question about cycling

[cnuechter]

last saturday i set up a 120 gallon aquarium to upgrade from my 40 gallon breeder tank. it was already set up and running at the person's home that i bought it from. when i got the tank i filled it up w/ new water and placed about 200 lbs of live rock into the tank along w/ 125 lbs of gravel bed that was left in the tank. i started testing the water on sunday and everyday since. i have 0 ammonia, 0 nitrites, nitrates are anywhere from 60-80, and ph is showing 8.8 if not a little higher. Is it possible that my tank could have cycled this quickly? i know i should probably just wait it out to be safe but i am confused on the nitrates showing up so quickly. Any advice?

[rgrobe]

Will this be a reef tank?

If you are using rock that was already cured and in a cycled system you may not see much of a cycle yet. There are a couple of issues though. I assume the 200 lbs of LR was all in the tank and was fully cycled. You say you added 125 lbs of gravel also from the same tank? Is it gravel or some sort of sand or aragonite? Did you rinse it well? If the previous owner has poor maintenance habits there may have been an excess of detritus in the sand/gravel which might account for the nitrates. If the previous tank had a high nitrate level it could also be leaching from the rocks.

I would wait a while and watch for a further cycle. You can start doing water changes to reduce the nitrate or use a nitrate sponge or media.

[rgrobe]

Sorry,

One more thing. If your ph is 8.8 it is too high. The optimum range would be somewhere between 8.1 and 8.4. I would check calcium, alk, and mag to see if you have an inbalance somewhere.

[cnuechter]

yes, it will be a reef tank, and the live rock was in the same tank previously, i guess i worded it wrong about the bed, it is sand and we never actually took it out of the tank, we kept it in the tank when we moved it and it wasnt rinsed. i am good friends w/ the person who i purchased the tank from and he took very good care of it and kept it very clean.

[cnuechter]

How much water would you suggest i take out if i did a water change to lower the nitrates?

[Percula9]

How was the pH measured? pH readings that high are usually testing error or a mis calibrated pH probe.

[bertoni]

A few 20% changes might help clean up any remaining decay byproducts.

I agree that the ph measurement is suspiciously high.