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BretCreager
03/23/2013, 10:00 PM
So i just finished my third week of the cycle.

I have been pulling my hair out over the api test kits and ended up driving to 4 different LFS last one about 45 minutes from me and I finally found one that I was impressed with. Knowlegeable, happy to be working in the store, lots of nice equipment and displays, everything was clean... great experience over all. The store was called Aquarium Center in Blackwood NJ if anyone is looking.

Anyway while I was there I bought a RedSea test kit and went through all of them.

If I am correct, and I will test again in the morning, It looks like my ammonia is at zero now and could have been there for a while. With the API test I was bouncing between .1 and ~.4 every test I would do. The first test with the redsea and I really would not think it was anything other than zero.

my nitrates appear to be around a 7ppm, Nitires are zero, alk is 8, ph somewhere between 8.2 (redsea) and 8.4 (hanna checker but I havent ever calibrated it since I got it second hand)

my temp holds steady right around 79 +-.5 and my salinity is 1.026.

so could I be done my cycle already? i would think if the api test was wrong and I havent had my spike yet then there would atleast be more than zero showing on the redsea. I know the nitrates still need to come down, but my thinking is if i test for the next 7 days and get zero ammonia, and my nitrates with any luck come down to zero then by next week I can add my CUC? also I never had much of a spike with nitrates (again with the API test) the most I would guess would be around a 10ppm

the api test was given to me second hand and could easily be more than 2 years old. so i should have jumped on a new test kit sooner.

thanks for the help, im starting to get wishful thoughts over here, I hope that I am just about done the waiting process.
Im not pushing to get fish in there right now (need to save up a little more) Im just exicted to get some snails and crabs and what not moving around in there.

alexander_ktn
03/24/2013, 03:17 AM
I don't see a problem with adding those invertebrates or even one or two small fish at this point. If you wait too long after the cycle without feeding the tank many bacteria will have starved and you will probably get a small spike in NH4/NO2 when you add a bioload.

Denbf58
03/24/2013, 06:16 AM
you may have missed the spike because of the old test kit. i would say you are go for cuc

cap032
03/24/2013, 07:04 AM
Its hard to say if you are done cycling. What method did you use to cycle the tank.......dead shrimp, ammonia dosing? Did you use live rock or dry rock? If you used a shrimp and had an ammonia spike and both ammonia and nitrite have dropped to 0ppm, you are there. If you used ammonia dosing, you would have to dose to 2ppm of ammonia and both ammonia and nitrite would need to be 0ppm within 24hrs. As far as API kits, many of us have found that if you use a syringe to draw 5ml of water and disregard the 5ml line on the test tubes, they are pretty accurate when compared to other kits. If you are cycled, Do Not........add a clean up crew until there is algae present for them to eat. Otherwise, they will starve, die, and you will have wasted $ and possibly have an ammonia spike from the die off.

BretCreager
03/24/2013, 07:23 AM
Mostly dry rock, stored for a few years, seeded, with 25lbs live sand and 20lbs live rock, there Is algae to eat, I have been keeping it off the tank walls here and there but rocks have it and some on the sand, I'm sure over the next week there will be plenty more