New tank cycle question

[Dr.Teeth]

Hi all,

I recently set up a Fluval evo 13.5 and it is currently cycling. I put 12 lbs of cured purple live rock and 10 lbs of live sand in it. It has been going for almost a week now. My LFS was out of most testing kits except for an API ammonia testing kit so I purchased it to see if my cycle had begun. I got a reading of 0 mg/L today so I am not sure if my cycle has begun or if I have not had a good enough source of ammonia to start it. I assumed there would be a large die off on the rock as it took me 45 minutes to transport it and it was not packaged in water. Any ideas?

 

[heathlindner25]

Add some ammonia and find out

 

[Dr.Teeth]

Add some ammonia and find out

Would it work if I drop some food flakes in there and check for ammonia tomorrow? If the ammonia remains at 0 mg/L would that mean the tank is cycling properly?

 

[heathlindner25]

I'm not really sure how much ammonia fish flakes put off over a day. I usually get pure janitorial ammonia from Ace Hardware.
I'm kind of old school so I'll throw this out there... you can put a little urine in there, if you're not on any meds..lol

 

[thegrun]

It will take a week or two using flake fish food for ammonia to show up. If the rock was truly cured/cycled you will not have an ammonia spike, but adding pure ammonia would be a good way to verify.