cycle ended?

blacklighter11 · 03/04/2010, 12:19 AM

I am on my 11th day of cycling my 180 gals display tank with a 75 gal sub tank.I used live rocks and rodi water with saltmix. I tested for the first time last night and it showed zeroes on amonia, nitrite and nitrate. There were a lot of die offs from the LR and I added shrimp which I removed 4 days after i put it in.

Does this mean my cycle is complete?

lowlt · 03/04/2010, 12:57 AM

IMO, I would wait atleast a week or two. The slower you go the easier it is. Other will chime in.

redhanded77 · 03/04/2010, 04:07 AM

how much live rock is in there? 11 days seem a little fast for a complete cycle, especially since you mention there was alot of die off.

kcsalt · 03/04/2010, 04:11 AM

Be patient wait a couple more weeks just to make sure.

blacklighter11 · 03/04/2010, 04:13 AM

I have about 50kilos of liverocks. And around 70k of sand. I added a second batch of shrimp today to spike the ammonia.

Michael · 03/04/2010, 04:35 AM

if the rock was live then you may not see an sign of a spike at all, however give it a few more days to be sure.

wooden_reefer · 03/04/2010, 05:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by blacklighter11

I am on my 11th day of cycling my 180 gals display tank with a 75 gal sub tank.I used live rocks and rodi water with saltmix. I tested for the first time last night and it showed zeroes on amonia, nitrite and nitrate. There were a lot of die offs from the LR and I added shrimp which I removed 4 days after i put it in.

Does this mean my cycle is complete?

That there has been a lot of dieoffs and yet you don't see ammonia is a good thing; it shows that there is a lot of nitrosonomas bacteria. That there is no nitrite is also good, it means you have a lot of nitrobactor bacteria.

But how sure are you that there has been a lot of dieoffs? I can't be sure, how can you be?

Why did you remove the shrimp? This part always puzzles me, why do so many people add shrimp but then remove it? I just don't know what motivates people to do so. There must be some innate aversion to the idea of decay.

The shrimp is there to decay and to generate ammonia, not to add shrimp flavor to the water. I always at least finely chop the shrimp, better yet emusify it to have a strong pulse of ammonia.

The act of adding emusified shrimp is far more certain of the sufficiency of ammonia than the alleged occurrance of die-offs.

If you had detected ammonia for the first half of the cycle and you have not added ammonia, it proves dieoffs. But you cannot say that no ammonia but there has been a lot of die-offs; how do you know?

dwd5813 · 03/04/2010, 06:15 PM

what worries me about that situation is the zero nitrate. if there was a significant amount of dieoff from the rock and a good spike in ammonia from the shrimp, you would have had a good nitrite spike which in turn would have created nitrate in a fully cycled tank. what your numbers mean to me is that the cycle has not occurred.

what i'd do is just be patient. test daily until you see actual spikes and they level off. while zero is the goal for all three of those tests, it's pretty hard to imagine that all three parameters would have spiked and zeroed out in as short a time as 11 days. i say you've still got a ways to go.

wooden_reefer · 03/04/2010, 06:18 PM

I say put another shrimp in.

This time at least finely chop it up and disperse, forget about removing it. Or emusify it.

Then wait again.

blacklighter11 · 03/04/2010, 07:02 PM

Thanks! Already added a 2nd batch of shrimp.

03/04/2010, 12:19 AM	#1
blacklighter11 Registered Member Join Date: Jan 2010 Posts: 33	cycle ended? I am on my 11th day of cycling my 180 gals display tank with a 75 gal sub tank.I used live rocks and rodi water with saltmix. I tested for the first time last night and it showed zeroes on amonia, nitrite and nitrate. There were a lot of die offs from the LR and I added shrimp which I removed 4 days after i put it in. Does this mean my cycle is complete?

03/04/2010, 04:07 AM	#3
redhanded77 Registered Member Join Date: Sep 2008 Location: pacific ocean Posts: 413	how much live rock is in there? 11 days seem a little fast for a complete cycle, especially since you mention there was alot of die off. __________________ overstocked 40B Current Tank Info: 100g system

03/04/2010, 04:35 AM	#6
Michael NTTH Rookie Help Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: Gloucester, England,UK Posts: 7,808 Blog Entries: 6	if the rock was live then you may not see an sign of a spike at all, however give it a few more days to be sure. __________________ Don't be afraid to ask questions, we in the new to the hobby are here to help you [For My Tank Spec,Photo Album,Articles and website, click on my name] MY Very Kindest and Warmest Regards , MIKE Current Tank Info: I have a 92 gal Corner Tank, and way too many pieces of equipment to list really, (proud member of the reef central corner club)

03/04/2010, 06:15 PM	#8
dwd5813 Registered Member Join Date: Oct 2005 Location: 813 Posts: 2,827	what worries me about that situation is the zero nitrate. if there was a significant amount of dieoff from the rock and a good spike in ammonia from the shrimp, you would have had a good nitrite spike which in turn would have created nitrate in a fully cycled tank. what your numbers mean to me is that the cycle has not occurred. what i'd do is just be patient. test daily until you see actual spikes and they level off. while zero is the goal for all three of those tests, it's pretty hard to imagine that all three parameters would have spiked and zeroed out in as short a time as 11 days. i say you've still got a ways to go. __________________ order some golf shoes, otherwise we'll never get out of this place alive. what can i say? in dog beers, i have only had one. - dublo8 Current Tank Info: 40B aiptasia farm

03/04/2010, 12:57 AM	#2
lowlt Registered Member Join Date: Oct 2009 Posts: 64	IMO, I would wait atleast a week or two. The slower you go the easier it is. Other will chime in.

03/04/2010, 04:11 AM	#4
kcsalt Registered Member Join Date: Mar 2009 Location: Shawnee, Ks Posts: 52	Be patient wait a couple more weeks just to make sure.

03/04/2010, 04:13 AM	#5
blacklighter11 Registered Member Join Date: Jan 2010 Posts: 33	I have about 50kilos of liverocks. And around 70k of sand. I added a second batch of shrimp today to spike the ammonia.

03/04/2010, 06:18 PM	#9
wooden_reefer Registered Member Join Date: Jun 2007 Posts: 4,670	I say put another shrimp in. This time at least finely chop it up and disperse, forget about removing it. Or emusify it. Then wait again.

03/04/2010, 07:02 PM	#10
blacklighter11 Registered Member Join Date: Jan 2010 Posts: 33	Thanks! Already added a 2nd batch of shrimp.