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pugcrush
11/01/2009, 09:27 PM
Hi everyone. First time posting but been browsing for some time now. Basically, this is regarding my first saltwater tank setup. It is a 37 gallon & has 40 lbs of LR & 20 lbs LS. It's been cycling for about 3 weeks now. Last week, my readings came up as

ph 8.2
Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 10

I tried triggering some possible ammonia by adding some flake food. One week later (today), my readings are:

ph 8.4
Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 5

Does it look like my tank has cycled this quickly? I didn't get any ammonia from the flake food, ie good bacteria breaking it down? What could have dropped my Nitrates if I didn't make a water change. Any advice is appreciated.

On a side note, I did get some of a diatom bloom like everybody gets. Fortunately, it looks like I'm getting some coraline though on my LR. It's that deep red/purplish color. It's not slimy, nor does it get blown off by my powerhead, so I know it's not cyano. Does it look right?

BTW, water temp is 79 & yes RO water was used. Also, salinty is 1.026. Thanks for any input!

Hermes`
11/01/2009, 10:12 PM
If by CUC, You mean Cucumber - if its only 3 weeks in cycling it is tooooo soon to be adding one. A tank needs to be at around 8 months old(or older) to have debris in the sand where the CUC will spend most of it's time scavenging. They are generally scavengers, feeding on debris in the sand and on rocks. The diet of most cucumbers consists of plankton and decaying organic matter. I would say the tank is too young and unstable and small for even smaller CUC. I believe it was for every 3-4 in/ per 25g of water with a deep sandbed to keep one healthy. They grow big, some about 2 feet long. Hope this helps, sorry to be the bringer of bad news.

Frogmanx82
11/01/2009, 11:48 PM
CUC is clean up crew hermes.

XtremeFromHell
11/01/2009, 11:57 PM
sounds similar to what i went through, i just recently established my tank ( heres my tank thread http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1714006)

my tank had a bloom of diatoms at around the 3rd week, i waited till i think week 5 then i added 10 blue legged hermits and 1 scarlet hermit. search my threads if u want, i was llike you and asked a lot of questions so maybe you may have some of the same that i did, in case i can be of help cause i appreciate all the help i recieved

wooden_reefer
11/02/2009, 01:19 PM
Hi everyone. First time posting but been browsing for some time now. Basically, this is regarding my first saltwater tank setup. It is a 37 gallon & has 40 lbs of LR & 20 lbs LS. It's been cycling for about 3 weeks now. Last week, my readings came up as

ph 8.2
Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 10

I tried triggering some possible ammonia by adding some flake food. One week later (today), my readings are:

ph 8.4
Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 5

Does it look like my tank has cycled this quickly? I didn't get any ammonia from the flake food, ie good bacteria breaking it down? What could have dropped my Nitrates if I didn't make a water change. Any advice is appreciated.

On a side note, I did get some of a diatom bloom like everybody gets. Fortunately, it looks like I'm getting some coraline though on my LR. It's that deep red/purplish color. It's not slimy, nor does it get blown off by my powerhead, so I know it's not cyano. Does it look right?

BTW, water temp is 79 & yes RO water was used. Also, salinty is 1.026. Thanks for any input!

How much flake food did you add?

Flake food has a crude protein content. Usually about 50%.

Most "crude protein" has about 15% nitrogen.

You can calculate the amount of ammonia generated by decay of any weight of flake food. Your added flake food should be designed to give 1 ppm N ammonia quickly so that it can be detected.

If you have done so and you cannot detect any ammonia every day within five days, I say your filter medium (your tank) is cycled.

am3gross
11/02/2009, 01:23 PM
i would do a water change to get the trats down, wait a week and then add some "cuc" as long as the water paramters are where they need to be..

wooden_reefer
11/02/2009, 02:00 PM
In general, the whole idea of change water during cycling has to be viewed with discretion.

I think one should consider changing water during cycling if there are lives to be saved on the LR so one wants to prevent ammonia from reaching a even moderately high level.

In general, it is better to allow bacteria activity to correct water parameters until the cycle is known to be done.

pugcrush
11/02/2009, 09:41 PM
Thanks for the replies everyone. I put in a good 3 pinches of flake (1/2 teaspoon or so?). I then followed in with another pinch about 2 days after for good measure.

If I add some flake again & there's no spike, would it be safe to say it's cycled?

Hermes`
11/03/2009, 02:13 AM
Sorry pug for the mixup thanx for the clarification frogman