Is my tank pretty much cycled?

[Vinno]

Hey guys,

Background: Newbie to salt, planted co2 freshwater tank 2 years~

Info: Got my nano 10gal tank to start up my first coral fish tank :) Put in tap water, about 10lbs of live rock and a yellowtail (i've always cycled with fish) "i know know know tap water, fish".

The thing was the live rocks smelt and isnt a live rock that smells is a rock that has no bacteria alive?

Didnt have salt water test kits to test earlier.


Today the salifert test kits came in:
Results:
Ammonia -- 0
Nitrite -- 0.25
Nitrate -- 25 to 50

Kh\Alk -- 11.5 \ 4.10 meq/L
Magnesium -- 1110
Ph -- 7.7
Calcium -- 360mg/L


From the results, im almost cycled. Is this possible? Its the 10th day of the cycle now with live rocks that smelt? (oh a live crab/2x snails were in it, well crab alive, 2x snails not seen today)

When should i start doing a water change? and try to get nitrate to 0?

Thanks in advance.

[sponger0]

Cycle will be done when ammonia and nitrite are zero. Let it run. But also tap water is going to give you issues. Find somewhere you can purchase RODI water. Otherwise expect algae algae algae.

[FTDelta]

You're not even done cycling. Wait a few more weeks.

[x1C0DE1x]

10 gallon may be a little hard to keep corals. You will have to keep the water level up in your tank or the salinity will get too high. That's the bad part about a 10 gallon, the water will evaporate fast. Good luck on your tank, make sure you have a good light!

[Vinno]

http://www.aqua-medic.com/product/yasha-nano-aquarium/ Is the tank i got.

Im topping it off everyday, the skimmer makes it even worse haha.

Im pretty much dedicated to weekly water changes and daily fertilisers with my fresh planted co2 tank.

I plan to upgrade the lights to 60watts led lighting from the stock 9watts in about few weeks.

[Uncle Salty 05]

Using tap water is bad from the get go.
Before you invest anymore time and money I would drain it and start again with 0 TDS RO/DI water.

[ravi197699]

TDS water is a must for saltwater system other wise you will start battle with algae before you even add anything in the tank..... JMO

[klwheat]

Using tap water is bad from the get go.
Before you invest anymore time and money I would drain it and start again with 0 TDS RO/DI water.

+1 fix this while it's still easy. 10 gallon volume comes with lots of stability issues of its own, don't compound this with bad water.

[luis510]

I really doubt your tank has cycled. It may seem like the ammonia is all good but all of a sudden you may get a spike. Give it more time. Also like the other ppl said get rid of the tap water. I learned this the hard way. Algae will drive you nuts later..

[tunedtank]

I second the find you a good ro/di salt water source get 3 5 gallon buckets full of it take your rock out and place it in one. Drain your tank and then refill with the other 2 if you have a power head drop one in with thr rock and let it sit an hour or slosh it around in good saltwater for a little bit tp help rinse from tap water then add back to tank and start over. Also u may need tp acclimate fish to new water before removing them i know it may be hard to take this advice but it is the best advice you could possibly recieve right now all these people arent saying the same thing for no reason. I hope this helps and good luck. Also juat a tiny word of advice if you dont think on this advice you are setting yourself up for failure.

[Strobes]

yeah i doubt its cycled in 10 days. live rock really helps but you should defenitly wait to add anything. although your already exposing one to possibly deadly conditions.

[Mcgeezer]

Drain the water ASAP and buy some premixed RO/DI saltwater....on a 10 gallon it will be cheap. You could buy the premixed saltwater jugs and then reuse the jugs for RO/DI water at your LFS. Tap water will cause serious problems with algae and the overall health of your inhabitants.

Always top it off when it evaporates with regular RO/DI water or distilled water. Don't add extra saltwater because when it evaporates the salt stays in the water.

Only add new saltwater when you do water changes

[Vinno]

Found aquairum that has rodi water tonight, will be heading there tomorrow. Rang few places but none had it, one even said use tap water, they do for years.

Was going to wait for the Rodi system delivered at the end of next week but will get rodi water for the mean time from the aquarium.

Will do 100% water change slowly over 3 days, Dont want want to start again... :(

[tunedtank]

Sounds like a plan. Being willing to take advice and ask questions is the first step towards success in this hobby everybody makes mistakes mostly due to a lack of knowledge all we can do is learn from our mistakes. Good luck with tank

[Uncle Salty 05]

Sorry dude, but 100% WC won't do.
You need to drain the tank and rinse your sand in RO/DI as well.
Smelly live rock is a good thing at this point. It means there is die off going on. This will produce the ammonia that will initiate your cycle.
After you re-do the tank wait for nitrites to reach zero, and then do a 50% WC with RO/DI from the unit you are waiting for.
Then you will be ready to add fish and monitor your nitrite levels.
Wait at least two weeks between additions regardless of nitrite readings.
Good luck!