am i cycled?

[baksreef5]

Hello!! knewbie to the forum and the hobby. Been like 31 days since my set up of a 15g nano reef tank. I used half of dry rocks and half of live rocks with live sand. So i tested the water and it looked good and diatom bloom started about a week ago in my display tank but much earlier in my refugium. So i added some snails and damsel and they all died. My question is am i still cycling? Thanx

 

[m0nkie]

get yourself some salifert test kits. Once you reach 0 ammonia, 0 nitrite, do a large water change to reduce nitrate, then add snails again

or take your water to the LFS for testing. but highly recommend you to have your own kits

 

[baksreef5]

I used APi test kit and I also took it to my lfs. They all looked good. Thanx for quick reply

 

[m0nkie]

did you acclimate your snails and damsel? did they die before you test the water or after?

 

[baksreef5]

yes i did. no i tested the water before i put any live stock in.

 

[JMorris271]

Did you check the tank when you found them dead? It would be helpful I think to check the stats for comparison of possible changes that might have taken place

 

[baksreef5]

yes water still same

 

[acabgd]

I used APi test kit and I also took it to my lfs. They all looked good.

What did you test for exactly and what does "looked good" translate to in numbers?

 

[baksreef5]

ammonia 0, nitrite 0, ph 0, and nitrate 20

 

[Xavibear]

pH of 0 would've killed them.

What is your salinity? How did you acclimate?

I would test again before adding anything. When you are sure that everything is good, start adding some cuc.

I would look into a different option for fish. 15 gallons is too small for a damsel.

 

[baksreef5]

sorry ph 8.0 salinity is 1.025 drip acclimated them. thats the problem, i tested this time and the numbers was good, so i added them. Just goin to wait lil longer for the tank to mature. thanx again