Ultimate newbie question

[BlackTracet]

How can I tell if my tank is nitrogen cycling? This is my first marine tank. I started it 6 days ago. I add 3 drops of bio-s every day. I tested 0 nitrate, 0 ammonia, ph 8.2 and I can't remember the nitrate reading. I have 40 lbs of cured live rock and 60 lbs of Carib sea fuji pink sand. I ran the skimmer for 48 hours but turned it off because the water is crystal clear.

What am I looking for?

 

[xCry0x]

If you bought 40 lbs of actual live rock and transported it back to your tank in water you likely could have added a fish almost immediately.

What you need to do in order to test if your tank is cycling is add ammonia to it in order to then test that the ammonia goes down over 24 hours (eg bacteria is there to cycle ammonia out).

If you do not add a source of ammonia, then your tank will read 0s.

You can add actual ammonia -- or feed the tank as if it had fish and let the food rot.

I just spun up a RSM 250 myself the other week. I moved about 30 lbs of rock from my old tank into it as well as about 50 lbs of new dry rock, new sand. Moved my fish from old tank directly into it as well as all my coral (that was attached to the rock) -- everything is fine. Wouldn't expect otherwise either.

 

[xCry0x]

To clarify a bit on that --

When most people are talking about cycling a tank and they reference testing the parameters over the course of weeks, it is because the are cycling a tank that is sterile.

They add dry rock, dry sand, new equipment - nothing is alive in there.

Largely, this is done because dry rock is a ton cheaper than live rock and dry rock avoids unwanted hitchhikers, parasites, invasive algae etc.

They then need to essentially culture bacteria in the tank to start making the tank "live" before adding fish.

If, on the other hand, you go buy a pile of live rock that already has an active bacteria culture on it, since it is live rock, there is no need to spend weeks growing bacteria since you just actively imported 40 pounds of rock worth.

That said -- you should NOT run off and also dump a full tank worth of fish in. Just because the rock has bacteria doesn't mean it has a large enough colony to handle a giant bio load right off the bat. That is why people usually recommend waiting a few weeks between adding new fish. Add a fish, let the bacteria grow to fit the new bio load, add another.

When I move all the rock out of my old tank into the new tank followed by all my livestock, that is because my rock had the capacity already to handle the livestock.

 

[QuiQuog]

Is there a particular kind of ammonia to use for that? Is household ammonia that you use for cleaning okay?

 

[Sk8r]

Even a well-established tank that is simply moved into a new glass box requires time to cycle, usually 5 days if it's a simple move. Ammonia even in small amounts is lethal to fish.

Plan on 4 weeks of adding stuff (I prefer plain cheap fishfood flake) daily to provoke ammonia, and then once you see ammonia on your test, but nothing happens when you add more---you're cycled. The skimmer has nothing much to do with cycling. Don't worry about it.

But the part you didn't get was that you can, once you do cycle, get ONE fish and put him in quarantine for observation for 4 MORE weeks while you let a 'cleanup crew' of typical worms, micro hermits, snails work on the tank to get it really ready for a fish.

Sorry: instant cycle in a bottle is not the sole answer. It's chemistry, worse, it's biochemistry, and it goes at its own deliberate pace. Temperature should be 78, salinity 1.024 measured with a refractometer, and it takes as long as it takes. You owe it to the fish you buy to put them into a fully prepared tank.

There is a very complete sticky up top with a blinking red arrow. That will give you plenty to read and understand while you're waiting for the cycle.

 

[BlackTracet]

I am reasonably sure the rock was live. It came out of a tank at the LFS and the owner said it was cured. It was wet and packed in a Styrofoam lined box.

Is the carib sea sand I bought live also? It was wet as well when I opened the bag.

The LFS owner is having me add drops of bio-s as well every day to start the cycle as he said.

 

[Sk8r]

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1031074