BigCity
06/20/2011, 06:17 PM
Looking for some feedback and opinions on my cycle. I initially filled the tank with ~150-175# of aragonite sand in both the display and sump (120g display, 50 gallon sump). I also started with ~150#+ of base rock from reefcleaners.org, filled the tank and let it run for about 2 weeks while I tweaked some things in the sump. At the 2 week mark I added a couple small pieces of shrimp to help start the cycle. I didn't test until a week after I added the shrimp. It has since been 3 weeks and I have never really seen any spikes in any of the levels. Ammonia looked border line between 0 and the first level on the card once. And the nitrates have been up to 2.5ppm, nitrites look like the are nearly zero as well. I just added about 40# of live rock yesterday and I have some live sand coming later this week to seed the sand.
Just wondering if I missed the cycle in the 2 weeks with just dry rock and then 1 week of shrimp? Wouldn't have thought so, but just wondering if I will ever see a spike. I did have a small brown algae bloom about 2 weeks ago, but other than that I haven't seen much of anything.
*Edit - Setup info 120g display, 50 gallon sump, eheim return, I have reactors to run phosphate media, carbon, and possibly purigen. I have a reef devil skimmer that isn't running yet, have to figure out a way to plumb it to run externally.
Just wondering if I missed the cycle in the 2 weeks with just dry rock and then 1 week of shrimp? Wouldn't have thought so, but just wondering if I will ever see a spike. I did have a small brown algae bloom about 2 weeks ago, but other than that I haven't seen much of anything.
*Edit - Setup info 120g display, 50 gallon sump, eheim return, I have reactors to run phosphate media, carbon, and possibly purigen. I have a reef devil skimmer that isn't running yet, have to figure out a way to plumb it to run externally.