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View Full Version : Water test levels, Cycle over??


ge-off707
10/02/2009, 12:11 AM
I have had my tank up for a few weeks and I had the water checked today buy my LFS and they said it was good to go. I came home and my test kit showed up in the mail so I opened it up and went to town. It is a Seachem multi-test kit, so not the best but it gets the job done for now. I wish I went with a glass kit but anyways here are my numbers:

Ammonia: 0.01-0.05
PH: 8.2-8.3
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: ~2
SG: 1.024

I am not planning on adding any new fish yet, I want to make sure these readings are good for a couple days. Do those numbers look okay? Is it ok to have a little nitrate? Also I am seeing some green algae grow on my back glass... is this good/bad/normal? Thanks in advance!

Here is a night shot with my moonlight LED's on... Really hard to get a good pic with a point and shoot in the dark!

PRDubois
10/02/2009, 12:22 AM
It is ok to have some nitrates. Less then 20 is OK. Lower the better.
Algae at this point is normal.
I would add a Clean up crew and wait a week before adding any fish.
When you do add fish add only 1 or 2 at a time.

ge-off707
10/02/2009, 01:08 AM
any suggestions on what to get for clean up crew?? I plan on getting corals in the future so I want them reef safe. Should I just buy some shrimp and snails from my LFS??

ge-off707
10/02/2009, 04:10 AM
Disregard that last post, I did some searching and found a lot of info... I am going to my LFS tomorrow and getting some snails and maybe a few hermits.

wooden_reefer
10/02/2009, 03:18 PM
I have had my tank up for a few weeks and I had the water checked today buy my LFS and they said it was good to go. I came home and my test kit showed up in the mail so I opened it up and went to town. It is a Seachem multi-test kit, so not the best but it gets the job done for now. I wish I went with a glass kit but anyways here are my numbers:

Ammonia: 0.01-0.05
PH: 8.2-8.3
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: ~2
SG: 1.024

I am not planning on adding any new fish yet, I want to make sure these readings are good for a couple days. Do those numbers look okay? Is it ok to have a little nitrate? Also I am seeing some green algae grow on my back glass... is this good/bad/normal? Thanks in advance!

Here is a night shot with my moonlight LED's on... Really hard to get a good pic with a point and shoot in the dark!

If your LFS can correctly conclude that your cycle is done with these parameters, it must have more info that you have not disclosed. It may know that the LR you bought from them has been cycled already.

Otherwise, you LFS cannot draw any conclusion.

In general, no cycle can be completed in one week.

If your LR has not been cycled before you put it in, you cycle is not complete. Furthermore, if your ammonia is still so low after one week, there is likely no more decayable material left in the LR, so your cycle has not even started and likely will never start unless you add ammonia source.

This can be the case if the LR has been in a LFS tank for about 10 days. It is when all decayable on the LR has decayed but bacteria population is still very low. If you get such LR and do not add ammonia source, you will never get a cycle going.

Reefer2727
10/02/2009, 03:55 PM
Would seeing little "bugs" or copepods be a good indication of whether a tank has cycled or is ready for fish? Would a good copepod population mean the tank is good to go?

wooden_reefer
10/02/2009, 04:01 PM
Would seeing little "bugs" or copepods be a good indication of whether a tank has cycled or is ready for fish? Would a good copepod population mean the tank is good to go?

No, many of this lives can tolerate ammonia that fish cannot.

And, when the tank water is rather new, the accumulation of ammonia is still low.

The conclusion of a good cycle are either:

A significant nitrite peak and then nitrite drops to zero

or

Significant nitrite that comes and goes, and a sure knowledge that there has been enough ammonia during the cycle.

The trivial exception is that the LR you bought has already been cycled, and you know and trust.

Reefer2727
10/02/2009, 04:37 PM
With my cycle, or if you can call it a cycle. I had live rock in garbage cans for 4 months with powerheads. This rock is from a set up that I broke down when I decided to upgrade. A couple of water changes on this rock were done also.

My tank has been running for a couple of weeks. The parameters have not changed much.

I have been testing around every other night and the results have been the same:

Nitrite 0
Nitrate 2-3
Ammmonia 0

I think my rock was in good shape. The tank seems ready to me for some fish. I am going to add a couple of Black and White clowns in the next couple of days. I also think that all the copepods aer a good sign. If the tank is not ready it will be a pricey lesson to learn.

Reefer2727
10/02/2009, 04:39 PM
I should add. My tank is a 75 and my sump is a 33. Lots of live rock in tank and sump.

wooden_reefer
10/02/2009, 04:42 PM
With my cycle, or if you can call it a cycle. I had live rock in garbage cans for 4 months with powerheads. This rock is from a set up that I broke down when I decided to upgrade. A couple of water changes on this rock were done also.

My tank has been running for a couple of weeks. The parameters have not changed much.

I have been testing around every other night and the results have been the same:

Nitrite 0
Nitrate 2-3
Ammmonia 0

I think my rock was in good shape. The tank seems ready to me for some fish. I am going to add a couple of Black and White clowns in the next couple of days. I also think that all the copepods aer a good sign. If the tank is not ready it will be a pricey lesson to learn.

How do you know that your LR still has many nitrification bacteria on it after four months?

If there has not been any ammonia for four months, having no ammonia now does say anything at all.

Test it.

Add calculated amounts of ammonia source and make sure that it disappears fast enough.

Reefer2727
10/02/2009, 04:56 PM
How do I add calculated amounts of ammonia?

Reefer2727
10/02/2009, 05:06 PM
Wouldn't the fact that I have nitrates indicate that there is something going on? I checked my RODI water just to make sure that nitrates were not introduced there.

ge-off707
10/02/2009, 05:20 PM
If your LFS can correctly conclude that your cycle is done with these parameters, it must have more info that you have not disclosed. It may know that the LR you bought from them has been cycled already.

Otherwise, you LFS cannot draw any conclusion.

In general, no cycle can be completed in one week.

If your LR has not been cycled before you put it in, you cycle is not complete. Furthermore, if your ammonia is still so low after one week, there is likely no more decayable material left in the LR, so your cycle has not even started and likely will never start unless you add ammonia source.

This can be the case if the LR has been in a LFS tank for about 10 days. It is when all decayable on the LR has decayed but bacteria population is still very low. If you get such LR and do not add ammonia source, you will never get a cycle going.


My tank has been up for a few weeks now and I purchased the cured live rock from this LFS. The numbers I put up there were from my tests at home not theirs. They said it was good to go and I went to a different LFS today and they tested my water and told me the same. I do have a ammonia source, 6 damsels that have been in there to help cycle. I know this isn't the preferred method to cycle but it has worked for me.

wooden_reefer
10/02/2009, 05:22 PM
How do I add calculated amounts of ammonia?

There is an approximate nitrogen content for protein on a dry basis.

Typically, dry animal protein has about 15% nitrogen.

Any fresh lean meat has about 80% water and 20 % protein.

A pound of most cheaper shrimps has about 32 count.

So one medium shrimp is about 15 grams. which has about 3 grams of protein, which has about 0.45 gram nitrogen

100 gals of water is about 400 liters.

0.45 grams in 400 liters of water is about 1 ppm N ammonia.

If decay is instantaneous, you will get 1 ppm N for one medium shrimp in 100 gals of water. You need to blend the shrimp into milk for quick aerobic decay.

Chopping it finely will work also.

Do not leave a whole dead shrimp in the water. Not good. Slow and may cause anerobic activity.

wooden_reefer
10/02/2009, 05:27 PM
My tank has been up for a few weeks now and I purchased the cured live rock from this LFS. The numbers I put up there were from my tests at home not theirs. They said it was good to go and I went to a different LFS today and they tested my water and told me the same. I do have a ammonia source, 6 damsels that have been in there to help cycle. I know this isn't the preferred method to cycle but it has worked for me.

Nobody can just test your water once and say it is good to go.

0/0 means either very good or very bad.

For a cycle to have been completed, there must either be a nitrite peak, OR

nitrite has come and gone and you know there had been enough ammonia in the past few weeks.

You have to know the history of the cycle or have to really trust the LFS that the LR has been completely cycled when you bought it.

Reefer2727
10/02/2009, 05:32 PM
Thanks for the info Wooden,

Would nitrates not indicate that bacteria are present and doing what they should? I really dont like the idea of adding shrimp with milk.

wooden_reefer
10/02/2009, 05:43 PM
Thanks for the info Wooden,

Would nitrates not indicate that bacteria are present and doing what they should? I really dont like the idea of adding shrimp with milk.

Nitrate should indicate a cycle also if the fresh water that you used has much less nitrate and you know have zero ammonia and nitrite, IMO. However, I have never used this to actually conclude if a cycle is complete. Just that at this moment I can't think of any reason why not.

I have used the shrimp method for over twenty years. It always works.

You can also use an ammonium salt, but you have to have a scale.

The concentration of ammonia in liquid ammonia is very hard to assess, IMO.

If you have a scale, you can calculate and use an ammonium salt.

Not shrimp with milk, it is shrimp into milk.

If you don't want to blend it, you can finely chop it.