Fish in but no cycle

[Myna]

Hi all,

I am new to this and have been working with my LFS to set up a 55g reef tank. Here's my setup:
- 55g tank
- filled it with Imagitarium Pacific Ocean Water
- 3-4" Live Aragonite sand bed
- 30lbs of cured live rock from LFS
- 30lbs of dry rock from ReefCentral
- added bottle of Dr. Tims One and Only
- protein skimmer, heater, temp at 78deg F, HOB whisper filter with polyfiber filter floss, 48" Aquatic Life Reef Edge LED, API liquid saltwater testing kit

I set up my tank without any fish in it and let it run for a couple weeks until my temp was stable. My SG is 1.025. All equipment is running great. Water is clear as well. I was told to add Dr. Tims one and only and wait 24hrs and then add 5 fish. So I did that. The tank has 2 clowns (1" long), 2 Bangai Cardinals (2" long), and a Green Chromis (1.5" long). I added them about 5 days ago and have been checking the water parameters everyday. Ammonia, Nitrite, and Nitrate all register at 0, pH is at 8.3. Fish seem very happy swimming around and eating. None hover at the bottom or display clamped fins. I feed them one pinch of flakes everyday and take out any food not consumed after 3 mins. My question is why am I not seeing any ammonia or nitrite or nitrate? Is my tank not cycling? And if so, what can I do at this point? I have not had a chance to go back to the LFS to talk to them about it but plan to. I followed the guys instructions to the T but it seems like something is wrong, shouldn't I have some readings. Oh and the testing kit has not expired. I look forward to hearing your input and please keep in mind I am new to this but am very willing to do this the right way. Also, I would like this to be a reef tank so I definitely want to make sure I am setting it up for success. Thank you all for any input!

 

[nereefpat]

With the Dr. Tim's stuff and (especially) the cured liverock from the fish store, you may not see much of a cycle. Keep testing, making sure you aren't exposing your new fish to ammonia. You should see Nitrates start to creep up, if there is enough bacteria to process the N.

 

[Timy10110]

Well eventually the nitrates will arise after fish leaves waste


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[Myna]

With the Dr. Tim's stuff and (especially) the cured liverock from the fish store, you may not see much of a cycle. Keep testing, making sure you aren't exposing your new fish to ammonia. You should see Nitrates start to creep up, if there is enough bacteria to process the N.

Thank you for your reply! Do you have an idea of how long it would take to get any Nitrate readings?

 

[hecterma]

I had a similar setup when I started but I added MB7 to start the cycle and I never had a rise in amommia or nitrates after 3 months. Do you have a CUC?

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[chgoblknazn]

I have used Dr. Timm's on my last several reboots of my tanks and there's never a traditional cycle. I love that stuff.

 

[Myna]

I had a similar setup when I started but I added MB7 to start the cycle and I never had a rise in amommia or nitrates after 3 months. Do you have a CUC?

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Thank you for your reply! No I did not add a CUC yet because I was told to wait until the tank cycles for that. So would you still consider your tank cycles if it does not register any Nitrates on your test? Do you think I should a CUC soon?


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[Myna]

I have used Dr. Timm's on my last several reboots of my tanks and there's never a traditional cycle. I love that stuff.

Thank you for your reply, well that is a relief to hear!


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[hecterma]

Thank you for your reply! No I did not add a CUC yet because I was told to wait until the tank cycles for that. So would you still consider your tank cycles if it does not register any Nitrates on your test? Do you think I should a CUC soon?


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How long has it been running?

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[Sk8r]

Wishing you the best of luck, and a small note: I take it you did NOT quarantine these first fish. If not, again, I hope the best, and that you don't have any problem with ich popping up. To give them the best possible chance, set your alkalinity at 8.3 using alkalinity buffer (Kent makes a good one) and run an alkalinity test at least once a week, maybe twice a week until you know you've got it steady. This helps their natural defenses against disease and parasites. Keep your salinity steady with an ATO (get one if you don't have it) and your alk steady, and here's hoping for smooth sailing.

 

[Myna]

How long has it been running?

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I set up the tank and let it stabilize temp and SG for 2 weeks. Added Dr. Tims and waited 24hrs and put the fish in. The fish have been in for 5 days. I have been testing it everyday but have not gotten any readings, everything is at 0.


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[kevin21]

Welcome to the hobby. My only advice would be to not listen to that LFS. It seems they kind of pushed you in the wrong direction. Normally, we cycle the tank without fish. This is the most humane way to do it. You can feed the tank a few times or put in a small raw shrimp to get the bacteria going to kick start the cycle. After the cycle is done, you look to add a few members of the clean up crew. If all goes well with them, you add the rest of your clean up crew. Which might not be much for a new tank without algae issues...yet. After that, you can look to add a fish or two. A clown pair for instance would have been fine. Then you monitor and slowly add every couple of weeks if all is well and params stay stable. You never want to add too much at once. And listen to the advice that Sk8r gave above! Good luck with everything. Go slow and enjoy the ride.

 

[Myna]

Wishing you the best of luck, and a small note: I take it you did NOT quarantine these first fish. If not, again, I hope the best, and that you don't have any problem with ich popping up. To give them the best possible chance, set your alkalinity at 8.3 using alkalinity buffer (Kent makes a good one) and run an alkalinity test at least once a week, maybe twice a week until you know you've got it steady. This helps their natural defenses against disease and parasites. Keep your salinity steady with an ATO (get one if you don't have it) and your alk steady, and here's hoping for smooth sailing.

Thanks, I will look into the ATO because I do not have that. My pH has been at 8.3 steadily but I will also look into the buffer just to have on hand in case it starts changing.


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[kevin21]

Also, you really don't need to monitor PH. You should really be monitoring Alkalinity(dKH)

 

[Myna]

Welcome to the hobby. My only advice would be to not listen to that LFS. It seems they kind of pushed you in the wrong direction. Normally, we cycle the tank without fish. This is the most humane way to do it. You can feed the tank a few times or put in a small raw shrimp to get the bacteria going to kick start the cycle. After the cycle is done, you look to add a few members of the clean up crew. If all goes well with them, you add the rest of your clean up crew. Which might not be much for a new tank without algae issues...yet. After that, you can look to add a fish or two. A clown pair for instance would have been fine. Then you monitor and slowly add every couple of weeks if all is well and params stay stable. You never want to add too much at once. And listen to the advice that Sk8r gave above! Good luck with everything. Go slow and enjoy the ride.

Thank you! I was afraid of that once I started researching this online and heard about fishless cycling. It really seemed like the guy knew exactly what he was talking about in terms of reef tanks. Ok so what do you recommend I do since the fish are already in? All readings have been at 0, even after the fish being in there.


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[kevin21]

Nothing you can do at the moment. I would just monitor everything and check your parameters once every two days. If ammonia starts to spike, do a 20% water change to hopefully keep it in check enough for the fish. You may be okay, due to the cured live rock. But adding 5 fish at once is going to add a lot to the bio load in a short amount of time.

 

[monkeysee1]

I would DEFINITELY get some PROBIDIO BIOCLEAN and start adding that to your tank - following directions, of course.
I'd also have some AMMONIA -X handy dandy, ready to go JUST IN CASE. in ADDITION to doing large weekly water changes. And daily monitoring of AMMONIA, Nitrites, Nitrates, and looking closely for signs of ICH, or Brook, or bacterial infection.
Do all this and you should be fine!

DON'T add any more fish, corals, or inverts for several more weeks.

 

[Myna]

I would DEFINITELY get some PROBIDIO BIOCLEAN and start adding that to your tank - following directions, of course.
I'd also have some AMMONIA -X handy dandy, ready to go JUST IN CASE. in ADDITION to doing large weekly water changes. And daily monitoring of AMMONIA, Nitrites, Nitrates, and looking closely for signs of ICH, or Brook, or bacterial infection.
Do all this and you should be fine!

DON'T add any more fish, corals, or inverts for several more weeks.

Thank you for the advice. I'm going to look into getting those. I am checking the parameters everyday and everything (including today) and everything is at 0. But I'm definitely going to keep checking.


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[Myna]

I had a similar setup when I started but I added MB7 to start the cycle and I never had a rise in amommia or nitrates after 3 months. Do you have a CUC?

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No I don't have a CUC yet. I don't want to add anything more at this point and regret listening to the LFS to even add those fish in. Everything has been reading 0 so far but it's just confusing. Do you think it's possible for me to not see any reading for either ammonia, nitrites, or nitrates and be cycled?


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[Myna]

Also to add, I just noticed today that I have a diatom outbreak on my sand bed. Do you think this means that the tank is cycling even though readings are all at and have been 0 everyday?


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