First saltwater tank, seems to have cycled too quickly??

[Seane03]

I have a jbj 45g rl tank, running a refuge, hob skimmer, carbon reactor (not running), 3 filter pads, 2 jebco power heads, random flow disperses.

Approx 65lb-68lb live rock from an established tank, has been cured and sitting with about 200 lbs of other rock with power heads for a month or so in a big bin.

Approx 50-52lbs live pink stand.

I set this tank up 2 days ago and these are the test results I'm getting, using red Sea marine care test kit.

Nitrite. 05
Ammonia. 02-.03
Nitrate 20-50 probably on the higher end of that

Salifert nitrate kit
50-100 between the 2

Tetra easy strip
Ammonia 0-.05 on higher side of that
Nitrate 40
Nitrite 0-.05
Alkalinity 300
Ph 8.2

Digital ph tester 7.99

Salinity 1.024

Am I missing something, it seems like in a day or 2 more I will be ready for a water change and g2g? I won't add anything till next week until my reefbreaders aquasanrise comes in.

Also my ro/di (used for a year for fresh water tanks) is putting out 2ppm water currently, I'm ok with that for my fresh tanks. For salt I need 0 right?

 

[Seane03]

 

[Dr. Reef]

its likely possible for tanks not to go through a cycle at all or a very short mini cycle if rocks are from a well established source, which in your case seems likely possible. though results are not completely 0 on ammonia or nitrites so i would place a deli shrimp or ghost feed couple of pinches and check for results in 24 & 48 later. if ammonia and nitrites are still above 0 after 48 hrs then tank is still cycling. if they are 0 after 24 hrs you are good to go.
ro/di needs to put out 0 TDS.

 

[Ron Reefman]

bnumair is right on the money.

I had to tear down a 180g tank full of coral due to a leak. Four weeks later I had a new 125g tank and 40g sump set up and filled with new saltwater and 100+ pounds of LR from my old tank. I had too many corals, other inverts and fish in holding tanks and some of the corals were dying. So the 2nd day the tank was running I added a lot of coral, 2 small fish and a hand full of different inverts (sea cucumber, serpent star, a few snails, a few hermits, a few shrimp and a couple of emerald crabs).

I never saw any ammonia or nitrite at all. I did have nitrates going up slowly. A few weeks later I got my display refugium set up with a small amount of macro algae (not chaeto). Nitrates stabilized. This last weekend I added 3 more types of macro algae and did a 25g water change. I expect even nitrates will be very slow to increase until I add in more fish.

For the record, I lost one serpent star, but I think that was due to damage done in the holding tank. I also went through a 4 week bout of diatoms on the LR and glass. Two different times I did a day of lights out followed by 2 or 3 days of blue leds only. The blue only makes the corals happy and I get good polyp extension, but the diatoms continued to fade away. At just over 5 weeks now, the tank looks like it's been set up and running for 6 months.




And this is the current look of the display refugium which is basically just holding algae and soft corals until I see how well they grow. Then I'll do a rockscape and move things around.

 

[2smokes]

Wait at least 3-4weeks before adding any livestock ,no matter what the tests say if you want to be sure the fish will be ok.The cycling didnt even started in just 2 days.In this hobby you need to have a lot of patience.

 

[Ron Reefman]

Wait at least 3-4weeks before adding any livestock ,no matter what the tests say if you want to be sure the fish will be ok.The cycling didnt even started in just 2 days.In this hobby you need to have a lot of patience.

This is a 45g tank with a 60+ pounds of Live Rock from an existing tank, not a new start up using dead rock. There may never be a cycle.

I agree that patience is a huge asset in this hobby, but so is understanding the situation. If you are going to do things "no matter what the tests say" then why even bother doing the tests?

 

[pisanoal]

This is a 45g tank with a 60+ pounds of Live Rock from an existing tank, not a new start up using dead rock. There may never be a cycle.

I agree that patience is a huge asset in this hobby, but so is understanding the situation. If you are going to do things "no matter what the tests say" then why even bother doing the tests?

Very true. There are a lot of people that do things just to be safe even though multiple tests have showed the opposite. Sometimes doesn't hurt, sometimes it does. If you believe the tests are good, and the tests say you are good, then why wait 3 weeks? Do the shrimp test, if it passes, have fun!

 

[sde1500]

First tank I set up with live sand and live rock cycled in 4 days. Added fish right after. They did fine. As long as tests show zero ammonia and nitrite you're good to go.

 

[homer1475]

Wait at least 3-4weeks before adding any livestock ,no matter what the tests say if you want to be sure the fish will be ok.The cycling didnt even started in just 2 days.In this hobby you need to have a lot of patience.

Why bother testing at all? Some tanks cycle in days, some take months, it all depends on what you start with.

My biocube which was started with all live rock, cycled in a week. My 80G which was started with all dry rock, cycled in 2 weeks. I then started to slowly over the course of a week add all my livestock from my biocube. Everything came through just fine, even though it was only 2 weeks.

Theres a reasons we test for a cycle and not just rely on time.

 

[Seane03]

I dropped a frozen krill ball in that I feed my freshwater fish yesterday am. At 10 the Ammonia was 2 I'll test again today and post the results. I obviously want to add stuff asap but I'm not going to do it at the expense of a fishes wellbeing.

 

[lifeoffaith]

You'll still want to add slowly. The tank will still need time to adjust after each fish is added. You don't want to drop your whole stocking list into the tank and have the tank crash on you. Patience is the key to this hobby, it's nothing like freshwater where you can wait for the tank to cycle and then add a bunch of fish all at once (though even in freshwater this isn't a great idea).

 

[Sk8r]

Just drop in a few flakes of fishfood and let it settle. Do this daily. It should disappear, and there should be no ammonia resulting. If this is the case, then add a few hermit crabs (scarlets) and let them eat the daily flakes of fish food while you qt and ttm your first fish. Your sandbed will develop processing power and your fish will enter healthy and ich-free.

 

[CindyK]

I dropped a frozen krill ball in that I feed my freshwater fish yesterday am. At 10 the Ammonia was 2 I'll test again today and post the results. I obviously want to add stuff asap but I'm not going to do it at the expense of a fishes wellbeing.

Of course you don't want to do it at a fishes expense!

I recently set up my first tank in a similar way...LR and DR in a tub for a couple of months in the basement with a powerhead and heater while I waited for some work to be done on our house. My rocks all cycled in the basement. When I finally set up with the rocks and live sand I didn't see any cycle at all...because it was done. My tests were fine. I waited a week or so to be on the safe side, tested again, still fine... then added the first fishes that had gone through TTM and QT while I waited, just as Sk8r suggested.
Everyone is fine..or was, until one went floor surfing tonight, my first fish loss :'(

Maybe you have a similar situation, and your rocks have already cycled while you waited?

 

[Seane03]

Well I checked it last night ammonia again and it's back at .2 nitrite. 25 nitrate at 100. Added some more flakes. If ammonia drops to 0 by tomorrow I'll add a clown and hammer. That is after a 50% water change. With the nitrate so high should I do more than 50?

 

[Seane03]

Here is my plan for stocking let me know if you think this will work.
1 clown + 3 frags
1 clown + 2 large frags
Snowflake moray + 2 frags
1 green Mandarin + 1 red Mandarin
1 small fish + frags

That is the ultimate goal and the order I was planning on adding them. I understand the difficulties of getting Mandarins to eat and am willing to work with them.

I figure that's about max on my tank what do you guys think?

 

[Flaring Afro]

Here is my plan for stocking let me know if you think this will work.
1 clown + 3 frags
1 clown + 2 large frags
Snowflake moray + 2 frags
1 green Mandarin + 1 red Mandarin
1 small fish + frags

That is the ultimate goal and the order I was planning on adding them. I understand the difficulties of getting Mandarins to eat and am willing to work with them.

I figure that's about max on my tank what do you guys think?

There's a good chance a mandarin will starve in that tank, and it definitely isn't big enough for two. Getting mandarins to eat frozen is no replacement for the pods they need to constantly be grazing on. Also, the eel will likely eat every fish you plan on adding.

 

[Seane03]

What would be a good choice for my tank with an eel? I though that one was ok for reefs/fish?

 

[Flaring Afro]

What would be a good choice for my tank with an eel? I though that one was ok for reefs/fish?

Anything that can fit in their mouth won't be safe. Read this thread.

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1187504

A lot of people only have them when they are babies and report everything is fine. Sometimes they are ok later on and don't bother any fish, but you are taking a risk. Considering the size of the tank, I'm not sure that you really could have anything big enough that a full grown snowflake couldn't eat if it decided to.

 

[sde1500]

Unless you plan on running a second tank dedicated to growing pods those mandarins will probably starve. If you add the clowns separately make sure one is much smaller than the other to avoid getting two females who will not be happy together. I can't speak for the eel but they are predators soooo

 

[DrPat]

not cycled yet

not cycled yet

Never add life to a tank that has nitrite and or ammonia.
get fritzyme nitrosomas bacteria in a bottle and add it. Tanks should cycle in no more than 14 days also do a water change to get the nitrates down now .
Otherwise micro and hair algae will over grow the rocks.