Where Am I At?

[Joek86]

I am in the process of a 120 reef setup. I bought some of it used, so I spent a coupe of weeks cleaning and testing. I also read quite allot on this forum. I have background in this area, and have had several tanks in the past. The techniques and equipment are all new though.

Last weekend I finally got to filling the tank, placing rock, and sand. I also got everything plumbed and running, with the exception of my skimmer (Sedra pump was shot, new one arriving tomorrow ). I put 50 lbs of clean, dry rock frm Tampa Bay in the tank, plus 25 lbs of very live rock (local).

It's been 2 days, so I figured that I would test the water, ammonia 0, nitrites 0, nitrates 3 to 4 ppm. Is it possible that I ad a mini cycle, or "no" cycle? What is your next recommended move? Can I install a clean up crew if the water reads OK this weekend?

[Pez68]

When using actual live rock, you may not have a cycle, from what I understand. If you didn't use all live rock though, you will need to go slowly with introducing livestock until there is enough bacteria present in the tank to support it.

[choirboy]

It seems to me that 2 days is not long enough to see any spike in ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, etc. I think if you wait a week or two, you will begin to get different readings. Though I do know it is possible to not have a full cycle with the appropriate amount of live rock

[Sn8kbyt]

I started my 90g with 50lbs base rock and 110# of premium Florida live rock and saw my Ammonia and Nitrite spikes start and finish within 2 days, so it is possible. After 7-10 days though I did finally see a significant rise in Nitrates due to what did not survive the plane ride and ended up dying on the rock and getting processed.

Give it at least 7-10 days and keep testing daily. If at the end of that time everything but nitrates are still at 0 I would feel comfortable in saying you have indeed had a very short cycle. Do a water change and add a CUC.

[theReefKing]

25 lbs in a system that size is not enough to properly seed and prevent a cycle.

Did you use already cycled live sand?
Did you have already cycled water?

I agree with choirboy, I would expect for your tank to start showing signs of a cycle in the next few days.

[Joek86]

No cycled sand or water, just the 25 lbs of well established rock.

[camblonie]

If theres a question why not ghost feed and see if you get an ammonia spike?