Unusually Fast Tank Cycle?

[netel9]

After searching high and low for an analogous situation I am left high and dry. I am diving in head first into this hobby, having only a brief freshwater tank experience almost a decade ago. My knowledge is limited to daily perusing's of this forum and some youtube videos.

Over the past several months I've set up a 120gal 4x2x2 tank with a 40gal breeder sump, with 75 gallons of BRS Pukani dry rock. (Slow going with high work load.) The rock was bleached and acid washed, and added to the tank ~3 weeks ago with no powerhead or heat. Approximately 2 weeks ago I added the powerhead, heater, and 100lbs of live sand. 5 Days ago I added 4 small Wrasses. I know fish in cycling this bucks the trend of this forum, but I had to try to engage my family in this hobby.


Day 1: after adding Wrasses; Ammonia 0.2ppm--- Nitrite: 0.2ppm --- Nitrate: 0.0ppm

Day 2: Ammonia 0.15ppm --- Nitrite 0.2ppm --- Nitrate 0.?ppm (Red sea testing kit, pink but not 2ppm pink)

Day 4: Ammonia 0 --- Nitrite 0 --- Nitrate 2ppm

Day 5: Ammonia 0 --- Nitrite 0 --- Nitrate 2ppm (This is where we are at atm)

I have however, developed a clear green tint to tank, diatoms I am figuring.

So here is my question. I fully expected with dry rock to battle ammonia for a while. To keep this fish safe I had expected some heavy water changes, however it seems that this is not necessary currently?

Is this the calm before the storm, or is the 100lbs of live sand enough of a starting boost bacteria wise to handle a small bioload? I am feeding once a day of some generic flake food. Thoughts are much appreciated.

Other Tank Specs:

PH: 8.2?? Hard to read for me
Salinity- 1.23

 

[chammergren]

I am not 100% sure if I correctly understood the timeline but if you added sand and turned on the pump, powerhead and heater two weeks ago then that was when you began your cycle.

If you only began testing your parameters 5 days ago after adding fish, you might have just caught the tail end of your nitrites and ammonia dropping to 0 and picked up seeing your nitrates beginning to rise.

Also, this is just my opinion and is not meant to come off in a rude tone, cycling with fish that are not extremely hardy has a strong likelihood of ending with dead fish. I would think that would be one of the quicker ways to disengage somebody who is hesitant about you spending time and money on the hobby. It is usually better to just wait out a cycle. Nothing good ever happens quickly in this hobby.

I hope your tank runs smoothly and you get as much enjoyment out of this hobby as most of the rest of us do!

 

[chammergren]

I am not 100% sure if I correctly understood the timeline but if you added sand and turned on the pump, powerhead and heater two weeks ago then that was when you began your cycle.

If you only began testing your parameters 5 days ago after adding fish, you might have just caught the tail end of your nitrites and ammonia dropping to 0 and picked up seeing your nitrates beginning to rise.

Also, this is just my opinion and is not meant to come off in a rude tone, cycling with fish that are not extremely hardy has a strong likelihood of ending with dead fish. I would think that would be one of the quicker ways to disengage somebody who is hesitant about you spending time and money on the hobby. It is usually better to just wait out a cycle. Nothing good ever happens quickly in this hobby.

I hope your tank runs smoothly and you get as much enjoyment out of this hobby as most of the rest of us do!

Sorry, I missed that your rock was dry and had been bleached and acid washed. It would be odd for the tank to cycle without some type of organic matter for the bacterial population to break down. Maybe the rock still had some decaying organic matter left in it. If not, the scenario is strange especially with nitrite and ammonia "spikes" of less than 1 PPM.

 

[Rio1969]

I hope you mean your salinity is 1.023.

 

[thegrun]

I would suspect the cycle hasn't even started yet. I honestly don't see any valid excuse for cycling a tank with fish, at a minimum you should add one of the bacteria in a bottle products like Dr. Tim's One and Only so that hopefully the fish will not have to endure ammonia poisoning. Engaging your family is great, exposing the fish to ammonia not so great.

 

[netel9]

I appreciate all the feedback.

I suspected the fish in cycling would not be the most popular choice. While unpopular on this forum, it was highly recommended by my LFS owner, and I had seen it done in the past with a few of my friends.

I understand the reasoning behind not involving livestock during this period; Don't get me wrong, I am not callus to the livelihood of any living organism. To be honest I figured that should ammonia start to become problematic I would perform huge water changes daily if necessary.

I understand patience is a virtue well heeded in this hobby, and thanks for the well wishes chammergren. I felt it premature to worry after ~6? days of starting to cycle, though with the fish in there I wanted some feedback.

None the less, ammonia still stays at 0 on day six. And yes my salinity is not 1.023. I'll keep an eye on it, and perhaps the 100lbs of live sand provides enough bacteria to handle a small bioload? I guess we'll see.

 

[chammergren]

I appreciate all the feedback.

I suspected the fish in cycling would not be the most popular choice. While unpopular on this forum, it was highly recommended by my LFS owner, and I had seen it done in the past with a few of my friends.

I understand the reasoning behind not involving livestock during this period; Don't get me wrong, I am not callus to the livelihood of any living organism. To be honest I figured that should ammonia start to become problematic I would perform huge water changes daily if necessary.

I understand patience is a virtue well heeded in this hobby, and thanks for the well wishes chammergren. I felt it premature to worry after ~6? days of starting to cycle, though with the fish in there I wanted some feedback.

None the less, ammonia still stays at 0 on day six. And yes my salinity is not 1.023. I'll keep an eye on it, and perhaps the 100lbs of live sand provides enough bacteria to handle a small bioload? I guess we'll see.

Keep us posted if anything changes with your levels!

Also on a side note, this is not the case for every LFS but often times you can be steered in the wrong direction by your LFS. Remember that they are not impartial and are there to make money. Even for the people who recommend using fish during a cycle, it is generally damsels or chromis that they would suggest using not wrasses. I personally don't spend my money at the one LFS in my area that I know suggests cycling a tank with fish. It has been fairly well established now that at minimum it is very detrimental to the health of the fish and at worst a form of torture. The fact that a store would suggest using live fish to cycle a tank, shows that they care more about the money than the health of your fish.

The combined experience of hobbyists on Reef Central has been an excellent resource for me personally and I can't recommend enough seeking out a handful of opinions on here before jumping into something suggested by a LFS whenever possible.