Where am I in my cycle?

[davidhughes85]

my 55 gallon tank has been set up for 2 weeks now and i am wondering where i am in the cycle. My water is nitrates 25ppm, nitrite 0, ph 8.3 ....I have not had a major algae bloom yet...at one point about 5 days ago there was some color to my sand that was crowing, slightly brown and then i added my cleaning crew which i think ate it all. I have 5 turbos, about 20 other smaller snails (nickel size) and about 15 hermits...two days ago i added a black sea urchin and a sand sifting goby which is being very active. until 3 days ago i only had 40 watts of light, but now have 2x65 PC two actnic two daylight...so am I going to have an algae bloom? Can I add mayeb two clowns now and maybe some xenia??? just where am I in all this?

[davidhughes85]

correction:I have very slight nitrites

[bertoni]

Is there any live rock in the tank? What kind of filtration are you using for the tank?

[davidhughes85]

yes i have about 25 pounds of live rock, out of three bags of sand in tank one was live....I have a jebo protein skimmer and a top fin 60 with biological filteration inserts

[bertoni]

Hmm, that's not very much live rock. I would start adding a bit of phytoplankton to keep the rock going, and wait the usual three weeks from the last non-zero ammonia reading, if you ever saw any ammonia. Tanks with well-cured live rock sometimes don't see much of anything in the way of a cycle.

After the three weeks (if that's not already up), you could consider adding two juvenile clowns. I wouldn't add two larger clowns to such a new setup, with so little live rock.

[davidhughes85]

the rock was fully cured, i did see a large ammonia spike and a large nitrite spike both were gone a week ago...im planning on ordering another 25 pounds of live cured in about 3 days(gotta go party for Sping Break;-)) have it within 5.

[bertoni]

I would wait for at least 3 weeks after adding the new live rock to consider adding more animals. The live rock might cause a large ammonia spike that could kill quite a few animals.

[davidhughes85]

even if its cured??

[sdsheeks]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=6938638#post6938638 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by davidhughes85
even if its cured??

There is always some die off that could cause a spike. You could always get it before you go to spring break and be a little ahead when you get back.

Dave

[davidhughes85]

I know but i need to get it cheaper from off line and i need to be here when it comes:-(

[Sk8r]

Believe me---a new tank benefits more from waiting until it's safe than from pushing the schedule, if there's any reasonable choice. Understand, it's taken me 40 years to reach that state of patience...

[bertoni]

I agree with waiting. Losing a bunch of animals to a new load of live rock can be expensive and discouraging.

[bjonesjr1]

Will adding alot of live rock lets say about 35lbs be to much to where it would kill of my snails, hermit crabs, and peppermint shrimp cause of the ammonia spike or will they be ok to leave in the tank when I add my new live rock

[davidhughes85]

bump same question as above ...maybe for 20 pounds

[bertoni]

If the live rock has enough die-off, it could easily kill the snails, shrimp, etc.

[bjonesjr1]

I'm going to purchase live rock from Life Oceanic, they are about 3 hour drive from my house, but they would ship the rock overnight to me in damp newspaper I think, Will I be fine or should I dip the rock, put in a trash can run a power head and heater, overnight then add to my tank ???

[bjonesjr1]

the reason I'm having it shipped it I was told that if I go their and pick up the rock that the rock costs .75 more cents a pound to pick out rock instead of having it shipped and letting them pick it out.

[bertoni]

If there weren't any animals in the tank, I'd say put the new live rock into the tank when it's received. As it is, I'd consider curing it in the trash can until the ammonia has been zero for a bit.

[sdsheeks]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=6938974#post6938974 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Sk8r
Believe me---a new tank benefits more from waiting until it's safe than from pushing the schedule, if there's any reasonable choice. Understand, it's taken me 40 years to reach that state of patience...

I had to get married and have a few kids before I got patient.

Dave