New tank water parameters HELP

[Aleiva16]

Good afternoon all,

I am very new to this hobby, which I am starting off with 65g RR tank and 20g long sump. I have 75lbs of dry rock and 40lbs of live sand in the tank. I added marine water in yesterday and began my cycle with some stabilizer bacteria for new tanks. I also did a water test yesterday and my

Nitrate is at 0
Nitrite is at 0
Ammonia is at 0
PH is at 8.2

From what I have heard these are all good parameters, correct???? I am going let the water cycle for about 4-6 weeks regardless if the parameters still show they are good because I want my rock to begin to liven up. Can you guys give me any pointers with water parameters when starting a tank?? Can someone please provide me with EXCEL spreadsheet I can use to log???

One last question I have my skimmer installed already I was just wondering when can I begin to start it up during the cycle? I do have some very cloudy water at the moment, but I figure that is the sand.

thank you all in advance.

[bnumair]

i would throw a frozen shrimp in the tank to kick start the cycle. in few days ammonia will hit 2ppm and then take the shrimp out. After that just wait will ammonia and nitrites hit 0.
run all equipment from day 1 to let it all run in harmony. skimmer will take almost a month to break in.

[Aleiva16]

Sounds good thank you. I am trying to work on the skimmer now, I need to elevate it about another inch.

[bnumair]

egg crate from Home Depot or Lowes will work just fine under the skimmer to raise it up.

[Aleiva16]

I tried the egg crate, but the skimmer now floats a little with the egg crate under it. I was thinking of adding some kind of weight to the egg crate don't know how yet, but thought of using weights that you would use if you go fishing.

[bnumair]

get a small piece of base rock drill 2 holes through it and zip tie to the under side of the egg crate.

[Aleiva16]

got it thanks.

[panicy]

Even with a bacteria supplement I'm a little sketchy on 0 ammonia in one day, on your first and only reading. I'd give at least a handful more and take at least a sample a day of ammonia, nitrite and nitrate.

Don't be in a rush (I know it's hard)

[Aleiva16]

I am using the directions on the bacteria supplement and since I have about 75g all together I put 7 cap filled in to the tank yesterday and then for 7 days I put 4 cap filled each day.

Here is a question for you guys I know Nitrates and Nitrites are suppose to be at 0, but what is the ammonia suppose to be at?

[moe458]

nitrates are less toxic

nitrates = usually okay < 10ppm
nitrites = not good (should be 0)
amonia = poison (must be 0)

[Aleiva16]

Thank you for that. Question, how will I know I have enough bacteria in my tank???

[bnumair]

you wont know... after you see ammonia hit 1.5-2 ppm take the shrimp out and watch over time for it to drop back to 0. mean while nitrites will spike and hit 0 and last step nitrates will hit high. do a water change to bring nitrates down....
after that u need to add cuc and a 1-2 small fish (of course after qt) then on u can add 1-3 fish every week depending on size. remember we stagger them out over weeks so bacteria can catch up with ammonia.
Bacteria lives in same proportion as ammonia being produced and it take 15 hrs for bacteria to multiply to double the colony size.

[Aleiva16]

So regardless of the bacteria supplement I'm adding I should still use a shrimp??

[bnumair]

i would, i have no faith in bacteria in bottles. also bacteria need some ammonia source to live on otherwise they will die.
in a perfect world if there was no fish in the (cycled) tank and rocks didnt have any die offs thus no source of ammonia that tank over few days will run out of bacteria and thus needing to cycle again.

[Aleiva16]

I see...thank you so much for all this info.

[bnumair]

no problem good luck and safe reefing.