Cycling!... How long???

[stu1210]

I brought a 300 litre system that had been used for approximately 2 years recently!

The tank was used to run a sucessful reef tank with coral, live rock and fish!

i brought the set up 2 weeks ago

with the set up i got the following:

4' x 18" x 18" tank
Beech stand
Ehiem Proffesional II canister filter
2 x Ehiem 1060 pumps
bak pak2 skimmer
1 1/2" layer of live sand (crushed coral)
sump
300w heater
lighting unit with Marine white and atantic blue tubes
UV steriliser (which i am not running)
and 30 gallons of matured water

Plus extra lighting units, powerheads..

im using the 2 ehiem 1060 to pump water from sump up to tank.. (but am only running one at the minute)

is this sufficeint aeration along with the canister filter!?? there seems a good movement in the water!

i have landscaped the tank with ocean rock and tufa rock

After checking my levels this is the reading from this morning

PH 8.2
ammonia 0.2
nitrite 0
Nitrate 20ppm
S.G 1.022

am i right in thinking that this tank will still have to cycle!?

i have added 2 small clowns and a blue chromis to keep an ammonia feed and to help with cycling!

should my ammonia drop to 0 in due course!?

how long would it be as a guidline till all my levels are correct as at the minute the only problem is the ammonia

(the fish have been in for 3 gays now and are doing fine, i am feeding on frozen brine shrimp)

i am not using any live rock!!

thanks

 

[S.Reef]

Okay first I would not of recommended Blue Reef Chromis to cycle with this species is very delicate however this is probably not your fault. Right now I am kind of confused on your test readings. You have ammonia, yet no nitrite? Are the kits new? If not replace them and redo the readings. According to the tests, yes your tank is still cycling. When no ammonia, and nitrite is detected then your tank is done cycling. This can take up to 6 weeks. Your aeriation is fine as is your water movement. One thing I would change is the skimmer. Backpack filters are rated up to 60 Gallons. I would get a bigger skimmer. Another is to stop feeding your fish frozen brine shrimp. This has little nutritional value and is simply filloing your fishes stomachs. If you want to use a frozen food, use mysis shrimp.

Sam Reef
________________
90 Gallon FOWLR Marine System
20 Gallon Reef
10 Gallon Reef
20 Gallon Freshwater Planted Aquarium

 

[stu1210]

The fish are doing fine! They seem very active and are feeding well! I am now feeding them on Frozen brine shrimp and flake to try add add some vitamins to there diet!

The test kit is brand new...

these were the readings this morning

Ammonia 0.1-0.2 (the colouration is kind of midway between the two)
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 20 ppm
Ph 8.2
SG 1.022

The Nitrite has been at 0 for a week now! The guy at my local LFS told me that the tank has more than likely cycled (as it was a previously used system, and i set the system up with live sand and the mature water from the set-up, so in theory all i did was a 60% water change)

he reccomended adding this to the water to help lower the Ammonia level

http://www.fishathome.co.uk/watertreatments_nutrafincycle.htm

any thoughts on this!

As i said the fish seem fine and are feeding well!!...

The place i brought my fish told me that the Blue Chromis is a hardy fish and was already sharing the tank with my clowns...

i will try and vary the diet of the fish! Any reccomendations!?..

Also any thouhgts on my ammonia!?......

 

[wayne]

Easy. Your tank is recycling. Your live sand isn't very live - was it sitting in water al the time the tank was broken down. Thus you have no biofilter to break down ammonia -> nitrite -> nitrate.
Easiest fix - go buy 5 kilos or more of fully cured live rock, and get it into your tank as quickly as possible, or sand from a tank that is obviously working. Adding cycle is not the quickest way to do this.
Whaere do you live in Britain? Hopefully a major population centre with a decent shop.

I would give the tufa a miss for saltwater as it commonly contains large amounts of metals which will give you a bunch of problems if you ever want inverts (read it will kill them).

 

[stu1210]

Cheers Wayne! I have quite a few decent shops round by me so getting the live rock should be fine! The substrate was left siting in the tank while it was transported, but was kept with water covering it!?

or the rock i have 2 options,

One guys sells fully cured that is sited in a tank with a constant water flow over it

another sells pieces from his tanks which have fish in them!
The pieces from the tanks have lots of algae and organisms growing on them!?

Which would you reccomned getting the rock from!?

I will take out the Tufa tonight, If i site the live rock by my ocean rock will this in time also become live!?..

Also the lighting i am using at the moment is a Marine White and an Atinic Blue, would i need to upgrade for the live rock!?...

thanks again

 

[wayne]

You have enough lighting for the live rock per se as it's all little things living in holes in the rock. What you have to determine is whether you have enough light for what else is growing on the rock... if it's covered with high light corals, anemones and so on then no. If iy has caulerpa algae, sponges, aiptasia (!) , copepods and so on then you're ok as none of these is photosynthetic except the caulerpa which doesn't need much intensity as you'd think. I think that should also answer what rock you buy. If you really can get fully cured, sling it in a bucket and get it inthe tank real fast you can likely get quite a lot in quickly without a cycle. Yes , your ocean rock will become live, though as I don't know how porous this is, I don't know how good it will be. After 6 weeks my equivalent piece of limestone has some algae, chordates and small spots of coralline algae (purple stuff) growing on it. You can always get some more 'lively' rock, but put it near the top of the tank in 2 - 4 inches of water where the NO lightbuld intensity will be reasonably high. This can work well
I'm surprised you're getting a cycle if you're live sand has always been underwater as the bacteria should have survived. I'd have expected some microfauna die off, but that would appear as nitrite and nitrate as well, which is confusing

 

[stu1210]

i added a little extra crushed coral substrate to the live to give a better covering!

i have 0 nitrite readings

my Nitrate has fallen from 40 to 20 in the past week!?

is this normal!? i am getting no alge growth as yet though! The water i am using is RO mixed with instant ocean!

would it be worth getting another Ammonia test to confirm the first!?..

i'm getting really confused now as no-one can seem to answer wether the tank has cycled or not! Would my best option to be just wait, keep monitoring levels and see if the ammonia level drops!?..

what would you suggest!?...

 

[wayne]

So you have ammonia, no nitrite and dropping nitrate. I don't think your cycled yet, liva sand or not, as if you had ammonia I'd expect some nitrite and rising nitrate. Your dropping nitrate means nothing - 1. nitrate test kits (like nitrite) are inaccurate rubbish (unspoken truth), and many can do no more than pick up trends. Also IO, like all synthetic salts contains nitrate. Oh yes, another unacceptable truth. For my money I'd say you have ammonia, and no signs of nitrite. Still cycling.

 

[stu1210]

Hi guys its me again!! I purchased another ammonia test kit last night, when i tested last night it showed ammonia, testing this morning also showed 0 ammonia

so it looks like i had a dodgy test kit! I'm still gonna leave it about 3-4- weeks till i add anymore fish! Thanks for all your help!

Stu