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hajas
03/18/2012, 02:35 PM
So I have cycled my 220 gallon tank in a couple steps:
1) set up my DT with 50 lbs of live rock from another established tank and 125 of dry rock and ran it for a week.
2) set up a 20 gallon tank to hold another 85 lbs of LR from LA. Each tank ran another week.
3) moved the 85 lbs of rock to the DT and ran another week.
4) put a piece of frozen food (mysis shrimp) in a mesh bag and let it break down in the tank over the last few days.

I have not tested until now, but I am getting 0 ammonia, nitrate, nitrate. I also feed a pinch of food everyday. There are 6 small hermits and a dozen or so snails in the tank (from the LR). Finally, my question, is it possible my tank is cycled? Do I need to try something else to kick start it? Thanks in advance for the help.

BlueDartReefer
03/18/2012, 03:00 PM
Sounds like your tank has been up and running for 3+ weeks. If your water tests out "0," your tank could easily be cycled. When we upgraded to our 265G, we moved over all the rock, majority of the water and a small bucket of the sand. To this we added around 100 pounds of live rock, 150 pounds of clean sand and almost 200G's of water. Water tested out after three days and all livestock was then moved over.

hajas
03/18/2012, 08:08 PM
Good to hear. Might let it go for another week just to be safe before adding a fish or two.

Playa-1
03/18/2012, 08:21 PM
It sounds like your ready to go to me but better safe then sorry.