Am I doing something wrong?

[rjsilvers]

Tank has been set up for four days. I have been "feeding" it a little each day and put the LR/LS in two days ago once the temp was 80* stable.

This is my first SW tank... But from all the picture I've seen of others tanks.. The water usually stays cloudy for a long time.

I had a cloud that lasted for about 3 hours when I added the sand, but the water has looked like this since then:

Am I not feeding it enough? The rock was cleaned and pre-cured, is it not dead/dying enough to cause a cycle? I have test kits but haven't tested my water yet as I thought it would be too soon...

How can I tell if it's cycling? Should I keep feeding it?

Any ideas would be great. Thanks.

 

[gws76]

What are you trying to feed?

 

[atvdave]

What are you feeding it and why?

 

[JUNI0R]

Keep feeding it, you can try feeding more at each time or get a dead shrimp from the store and throw that in. Eventually you will see some ammonia, The only way to know if your cycling is to test the water so I would begin doing that. You will first see ammonia then nitrite then nitrate then nothing.

 

[Sk8r]

THis is a known method of provoking a cycle.

It may take a couple of weeks to see an ammonia spike. Stop feeding as soon as you get it. And don't despair. Keep your water temp around 80 day and night, no more, no less. Warm water increases chemical activity. You can run your pump and lights: the heat will increase the temp.

 

[JUNI0R]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11687317#post11687317 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by gws76
What are you trying to feed?

By putting food in the tank you are giving the bacteria something to break down.

 

[rjsilvers]

I'm not feeding any fish, don't worry!

I'm trying to feed the bacteria. I read here that if you feed it it will turn to ammonia and then start the cycle.. So I was trying to give it a jumpstart... But nothing happened.

 

[rjsilvers]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11687338#post11687338 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Sk8r
THis is a known method of provoking a cycle.

It may take a couple of weeks to see an ammonia spike. Stop feeding as soon as you get it. And don't despair. Keep your water temp around 80 day and night, no more, no less. Warm water increases chemical activity. You can run your pump and lights: the heat will increase the temp.

Alright... I'll keep up the feeding and do an ammonia test every couple days. Sounds like the tanks where it should be.

Thanks guys.

 

[ihopss]

http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1031074 Try here.