cycle for three weeks help

davidjsmith11

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So I set up my 75 gallon tank with 70 lbs of live rock and 80 lbs of live sand and tested it today and my ph is 7.8 the ammonia was 0 the nitrite was 0 and the nitrogen was 0 I am thinking I can add one fish but what do u guys think??
 
Did you have readings before any ammonia or nitrites or nitrates did you do anything to start a cycle like seeding with dead shrimp if so and you are reading 0 across the board then yes you can.You should have had a diatom bloom by now also if not your tank may haven't even started its cycle

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I ordered the live rock online from California I decided to go ahead and put some shrimp in the tank and let it go through the cycle because I had no real custom breakout at all I figure better to be safe than sorry.
 
You can check to see if it is cycled by doing the following:

1. Get Ace Hardware brand Janitorial Ammonia. (this is pure ammonia)
2. Put two drops in the tank and test to see what kind of ammonia levels you get. If it is between 1-4 PPM move on to step 3.
3. Wait 24 hours and test ammonia, nitrite and nitrate. If there is 0 amonia, 0 nitrite and the nitrate has climbed a bit you have cycled. If you see any ammonia or nitrite you need to give it more time to cultivate the bennificial bacteria.
 
rdnelson99;840042 wrote: You can check to see if it is cycled by doing the following:

1. Get Ace Hardware brand Janitorial Ammonia. (this is pure ammonia)
2. Put two drops in the tank and test to see what kind of ammonia levels you get. If it is between 1-4 PPM move on to step 3.
3. Wait 24 hours and test ammonia, nitrite and nitrate. If there is 0 amonia, 0 nitrite and the nitrate has climbed a bit you have cycled. If you see any ammonia or nitrite you need to give it more time to cultivate the bennificial bacteria.

Not to hijack the thread but since this is on topic, what if you have a test kit that does not test for ammonia. At which point during/after a cycle should you be able to detect nitrite/nitrate above 0?
 
JDavid;840081 wrote: Not to hijack the thread but since this is on topic, what if you have a test kit that does not test for ammonia. At which point during/after a cycle should you be able to detect nitrite/nitrate above 0?

If you do regular testing, you should be able to see nitrite rise and then fall while nitrate is rising. It would tell you the same thing. The key is to determine if the bacteria are present in enough quantity to transform the ammonia created by the new inhabitants in a reasonable amount of time. When people say "My tank has finished cycling" that is not true. If it is "Finished" cycling you are in trouble. What they should say is "It is cycling" because once started, it never finsish cycling. It is always cycling from ammonia to nitrite to nitrate.
 
Most likely you had a very fast cycle to fast to even detect. When you start with live sand and live rock most of the beneficial bacteria is already present and your tank will not go through a large normal cycle. I would not recommend throwing dead thing in your tank trying to force a cycle.
 
New update got 2 snails and a sand sifting star fish and the its just gave me a small tree frag and everything has been doing great the frag is growing great and the snails are doing great work.on the tank. I left them in there for three weeks and added to clowns and a yellow tang in there this Monday and the water levels and fish are doing great I think I really want to get the reef part of the tank going more than the fish and plan to start adding in a couple of weeks a couple at a time I was just interested on any suggestions on which coral to go with first I know to which with soft coral and I have no problems with that just want a lot of vibrant colors in the tank. any suggestions would be much appreciated and does the lfs in mcdonough carry a lot of coral because I know the ones in the Macon lf s are very limited
 
DAVIDJSMITH11;847955 wrote: New update got 2 snails and a sand sifting star fish and the its just gave me a small tree frag and everything has been doing great the frag is growing great and the snails are doing great work.on the tank. I left them in there for three weeks and added to clowns and a yellow tang in there this Monday and the water levels and fish are doing great I think I really want to get the reef part of the tank going more than the fish and plan to start adding in a couple of weeks a couple at a time I was just interested on any suggestions on which coral to go with first I know to which with soft coral and I have no problems with that just want a lot of vibrant colors in the tank. any suggestions would be much appreciated and does the lfs in mcdonough carry a lot of coral because I know the ones in the Macon lf s are very limited

The yellow tang will out grow your tank very quick. They need a lot of swim room. I would recommend that before you buy any more fish, you post here what you are thinking of getting. That way people can help you until you know what fish need what.

As for soft corals I would say start with a toadstool mushroom. They are very hearty and grow will. If they get too large just slice of the excess and give to someone deserving. Also you can look for mushrooms. They come in lots of colors and can be easy to care for. Here are a couple shots from my tank.

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Instead of snapping the pic and then up loading it I am selecting the camera icon from within taptalk. Must use different software.


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