CUC time before "next" step...

[MatthewLaw]

Greetings All- My 30g tank is cycling along nicely and this past Friday I intorduced 10 snails. I checked the water parameters this evening and everything looks good. 8.3 ph, amonia, nitrite, nitrate, 0, 0, 20.

How long must the levels remain at this point before the tank is clearly cycled enough so that fish can be introduced?

 

[Chris_A]

It depends...

So there are no fish in there? Have you added LR? if not have you added any organic matter (food) or ammonia?

Basicly how are you cycling?

Chris

 

[MatthewLaw]

there are NO fish in there. I have 18lbs of Cured LR in there and it has been in there for about almost 2 weeks. The various paramenters were 0, 0, 10 before I added the snails on Friday.

 

[Joe Fish]

If you didn't notice any ammonia spike then you tank might not have cycled. Since you used already cured LR you might not see a big spike. The snails might make it go into it's cycle and cause them to die. I'd watch the params closely and do water changes if necessary.

 

[MatthewLaw]

I honestly did not test the water for those first two weeks (assuming it was cycling). when i noticied significant growth of coraline algae a few days ago, i decided to test the water and see what was happening.

the parameters looked good and with a nitrate of 10 i figured i was ready for some snails. i also have 30lbs of aragonite sand in there which is supposed to help.

 

[Chris_A]

Yeah, you might not have cycled at all because of the LR being cured. In point of fact actually the majority of any bacteria that might have been there probably died off from lack of food (ammonia). Was the sand Live Sand? Either the real stuff or the pre packed?

If it were me I would get a couple of mollies. I find it easier than the ammonia method. That said though, no matter what you do you're really going to have to keep an eye on levels and be prepared for regular water changes. I'd recommend keeping 2, 5 gallon pails of water premixed at all times so they are ready to go when you do add anything. Be it livestock or ammonia.

Chris

 

[MatthewLaw]

hmm interesting theory Chris. I thought with the coraline algae production I was moving on the right track.... The sand was prepacked and for the price i paid at the LFS, certainly NOT live.

I am slightly concerned that the Mollie's are going to be tortured. of course i will use a drip method but going from 1.0 to 1.021 seems like a death sentence.....

 

[Chris_A]

Mollies are all I use for marine cycling. I assure you, they will be fine if you take your time. Actually, it's been my experience they do better on the long term in a marine and look AMAZING... for mollies lol . One bit of warning... for what ever reason they appear to get a cloudy slime coat for the first few days to a week. It is not an infection. Really the only colour it's even noticable on is the Blacks.

Yup. Coraline growth is seperate from cycling though. It does show good alkalinity and therefor probably good calcium levels though.

When you get right down to it if you were to add corals right now (assuming you have the proper lighting) they would probably do fine. It's the fish that are the issue. They produce FAR more ammonia, especially when fed .

When one wants to cycle with LR you need non cured (fresh, raw whatever you want to call it) so that the die off is what causes the ammonia spike that starts the cycle.


Chris

 

[MatthewLaw]

thanks for the help. i may pickup a few molly's tomorrow...drip aclimate and introduce them in..

UPS actually messed up teh LR order and it sat in the warehouse for an extra 2 days (weekend) so maybe there was more die off than expected?

how many molly's for a 30g tank? 2?

 

[Chris_A]

Not a problem .

If it sat there for a bit then yes, there probably was some die off. All things considered it's possible the tank did cycle. That's why it's a good idea to test during as well as after . The big thing for me with recommending the mollies is somewhat cold... They are captive bred. I'd rather test out a tank with them than a wild caught fish. Plus their cheaper... oh and eat algae.

2 or 3. Best bet would be all females. That way there isn't a male pestering them to breed or picking.

Chris

 

[MatthewLaw]

I used molly's to cycle my FW tank awhile ago so they're hardy fish!! I will probably pick the two cheapest versions since there are fancy dalmation one's that are almost $4/fish!! at my LFS.

 

[Joe Fish]

Using live fish to cycle your tank isn't the best thing to do here.... If you bought "precured" rock and had it shipped there will definitely be die off. I bet you tank has had a small cycle, which is now done. My 1st tank cycles in about 2 weeks when I used "precured" rock. If you want to make sure it's cycle just add some food or something that doesn't run the risk of dying....

I also wouldn't be adding any coral to a tank this new. Wait until you get your param stable.

 

[MatthewLaw]

What type of food should I use? Just simple flake food or does it have to be something more substantial, like say mysis shrimp?

 

[Joe Fish]

Any food would decay so whatever you have. I would bet your tank is cycled though.

 

[MatthewLaw]

but no harm in throwing the food in?

I mean wouldn't the food just dissolve and the cycle would convert it to nitrates....??

 

[Joe Fish]

You have snails so they would consume most of it.

 

[MatthewLaw]

hmm i may just wait to do anything since there is plenty of coraline algae for them to eat too.

 

[Joe Fish]

Are you sure you have coraline? I don't think your snails will eat that....

 

[MatthewLaw]

Some pictures for clarification

hope this helps..