tank cycle

C

clownfish cj

Reefing newb
I am currently on day 3 of my cycle after putting in the argonite sand and live rock. I got 19 pounds cured live rock from my LFS that was in the tank for a while and also put in 25 pounds fiji dry rock from Bulk reef supply the next day. My tank is 56 gallons and has about 12 gallons in my sump (20 gallon tank)

Here are my readings with API master kit

Salinity 1.023
PH 8.2
Ammonia .25
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 0
temp 78.5 ( I decided to go with a Reefkeeper light, it keeps the temp within .1 loving it!)

How long will it take for this tank to cycle?
What ranges should the ammonia, nitrite and nitrate get to in the cycle?
 
Cycles can take anywhere from 3 to 6 weeks. Each tank is different. Your ammonia may go up really high, or stay close to zero. Either way, you don't want to add any animals until both ammonia and nitrites are zero. So you can test every few days to check when that is happening.
 
I have 25 pounds of dry rock and I told that eventually that will become more like 35 pounds live rock. So eventually I will have about 55 pounds live rock. Do you think that will be good enough?
 
clownfish cj said:
I have 25 pounds of dry rock and I told that eventually that will become more like 35 pounds live rock. So eventually I will have about 55 pounds live rock. Do you think that will be good enough?
Click to expand...
Doesn't work that way. A lb of Live Rock is a lb of Live Rock. Now other way around it. 55 gallon tank should have 55lbs at minimum of Live Rock. Its for filtering process. If you plan on using a big filter, by all means, don't use all that rock then.
 
thanks for the replies

I was watching a video on Bulk Reef Supply and they were saying that with their dry rock that you get a lot more of it because it is not heavy with all the things that make up live rock. Essentially, you get a lot more bang for your buck because you are not paying for the added weight. Eventually the dry rock will become live rock and will become "heavier". So that was my understanding.


Also, it has been a week now and I have seen no spike in ammonia, it's been below .25 this whole time, I have not detected any nitires and have not detected much if any nitrates (0 to 5 on test). In the new book I have been reading The Marine Reef Aquarium by Philip Hunt it says in there that if you get all cured rock there might not be a cycle because there is no die off. Could this be my case?
 
Did you add some table shrimp to your tank to start your cycle?

Also, dont count your rock as more than 25 lbs. Even if you do get "more bang for you buck" the critters that are in question would never add up to more than a pound.
 
no, I didn't add any shrimp to my tank to start the cycle. Should i have?

Also, thanks for the tip on the rock. I can go get some more, my LFS has good quality live rock that is cured at $5 a pound.
 
little_fish said:
Did you add some table shrimp to your tank to start your cycle?

Also, dont count your rock as more than 25 lbs. Even if you do get "more bang for you buck" the critters that are in question would never add up to more than a pound.
Click to expand...

+1 to this. Start your cycle with the shrimp.
 
I believe that BRS says the dry rock is more bang for your buck because you arent paying shipping for all the water and wet newspaper that live rock is normally shipped in, you're just paying to ship rock. As already stated, 1 lb of rock is 1 lb of rock, its not going to be any 'heavier' when it becomes live

I noticted that you're asking about your cycle and your ammonia is staying constant at .25 and you're using an API test kit. I had two bad API ammonia kits before I got one that I could trust. You may want to take a sample of your water to your LFS and ask them to test for ammonia - and verify your kit is accurate. It wouldnt be the first API ammnonia kit that was showint errouneous results, and it probably wont be the last either
 
Yesterday I noticed that there is some brownish orange algae growing on my live rock. It has been 2 weeks since I started my cycle and during that time I only noticed a small spike in ammonia and nitrates. As of yesterday everything was reading 0 and my feather duster has been growing and looking good ( it came with my cured live rock) My LFS owner said that because I put in all cured live rock and dry rock from Bulk Reef Supply that I probably wouldn't have a cycle.

Last night I put in my first pair of ocelleres clown fish! I had been watching them a long time as my LFS and they were a great pair. I acclimated them and put them in and they are doing great. I fed them immediately and they ate it all up and again this morning. They are loving it! I also put in a small CUC to start: 2 margarita snails, 2 astrea snails, 2 nassarius snails, 2 blue legged hermits and 2 red legged hermits. Everything is still doing great this morning excepts the astrea snails. I called my LFS owner and he said he would give me 2 more of my choice.

I'm wondering why I am getting this new algae. I am using rodi water and testing with a tds meter(reading 0 tds) I am running a reef octopus skimmer, filter sock and have great water movement. 1 750 gph hydor evolution and 1 600 gph hydor, and a 3000 model quite one return pump.

My lights are set up to come on and off automatically with my Reefkeeper light controller. I have 2 T5 actinics on 13 hours a day and 2 T5 12K lights on 12 hours a day and a lunar light on overnight. This might be the problem, but I'm not to sure and wanted to get some feedback on this.

Thanks!
 

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