has my aquarium cycled already?

[spongebob120]

Hi there, I am a salt water aquarium newbie. I have a biocube 14, and put in 8lbs of LR on Thursday and 2" of livesand on Friday. Today I tested the water and PH is 7.8. Ammonia, nitrite and nitrate are all 0. Can my aquarium possibly have cycled already?? Is it more likely that it hasn't even started yet. Maybe I dont have enough live rock? Should I add the other 8 lbs of LR now, or wait. thanks.:confused:

[Sk8r]

It hasn't started yet. I take it you're 14g. You need 5 or so more lbs of light live rock---8 more would be good. I'd add 2 more " of sand. Then drop a few flakes of food---1-3 flakes---in daily, and wait for ammonia soup. After that happens, your tank bacteria, flush with plenty to eat, will multiply, and your readings will drop for real---it won't be a strong bacterial base yet, but it will be able to handle some snails and hermits, building its strength until you can get a fish.

But go ahead and get your fish WHILE your snails and hermits demolish the algae that will be growing in your tank: have it in quarantine, which you can set up with some of your tank water and some new salt water---on this quarantine tank you use a plain old corner filter, changing the floss daily and testing daily for salinity, temperature, and ph, while watching your new fish closely for signs of ich [white spots] or film, tail rot, or the other things you really don't want in your tank. If this happens, ask in the Fish Disease forum and get a treatment: easy as pie in qt, ruin to your tank if done in the main tank. First fish are really, really prone to come down with something, so save yourself grief and do it this way. A cheap plastic box is good enough for a qt tank.

Further, and very important: buy a refractometer, no swing-arm salinity test. This is pricey, but it's accurate, and in such a small tank---it's life and death to be highly accurate. A 16 is a nanotank, and every measurement you take has to be done with absolute precision. You should keep your temp at about 80, which will have your tank evaporating a certain amount of water a day---and salt doesn'tevaporate. Without your topping off with freshwater [ro/di water, filtered!] it will get saltier and saltier and kill your specimens---applies to your tank and your qt. There are devices that will do this automatically---an autotopoff.

For the rest, read the stickies at the top of the Newbie forum, and they will tell you some lifesaving things for your tank!

[spongebob120]

thank you sk8r. yes it is a 14 gallon. I do have a swing-arm hydrometer and it fluctuates regularly between 23-26. is the salinity very important at this early stage? i'll get the additional LR and food and keep you posted. Thanks again.

[Frick-n-Frags]

what sk8ter said except:

1) You don't NEED a fractometer specifically
you can get any hydrometer(swingarm/floater/refract) and they all can be off. you need to CALIBRATE your measuring instrument, whatever it may be. read in the chem forum in the articles at the top regarding calibration techniques anyone can do.

2) you do not need to keep your tank at 80º. this is one opinion. that is however a good target value to keep in the center of a temp range of 70-85 which the reef stuff can tolerate

3) skip the hermit crabs. snails are what clean algae. hermits are basically meat eaters too and not necessary.

watch your tank over a period of one month, then decide if it has cycled. your time frame is about 10X too fast and haste makes death in this hobby.

[Sk8r]

That fluctuation is because of evaporation---or microbubbles on the swing arm. I recommend a refractometer because life is too short to spend it banging a swingarm on the counter trying to get that last cussed bubble off the arm...;) Fricknfrac is right on all points---'cept I think Frick's much too anti-hermit: I luv the little guys, and like their algae-eating agility. You never have to intervene to turn THEM rightside up, as per snails. :) But they don't climb glass worth a darn.

[Frick-n-Frags]

yeah. me+hermits+phytoplankton= much wailing and gnashing of teeth :D

you just have to live with the things for a while to decide I guess. I paid my hermit dues and IME, they are useless scavengers and they need new shells as they grow.

really everyone needs to try these things and decide for themselves. I only pass on from my perspective. (I used DT's from when it first came out for quite a few years mistakenly thinking my gorgs needed it when I was growing gorgs, same with iodine)