is this possible ? 2 day cycle ?

[ronin_man]

is this possible ? to cycle in 2 days...
i know this probably sounds really dumb and noobish, and im aware of that.
but heres the facts.
i put my LR in my tank on wednsday night, i tested all my water params just to keep track from the very begining.
and got 0 ammonia, 0 nitrites and 0 nitrates.
again i tested my water params yesterday(thursday)
and got 0 ammonia, 0 nitrites and 0 nitrates.

i figured i'd test the water everyday to keep a good log of whats happening.

so today (just now) i test my water, fully expecting in the next few days to start to see a slight rise in ammonia.
and guess what i see.
0 ammonia, 0 nitrites and 5-10 nitrates....
i was like wth... i thought this cant be right i must have messed up my test.
so i cleaned my test kit and tested it again.
and got this...

[IMG][/IMG]

i have read about people saying this could happen and that on some occasions some people dont experience cycles...

i did get this LR from my lfs that had the the rocks in there DT that has been up and running for a few years, and as well i used LS from my lfs.

now im not trying to rush things by any means and even if this is the case that im probably wont see much of a cycle, im still going to wait for a while before i start stocking just to make sure...

any thoughts on this ?

[JEFFR259]

hang in there

You'll get the ammonia. Depending on how much live rock you have, it may be a lighter cycle, but you will go through it.

[ronin_man]

well, as i understand it, everything starts out with ammonia (pee or poo) or anything rotting(dead organisms).
and as the process goes ammonia is turned into nitrites by Nitrosomonas and then nitrites are turned to nitrates by Nitrobacteria

i didnt think you could just get nitrates without going though that chain of events

is the bacteria process different in saltwater? as opposed to freshwater?

[ZoaFan08]

My first tank never had a cycle, but I used LR/LS and some water from an established tank.

[tmz]

If there was no die off on the mature rock,it is possible that there is no need for it to recycle.The water from an old tank wouldn't matter since the nitrifying and denitrifying bacteria are on and in the rock and not the water.

Add a little food such as a piece of krill to the tank and see if it handles it without spiking ammonia or nitrite.

[mmedeiros2]

I added 1 lb. of LR to my 10 gal. and never had nh3 go up. 1 mo. later i added a damsel and the rock handeled it with no nh3 readings. The rock prob. had no die off.

[giapam]

good cycled tank = less problems (^^,)

[jener8tionx]

I use the same test kit when doing my tanks and I found that that color for ammonia, while it looks closest to 0 was not. You will get a far yellower color when it is ready. You can always test it by putting a snail in there and seeing if it lives. My guess is that you have 2-3 weeks still.

[greenbean36191]

The idea that all new tanks, regardless of how they're set up have a measurable ammonia->nitrite->nitrate cycle is a myth. Cycling just means that you're allowing the nitrifying and denitrifying bacteria to become established in the rock and sand. If the rock and sand came from an established tank, they're already well colonized. What you did was equivalent to a 100% water change or a tank move rather than starting a tank from scratch.

However, in the transfer between the LFS tank and yours there was probably a small amount of die off. After only 2 days it's still too early to say you're in the clear. Give it at least a week to see if there's any measurable ammonia.

i didnt think you could just get nitrates without going though that chain of events

You don't have measurable ammonia and nitrite in your established tank do you? That's because they're being taken up essentially as fast as they're made. The N is still going through the whole chain but it's only accumulating as nitrate.

[noboddi]

IMO, there is more to cycling than just establishing the bacteria bed. There is also the algae succession cycle where the opportunistic algaes take over until coralline is dominant. If you have fully cured live rock with no die off you could be producing nitrates. You could also have nitrates in your source water unless you have RO. Patience is a good thing in this hobby

[Sk8r]

Try dropping about 6-10 flakes of fish food in there daily for a week. If you STILL have no ammonia, you're cycled. But always give it 3 more days before adding cleanup crew.

You could buy fish now, put them in a plain no-sand, no rock tank, and have them quarantined and ready to go once you are cycled. Your fish SHOULD be quarantined for 4 weeks before adding, so now is not too soon to start. In this tank, of course, you will need oldfashioned carbon/floss filtration and daily tests. It's called a qt tank.

[ronin_man]

ok good idea with the flakes i'll try that,

well i have my qt tank ready to go, i was told a basic sponge filter would be fine for qt, is this ok

QT TANK : its a 5.5gal tank with 10w coralife 50/50 light, basic sponge filter and a 25w heater.

is that ok for a set up ?

[ronin_man]

Originally posted by greenbean36191

You don't have measurable ammonia and nitrite in your established tank do you? That's because they're being taken up essentially as fast as they're made. The N is still going through the whole chain but it's only accumulating as nitrate.

no, no ammonia or nitrites,

that this is what i figured.

[Sk8r]

Yes re the sponge. A qt tank is not a cycled tank: depend on frequent cleaning rather than on biological filtration, for the main. It's not a bad notion to have a bottle of Amquel on hand in case you have a bad moment (ammonia) in it, but for the main, just have a spare bucket, plenty of salt (bulk is cheaper, but DO LID TIGHTLY!!!) a thermometer, heater. Light is not necessary for such a tank.

[ronin_man]

i have an 18gal, rubbermaid bin in my basement full of premixed saltwater. has a heater, thermometer and a powerhead in it for circulation.

i as well i have 3, 5gal watercooler jugs full of R/O water ready to be mixed or for top offs when needed.

[ronin_man]

oh and bulk is def the way to go, i bought a pail of seachem reef salt (makes 150g)

[vamaro]

I recently started a 220 tank back in October. I used live rock that I purchased from a 5 year old tank. I moved the rock in water so I know nothing died. I also purchased the Carib-Sea live sand (shallow bed).

I did not get an ammonia reading for the first few days (maybe 4 or 5). Then the ammonia finally showed but never got above .25. This lasted for about 7 days or so. I also want to note that I cycled with 7 chromas in the tank from day 1.

Vince

[vamaro]

I just read a comment from noboddi regarding nitrates. I think he is correct! I forget to mention that I did have high nitrates during the first few weeks. I was testing at 20 which is considered high by many reef keepers.

I checked to see if my RO water was the problem and it was perfect. The nitrates were in my tank.

Vince

[tmz]

20ppm is not unusually high for nitrate in an aquarium.

[ronin_man]

depends what you keep i guess,
im used to freshwater where i keep my community tanks under 40ppm
but i keep my ray tank under 20 all the time i try to keep it under 5 or 10 if i can

[vamaro]

Ray tank? As in stingray? I have a stingray too. Do I need to keep a better eye on this? It is a California Ray. Thanks!

Vince

[ronin_man]

ya lol stingray tank, its a freshwater ray from peru.
freshwater rays put out a ton of waste because they eat alot as they have such high metabolism.
aswell, my ray comes from the amazon where it continually gets freshwater all the time and never has to worry about waste accumulating. so i try to keep it that way and keep my levels very low.