been a week - when will levels change??

[ismellfishy]

its been a week since i put my 28lbs of white sand, 40lbs of live reef sand, 72lbs of live rock, and filled the rest of the 75 gallon tank with salt water using red sea and ro water. I am using a magnum 350 convertible canister filter and a seaclone 100 protein skimmer. The only changes I saw were that the pH started at 8.4 and is been at 8.2 since. The NO2 started at 0.05ppm and went up to 0.10ppm then is now back down to 0.05ppm. The NO3 has been the same - 2.5ppm. The NH3/NH4 same at 0.25ppm. The alk started right in the mid range of 1.7 - 2.8.
Should I put a damsel in there to help along?
Some of the lr i got was absolutely covered in corraline algae, and it still looks about the same (not much die-off). about 16lbs of it was covered with it.

 

[supertech3]

You need to be patient it will happen, normally about 3 weeks

 

[Jasonanatal]

Ismellfishy, give it some time. it really depends on the original water quality that the tank was started with and how long you let the tank age to build up the proper amount of beneficial bacteria. I have personally had my first tank take about 2 months before levels dropped to acceptable levels for stocking fish. I haven't had a problem since.

 

[TekCat]

Do not add anything!!! Let the cycle complete on its own. Usually it takes 4-8 weeks. Continue to monitor NH3,NO2. When they are both ZERO, then perform HUGE (~75%) water change to export nitrates produced by the cycle.

Just make sure your SG and temp are stable. Do not worry about anything else. Some water parameters could get out of whack during cycle, it is normal.

Regurlar (twice a week) water changes (~25%) and heavy skimming are all you need to do, let nature take its course.

What helps is (at the time of water changes) take out rocks and blast them with water using turkey baster or powerhead to clean dead junk that may be hiding in the rock's pores and holes.

You'll be fine, just sit tight

 

[Joshthenosh]

its always diffrent my 16 gal took 5 days to cycle , i upgraded to a 50 gallon put all my LR n water n and topped up with more LR n Live sand, its barely mini cycled 1 day eveythign at 0.

i guess a 75 gallon more water takes longer

 

[NCreefwannabe]

25% water change when?? Thats highly impracticle twice a week. I understand the maybe 50% after the cycle, but after that just keep up with 10% changes. weekly at most.

 

[TekCat]

What I meant is 25% twice a week DURING cycle. After cycle completes, do ONE TIME 50-75% water change. Once it is done, you can stick with 10% weekly wc.

 

[AllenFord_SC]

Well, ismellfishy,
[welcome]

and everyone else has pretty much answered your questions.

 

[colettem]

Definitely don't put a damsel in - the forum here often has posts from reefers who have used a damsel for tank cycling. When any new fish are added they get bullied to death and the damsel cannot be caught as they are fast and hide in the rocks.

 

[NCreefwannabe]

But doesnt doing water changes during cycle time, just make it longer... We did this on my cousins, but did about 30% changes every week during cycle. His cycle time was forever.

 

[TekCat]

There is no scientific data that supports that water changes prolong cycle. Theoretically it might prolong it for a few days (for impatient person, such as myself, it too could seem like forever ), but in the end more life survives cyling process.

--edit --
IMO, what really helps the cycle is running skimmer and regurlar rock cleaning from dead junk.

-- double edit --
you could try raising water temperature a bit (within normal range.... let's say to 83F) ... higher temperature helps metabolic processes in bacteria, and aids in their multiplation.