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Has my tank cycled

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Tw!tch321 View Drop Down
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Joined: October 02 2019
Location: Ogden, Utah
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    Posted: October 14 2019 at 11:25pm
OK every. Just a quick question.  I've been cycling my tanks and I just need some input on the results of this test.  This test was done on my 20 gal drop off tank.  I used live rock from a established tank,  pre  mixed salt water from a local salt water aquarium store,  and caribsea live sand.  I've been adding fish food for about a week but the tank has been up and going for about 2 1/2 weeks.  Do these results look like my cycle is complete? 

Thanks Kris


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RadIkal View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote RadIkal Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: October 15 2019 at 9:22am
Hey Twitch,

First of all, congrats on the new tank!

It's hard to know if the tank is cycled based on one data point.  We need to know if you have seen ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate spike and then go back to zero.  From my build thread about a year ago, I posted this picture, which is a graph of ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate over time:


You can see that nitrite and nitrate stayed near 0 for the first week, while ammonia rose, then as the nitrifying bacteria which convert ammonia to nitrite proliferated, ammonia went down while the others rose.

I would recommend a few things to you - first get a test kit for ammonia as well as nitrite and nitrate.  You should only need to test ammonia during the cycle, after that it should always be zero, but it's important for the initial cycle IMO.  Secondly,  I have read about other reefers using fish food to start the cycling process, but I think you would really have to dump a lot of fish food in the tank to generate enough waste to start the process.  And then you have crud floating around your pretty new system.  I highly recommend buying some ammonium chloride to start your cycle in a more controlled fashion.  I used Dr. Tim's ammonium chloride:

I know Jeff at The Fish Tank keeps it in stock for cheap.  I think it lends to a much cleaner cycle than putting a piece of shrimp in there to rot or god forbid putting a sacrificial fish in to die.  The advantage and/or disadvantage depending how you look at it is that you will populate your tank with pure nitrifying bacteria, whereas if you add rotting organics, you will get many more heterotrophic bacteria, meaning you will get denitrifying bacteria plus those that use carbon/organics, etc.  Discussion of which of those two populations is better is probably outside the scope of this post.  A safe bet to get a good healthy population to start your cycle with on the right foot is to use a bacterial additive like Brightwell Aquatics Microbacter 7.  There are other options, but that's what I have experience with.

Hope it helps!
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knowen87 View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote knowen87 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: October 15 2019 at 10:47am
I will say that that you are likely cycled because the rock came from an established tank (meaning that a cycle was not necessary). The rock that you have was full of nitrifying bacteria. I don't see ammonia on your test kit so I would just check that if you are concerned. Ammonia should be undetectable in the tank and you are good to go. What fish are you planning on adding to the tank? 
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