Tank cycle in 5 days

[cdc84]

I setup my 180g 5 days ago, it has 210lbs of dry rock and 15lbs of live rock from my other tank. I have been using Biozyme for the past 3 days and did my water tests today.

Ammonia 0ppm
Nitrite 0ppm
Nitrate 10ppm

I did not expect the tank to cycle this fast or am I doing something wrong.

[cdc84]

Actually the 210lbs is not dry rock the previous owner used the tank until a month ago then left the tank full of water with the rock still in it but turned everything off so the rock was in still water. I thought this would have killed the rock with no water movement or heater in the tank.

[MaxxedMan]

Was there ever a spike?

And if you had dry rock, it wont cycle on its own. And if your 15 lbs game fully cycled from an established tank and in, it's already cycled.

if you didn't add anything else, food, amonia, a shrimp, the bacteria that was on your live rock, may actually be starving off.

The cycle turns waste into food for bacteria, so the bacteria grows until it reaches a balance with the food it has to eat. So when you do add fish, there is enough bacteria to balance their food and waste.

Sounds like you added bacteria, but no food for it to eat and multiply. If that's the case, your tank is "cycled" but not ready for very much bioload.

[Fizz71]

It's certainly possible with all cured rock or part cured/part dead rock. I've actually put tanks up with 0 days cycle (never a glimpse of anything but nitrate).

Just go slow. 15lbs of live rock won't support a lot so it will take time for the 210lbs of dead rock (if it is truly devoid of bacteria) to re-populate.

Me personally I'd go with a nice hardy fish I know I want to keep...like a clownfish...and check the ammonia daily.

Edit...BTW...My experience with dry rock in a live rock tank is a serious diatom outbreak so be ready. :)

[MaxxedMan]

Actually the 210lbs is not dry rock the previous owner used the tank until a month ago then left the tank full of water with the rock still in it but turned everything off so the rock was in still water. I thought this would have killed the rock with no water movement or heater in the tank.

You actually might be fully cycled then. You probably started with a big bacteria population. But did you see a spike, or has everything always tested zero? That would be a caution flag if there wasn't even a mini cycle moving all that rock.

[f3honda4me]

Dump in some store bought ammonia. Let it mix and test. Try to get to around 2-4 ppm.

Then test again after 24 hours. If you have 0 ammonia and 0 nitrite and your nitrate is up then you are done cycling. Don't forget you can't add corals until your nitrate goes down too. But fish or CUC is ok.

[cdc84]

This was the first time I tested the tank today, the rock that came with the tank was in cold water so I was thinking that is was already dead or close. The rock was moved from the tank at the PO's house and always kept wet the I had it in my garage for a couple of days in a rubber maid tub again with no heater. The tank is a little cloudy which I am assuming is a bacteria bloom.

[Fishie80]

If it has nitrate it maybe cycled...I've had mine cycle quick if I used a lot of established things...


U know u could always urinate ...just a little...in it and check a couple days later ...lol

[uncleof6]

With no ammonia spike there has been no cycle. Nitrates likely from the water, salt mix, or what have you. The "white cloud" could possibly be a heterotrophic bacterial bloom, (due to dissolved organics--where did they come from?) but these bacteria do not perform the cycle. The autorophs do not bloom in this fashion, with a generation time of 15 - 24 hours, where the heterotrophs can generate in as little as 15 minutes.

If you buy store bought ammonia to toss in there O.o, make sure to shake the bottle before you dump, if it has bubbles don't use it (soap) dump a good amount of powedered (fine) flake fishfood in there, and test every 12 hours for ammonia--see what the tank does. Don't worry about nitrite or nitrate, for a time, they will take care of themselves, your job is to get ammonia up to around 4 ppm.

The so called "5 day cycle" does not happen. It takes from 4 - 8 weeks to properly cycle a tank. Cycling aids don't help, and neither does shrimp. I say daily "ghost feeding" with powedered (intentionally) flake food, or ammonium chloride, with the goal being 4 ppm, and then continue till the ammonia hits 0, while still overfeeding the tank, the nitrites are falling, and the nitrates are rising. (nitrite toxicity does not create problems in marine systems--at the levels encountered during the cycle, or thereafter.) The level needs to be quite high, for a prolonged period of time. 100 - 300 ppm.

[Jocko]

Oh goodness. No ammonia spike no cycle? I don't have an ammonia spike in my tank. Does that mean there's no cycle going on?

First off, the rock was not totally dead. Let's think about what happened with the 210 lbs. of rock. He left it in the tank and unhooked all of the equipment. So the circulation stopped, temp dropped and salinity probably crept up due to evap. So all of those things are going to cause a bunch of die off. Which will spike the ammonia and cause more die off. But guess what? I can guarantee there are bacteria and other things in there that could survive those conditions. And to top it off, the spike in ammonia probably caused the bacteria population on the rock to skyrocket.

So now this rock moves into your tank and now you have a massive bacteria population. That would explain what you are seeing. So first off, I would absolutely NOT put any more source of ammonia in there. Your bacteria population is massive enough. As it is, it's probably going to need to come back down to normal levels. It was getting a TON of food in that stagnant system.

You've got that 15 lbs. of live rock so it will start to seed the rest of the rock and start to increase the biodiversity on the 210 lbs. of rock. I'm sure most of the life on that rock got blown away.

So, if I was in your situation, I would let the system chill out and reach 0 on the nitrates too. Then I'd probably be thinking about a tiny cleanup crew or my first fish. It'll be time to start slowly increasing the bioload.

[wolfador]

Dump in some store bought ammonia. Let it mix and test. Try to get to around 2-4 ppm.

Then test again after 24 hours. If you have 0 ammonia and 0 nitrite and your nitrate is up then you are done cycling. Don't forget you can't add corals until your nitrate goes down too. But fish or CUC is ok.

This is perfect !!

[f3honda4me]

With no ammonia spike there has been no cycle. Nitrates likely from the water, salt mix, or what have you. The "white cloud" could possibly be a heterotrophic bacterial bloom, (due to dissolved organics--where did they come from?) but these bacteria do not perform the cycle. The autorophs do not bloom in this fashion, with a generation time of 15 - 24 hours, where the heterotrophs can generate in as little as 15 minutes.

If you buy store bought ammonia to toss in there O.o, make sure to shake the bottle before you dump, if it has bubbles don't use it (soap) dump a good amount of powedered (fine) flake fishfood in there, and test every 12 hours for ammonia--see what the tank does. Don't worry about nitrite or nitrate, for a time, they will take care of themselves, your job is to get ammonia up to around 4 ppm.

The so called "5 day cycle" does not happen. It takes from 4 - 8 weeks to properly cycle a tank. Cycling aids don't help, and neither does shrimp. I say daily "ghost feeding" with powedered (intentionally) flake food, or ammonium chloride, with the goal being 4 ppm, and then continue till the ammonia hits 0, while still overfeeding the tank, the nitrites are falling, and the nitrates are rising. (nitrite toxicity does not create problems in marine systems--at the levels encountered during the cycle, or thereafter.) The level needs to be quite high, for a prolonged period of time. 100 - 300 ppm.

Yes make sure the ammonia you buy is not scented nor does it have anything artificial in it. If you shake it and it makes tons of bubbles, that's not the right thing.


As for the "cycling", it is totally possible that you could have no ammonia spike or "cycle" so to speak if there is enough bacteria to handle the ammonia/nitrite. Do the ammonia test I told you, and that will tell you for sure.

[cdc84]

I moved some of my cuc from my other tank into this tank yesterday they are doing fine. I will retest the tank today as see what it says, I tried to catch a chromis yesterday from the other tank but theirs no way I will get him without tearing the tank down.

everyone likes pictures :D

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[gmate]

I used all live rock when I setup my 55, put about 70 lbs of live rock. Saw both Ammonia and Nitrite spike and decrease within 4 days, tank was cycled in under a week. Not unheard of, at all.