Is my tank cycled?

[appellativo]

Cycle is all relative. No two tanks cycle the same namely because they're not set up the same. If you start a tank with all dry stuff, you NEED to cycle it as it has next to no bacteria that can handle fish. If you are starting from cured live rock and live sand from an established system, then you don't need to 'cycle' because it's already got the bacteria to process some fish waste. In that situation, you stock one fish at a time and allow it to multply its bacteria to the new load. Some people just can't seem to understand this. They think you HAVE to see this huge ammonia spike in order to call your tank cycled or ready to stock. Yes you should take it slow even though you began with LIVE rock (cured!) Sure, you could throw a dead shrimp in or some ammonia and cause your own manmade initiated cycle. Would that do any good? Maybe, if you wanted to throw a bunch of big fish in there all at once.

And maybe someone can tell me how can you look at someone's rock and tell if its cycled? Algae in a tank means it's not cycled? Now if you could smell it and it stank of rotting organics, maybe.

 

[jrozzi]

appelativo has all the answers just private message him from now on.

 

[appellativo]

appelativo has all the answers just private message him from now on.

(Her.)

Sorry, I didn't mean to come off sounding like a jerk, I apologize. I only have my perspective to go on so that's where I post from. Again, no offense meant.

 

[foreveralone]

If you want to test your cycle take out a piece of rock and set up a QT and move your clownfish in there for a few days. Once the fish are removed from the tank dose ammonia to 2-4 ppm and test how quickly your tank processes it. Most likely if you started out with all live rock and live sand you are fine with with such a small load. If you added a ton of fish you may run into issues. Doing this type of test will give you a better idea of what your tank can handle before stocking it further.

 

[appellativo]

Great idea.

As for what kind of ammonia to use, make sure you read the label. the ingredients should only list ammonia (ammonium hydroxide), and be clear, and you should shake the bottle and if it suds up, look to see if the suds disappear immediately. If they don't, don't use it cuz it has surfactants which you don't want to put in your tank. I called around and nobody had the right kind of ammonia so I had to get what I could (too strong 29% ammonium hydroxide, in way more than I needed...a gallon!...for more than I wanted to pay, from a chemical supply house (that I had to use my business license to buy (but it worked). Maybe you won't have such a hard time finding the good stuff though.

 

[foreveralone]

If you happen to have an Ace hardware around they have 'Janitorial Strength Formula' Ammonia that is 10% ammonia hydroxide and no surfactants. Usually commercial cleaning supply shops have the right stuff too. I never had much luck in grocery stores or walmart as their ammonia always seemed to have surfactants.