Where am I in my cycle?

OpTiCz

OpTiCz

Member
Just setup my 14g tank recently.

02/02 I got some rock from a fellow member. Most was dead, but he gave me some live stuff from his sump. I scrubbed and rinsed the dead stuff really good. I put all rock together in a 5 gallon bucket with a heater and flow.

02/04 Got some sand from a fellow member. It was dead, sitting outside in the grass :) I rinsed it til the water was clear for a good 20 minutes. So clean you could eat off of it, I wouldn't.

02/04 I put the sand and the rock in my 14g cube, and fill it with clean RO water, salinity at 1.026

02/08 Measured my levels today. Nitrites @ 0 ppm, Ammonia around .35 ppm, Nitrate around 2 ppm.

I'm just curious where I might be at in my cycle, should I do anything to speed it up (add a piece of shrimp or something?), when should I do a water change.

Thanks guys and gals!
 
I usually use the shrimp method. You'll see the ammonia spike and then drop. The nitrates will then go up and then drop. That's when you do a 50% water change and you're ready to add a little livestock. I also grind up the shrimp a little to give it more surface area for bacteria.
 
Seems like you might be at that bad week of the month. You do not know your cycle.

Just kidding, was just to easy.
 
How far should I space out my tests? If I have nitrates, is my ammonia supposedly going down?

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You don't need to add anything to a tank that used live rock. Plenty of die off. Wait until the Ammonia and Nitrite BOTH read 0 and you should be good to go. Just go really SLOWLY with adding livestock. That shrimp thing is great, but only necessary when using bioballs and bleached decor.
 
I know its brutal to wait, but, continue to test your parameters every day or every other. You will eventually see an ammonia spike when comparing the results. I am not sure if the reading you have currently is on the way up or down. Once you see the ammonia reach zero you're almost there, just make sure your nitrates and nitrites are low too (preferably 0 before you add your first inhabitants). You can start your water changes whenever you want as they will not effect the cycle. Most importantly, stick with your water change schedule.
 
The best thing you can do is go VERY SLOW! On my tank I took a ton of time. If you are using a shrimp....use a mesh bag... I like the grind it up a bit idea. I would not use any chempure or any other chemical or mechanical filtration. Let the tank, the sand, the rock handle the Ammonia and Nitrites. When they are at zero and the Nitrates are up....start your water changes to export them out. Once you get into the low levels of 0-5 ideally, you can start adding fish. But.... here is the key.... Go Slowly! Your levels will go up slightly as you add stuff... until the biologicals can handle them.

One other thing..... PICTURES! Don't forget the pictures!
 
Nitrite and ammonia have to be zero; they are highly toxic. Ammonia will spike nitrite quickly after then nitrate. Do smaller waterchanges to get nitrate out. I prefer smaller on a regular basis. I believe its more stable. You can add livestock with traces of nitrates. I wouldn't waist your chemipure. Try buying some bio spira.
 
I used Dr. Tims and my tank cycled in a few days. Ammonia and Nitrites were at zero in 2 days and a day later with one water change my nitrates were at under 5. I added 2 clowns and have added to my live stock weekly. Ammonia and Nitrites have been zero since and my Nitrates are under 5 with weekly water changes of all of the water in my sump's intake and return chambers.

Every tank is different though, but I really stand behind that Dr. Tims stuff. I thought it was all snake oil but my ammonia and nitrite spike only lasted a few hours. I was forced to add the clowns because there was nothing in their feeding the nitrifying bacteria and the bacteria have been keeping up with the bioload without a problem.

But go slowly JUST to be safe. I still waited a couple more weeks before I added any coral.
 
If you're in the area, you're more than welcome to a fist of my chaeto and live sand. I have tons of pods, little featherdusters, etc. in it. It's only had water in it since Dec 21 but there's an explosion of life in my tank. I stare at it like a kid looking into a candy store window.
 
Here's where I am.
0 Ammonia.
0 Nitrite.
5 Nitrate.

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