New tank question

[hartley86]

Hi reefers, I am a complete newbie to the hobby and have set up my tank following hours and hours of research on this forum and elsewhere. I have had my tank running for four weeks and I am a little confused with my parameters.

Basically I was advised to start the tank using Prodibio Biodigest and Bioptim, I have been dosing these every two weeks as the guidelines. I was told that there was nothing else I needed to do to start my cycle as this adds all the bacteria and food for the bacteria needed.

I have live sand and a few pieces of live rock seeding my dry rock.

Since the beginning I have not seen a real change in my water parameters so I am wondering whether or not my tank has even started cycling yet or whether becasue of the prodibio dosing whether I will see one at all.

I am using the red sea marine test kit (I find it hard to get an accurate reading due to the closeness of the different colours) but my ammonia has always been between 0.2 and 0.8, nitrite always 0 and nitrate between 2 and 10.

Any advice???

 

[mcgyvr]

You are getting nitrate readings means your tank has cycled, please wait for a couple of more weeks, and to get double confirmation, add bottled ammonia in the tank to raise up to 2-3 ppm and test water after 24 hours to see the ammonia readings.

Having nitrate readings does NOT mean the tank is cycled..
Having ammonia and nitrite readings and then seeing them go to zero means the tank is cycled..

 

[mcgyvr]

Hi reefers, I am a complete newbie to the hobby and have set up my tank following hours and hours of research on this forum and elsewhere. I have had my tank running for four weeks and I am a little confused with my parameters.

Basically I was advised to start the tank using Prodibio Biodigest and Bioptim, I have been dosing these every two weeks as the guidelines. I was told that there was nothing else I needed to do to start my cycle as this adds all the bacteria and food for the bacteria needed.

I have live sand and a few pieces of live rock seeding my dry rock.

Since the beginning I have not seen a real change in my water parameters so I am wondering whether or not my tank has even started cycling yet or whether becasue of the prodibio dosing whether I will see one at all.

I am using the red sea marine test kit (I find it hard to get an accurate reading due to the closeness of the different colours) but my ammonia has always been between 0.2 and 0.8, nitrite always 0 and nitrate between 2 and 10.

Any advice???

Its been 4 weeks.. Your tank is already cycled..
Due to using live sand and some live rock and bacteria you probably had a fairly quick cycle and simply missed it..

I'd suspect the small ammonia readings are actually false..

But any tank thats up for 4 weeks and has some live sand/rock is cycled for sure.. Thats long enough..

Go slow.. have fun..

 

[ssick92]

Its been 4 weeks.. Your tank is already cycled..
Due to using live sand and some live rock and bacteria you probably had a fairly quick cycle and simply missed it..

I'd suspect the small ammonia readings are actually false..

But any tank thats up for 4 weeks and has some live sand/rock is cycled for sure.. Thats long enough..

Go slow.. have fun..

+1

If using cured live rock, IME the cycle usually completes within a week or so. If only using a small amount of live rock to seed the dry rock, it probably came and went within 2-3 weeks.

Depending on how big the tank is you should be ready to add 1-2 small fish and gradually increase your bioload.

 

[ssick92]

Op has got ammonia readings, then why did you say tank is cycled? What makes you think he's getting false ammonia readings?

OP said they are having trouble reading the tests because the color differentiations are hard to distinguish. If you can't read the test and be positive about the result, then chances are it is incorrect.

OP -- can you upload a picture of your test result to see if we can help?

 

[mcgyvr]

Op has got ammonia readings, then why did you say tank is cycled? What makes you think he's getting false ammonia readings?

Just a hunch.. 4 weeks is long enough that the tank should easily be cycled now..
Could be what he is dosing too that is causing the readings..

 

[kmbyrnes]

I second dosing pure ammonia to 2 PPM, then checking in 24 hours.
OP is almost certainly cycled at this point, but if there is nothing in the tank, then the ammonia dosing will not hurt anything and may give him peace of mind.

 

[hartley86]

thanks for the responses guys, it is very possible that I missed the cycle, I do believe that the small amounts of ammonia I thought I was seeing on the tests were probably a false reading, it really is hard to tell the difference on the test. One thing I am seeing is that the nitrate level is rising. I am in France and cannot find pure ammonia anywhere to do as suggested. Guess I will wait a couple more weeks and start with a CUC.

I have noticed all the small snails and other critters that must have been on the live rock have started going all over the place on the glass etc so I am guessing that I am starting to get algae.