growing on it, lots of aiptasia hitchikers (that i've killed with aiptasiax). The rock went right from the LFS tank to a cooler (covered with wet paper towels) and then directly into my tank).
Based on the ammonia/nitrite/nitrate levels and under the belief that i was using cured rock with all the live sand, I assumed that my tank had cycled, and when all my levels test zero on day 10, I added two damsels and 1 turbo snail, which BTW are still doing just fine.
However, during my last visit the LFS told me it was not cured live rock. They also told me my tank hadn't cycled yet (this might be true....i'm not sure which is why I am posting).
I also did a 10% "test" water change on day 8 just to see if I had my water transfer system set up right.
Here is my question: Based on the info here, do you think the tank has cycled yet (and I missed the higher nitrite/nitrate levels during the time period I didn't test), or hasn't the tank started to cycle yet?
If the answer is not obvious, could I potentially "test" the cycling ability of the tank by adding some household ammonia or other means? (i've seen this mentioned as a potential cycling approach on various forums). I converted my 10gal tropical tank to a water change "prep" tank and keep it filled with 10gal of ready-to-go change water. I could potentially use this as a quarantine tank during a cycling test so that i wouldn't torture the damsels....however this is assuming that i can catch them which i'm not sure i can do as they are always zipping around the tank.
I hope I didn't provide too much info...I just figured the more details the better.
Thanks for your help and insight!
I have a tank cycling question. After a year of freshwater tropicals, my kids "nudged" me to make the jump to saltwater (it didn't take much). I have had our new tank set up for twelve days (prior to that I was warming the water, getting the salinity right, hooking up equipment, etc.).
Here are the details of my setup:
55 gallon tank
38 watt standard flourescent aquarium hood (for now)
Rena FilStar XP3 (up to 175 gal, rated 350gph)
In the filter i've got (from top to bottom) the micro filtration pad, carbon media, fluval pre-filter media, two layers of fluval biomax filter media, fine foam media, course foam media)
seaclone protein skimmer (for better or for worse...seems to be working fine)
using instant ocean and tap water with dechlorinator added (our city tap water is very pure per water reports so i'm going to try that first)
40 lbs live sand
30lbs crushed coral
20 lbs bare argonite rock on top of sand & coral
20 lbs live rock on top of argonite
saltwater master test kit
Per the attached water test history screenshot, I had ammonia present for days 2-4 and possibly from days 5-9 (I didn't test my water days 5-9 and my next test was on day 10 during which no ammonia, nitrites, or nitrates showed up on the test).
My ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate level tests have been at zero for the past four days (possibly more days during time period i wasn't testing).
I originally thought I bought 20# of "cured" live rock given the stuff growing on it, lots of aiptasia hitchikers (that i've killed with aiptasiax). The rock went right from the LFS tank to a cooler (covered with wet paper towels) and then directly into my tank).
Based on the ammonia/nitrite/nitrate levels and under the belief that i was using cured rock with all the live sand, I assumed that my tank had cycled, and when all my levels test zero on day 10, I added two damsels and 1 turbo snail, which BTW are still doing just fine.
However, during my last visit the LFS told me it was not cured live rock. They also told me my tank hadn't cycled yet (this might be true....i'm not sure which is why I am posting).
I also did a 10% "test" water change on day 8 just to see if I had my water transfer system set up right.
Here is my question: Based on the info here, do you think the tank has cycled yet (and I missed the higher nitrite/nitrate levels during the time period I didn't test), or hasn't the tank started to cycle yet?
If the answer is not obvious, could I potentially "test" the cycling ability of the tank by adding some household ammonia or other means? (i've seen this mentioned as a potential cycling approach on various forums). I converted my 10gal tropical tank to a water change "prep" tank and keep it filled with 10gal of ready-to-go change water. I could potentially use this as a quarantine tank during a cycling test so that i wouldn't torture the damsels....however this is assuming that i can catch them which i'm not sure i can do as they are always zipping around the tank.
I hope I didn't provide too much info...I just figured the more details the better.
Thanks for your help and insight!