No cycle

billhig1 · 08/21/2007, 09:26 PM

Last night I started to transfer my 55 Gallon to my new 125. I added 80 pounds more sand and used 30 gallons from my 55. I installed my sump and skimmer and added more water to that. I checked my ammonia and nitrites and they are all at 0. Now I have some questions.

1. Why is there no cycle?
2. Should I not use my skimmer until I start to see a cycle?

IslandCrow · 08/21/2007, 09:34 PM

Since the tank you transferred from was already cycled, it's not very surprising that you're not seeing an ammonia spike. Basically, you have a good supply of nitrifying/denitrifying bacteria from the contents of your old tank, and if it didn't spend much time out of the water, there was little or no die-off, so nothing decaying to produce ammonia. If the sand you added was dry sand, nothing there to decay either. Even live sand probably wouldn't be much of an ammonia source. I, personally, would still give it a couple weeks before adding any livestock just to let things settle down. I did sort of the same thing when setting up my nano tank. I used rock and sand from my established 46g, and there was no detectable cycle. You can even see the same thing with a brand new tank using cured live rock. My very first tank never had any detectable levels of ammonia.

cboberg · 08/21/2007, 09:45 PM

It's likely that you won't have much of a cycle. I set up a nano for my wife and started it with some rock, water and cup of sand from my reef. It was stocked with 3 fish, 4 corals in 10 days. Problem free for 4 months now.

billhig1 · 08/21/2007, 10:17 PM

Thank you, I will keep and eye on my levels and see how it goes before I put anything in there.

08/21/2007, 09:26 PM	#1
billhig1 Registered Member Join Date: Mar 2007 Posts: 115	No cycle Last night I started to transfer my 55 Gallon to my new 125. I added 80 pounds more sand and used 30 gallons from my 55. I installed my sump and skimmer and added more water to that. I checked my ammonia and nitrites and they are all at 0. Now I have some questions. 1. Why is there no cycle? 2. Should I not use my skimmer until I start to see a cycle?

08/21/2007, 09:34 PM	#2
IslandCrow Reef Monkey Join Date: Sep 2005 Location: Rockledge, Fl Posts: 5,759	Since the tank you transferred from was already cycled, it's not very surprising that you're not seeing an ammonia spike. Basically, you have a good supply of nitrifying/denitrifying bacteria from the contents of your old tank, and if it didn't spend much time out of the water, there was little or no die-off, so nothing decaying to produce ammonia. If the sand you added was dry sand, nothing there to decay either. Even live sand probably wouldn't be much of an ammonia source. I, personally, would still give it a couple weeks before adding any livestock just to let things settle down. I did sort of the same thing when setting up my nano tank. I used rock and sand from my established 46g, and there was no detectable cycle. You can even see the same thing with a brand new tank using cured live rock. My very first tank never had any detectable levels of ammonia. __________________ All opinions in the above message should be taken with 35 ppt salt. -Mike C. Current Tank Info: I have a reef screen saver on my phone, does that count?

08/21/2007, 09:45 PM	#3
cboberg Registered Member Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Coarsegold CA Posts: 97	It's likely that you won't have much of a cycle. I set up a nano for my wife and started it with some rock, water and cup of sand from my reef. It was stocked with 3 fish, 4 corals in 10 days. Problem free for 4 months now.

08/21/2007, 10:17 PM	#4
billhig1 Registered Member Join Date: Mar 2007 Posts: 115	Thank you, I will keep and eye on my levels and see how it goes before I put anything in there.