Cycleing impatience, what gives!?
 

I know it takes a long time for tanks to cycle properly, but seriously!

Sept. 18th, 2008 is when we bought dead rock, it used to be live rock but it had been sitting around the seller's basement in a rubbermaid container with old saltwater and a heater for a few months. As soon as we got home (1/2hr later from pick up) we set up the rock in our own rubbermaid containers with fresh SW, heaters and powerheads. We also added a few small pieces of live rock from our main tank to seed it. We also did bi-weekly water changes.

Nov. 13th is when we added saltwater and live sand to our new 230g tank and 90g sump. I was to lazy to rinse regular sand, that's why we bought live.

Nov. 21th is when we added the rock (mentioned above) to the tank. We also added another 4 large(ish) pieces of lr from the main tank.

Nov. 23rd is when we added 3 chromis to the tank to help it cycle.

Two weeks ago or so Steve tested and said there was a bit of an ammonia spike. I tested the water two days ago and the ammonia is at 0. However the No2 (nitrite) and No3 (nitrate) aren't reading at all!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The water in the test tube is completely clear after testing. I figure in order for the tank to be cycled, or to show that it's starting to cycle, that the water has to show a bit (however so slight) of a pinkish/purplish tinge to it when testing for No2 and No3 right? RIGHT??????

Someone please correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't understand how after all this time I still don't have any No2 or any No3 in my tank! What gives? Anyone have any ideas, I seriously doubt that it's cycled since it isn't reading any No2 or No3 in the tank and we haven't done any water changes since we first added the water. FYI I did test the No2 and No3 on my main tank (just to make sure it wasn't the test kit) and both tests showed a pale pink/purple tinge, so the test kits work.

Why oh why isn't my tank starting to cycle!?!? :twised:

Is this a monster tank? I'd say the life in your tank just wasn't enough to create a "real" cycle. A bit of an ammonia spike as you stated wouldn't really be enough to create much of a spike in nitrates either.
Chuck in a couple of cocktail shrimp. 3 chromis aren't going to do much to cycle a bunch of dead rock and some "live" sand. You need them to either poop more or add the poop yourself (in the way of the cocktail shrimp :wink:).


Just my two cents :biggrin:

is any Coraline algae growing? contrary to testing sometimes the sign of Coraline is the best sign of a cycle, or at least an environment where corals are able to calcify their skeletons properly in.

I would say the tank is cycled for the ammonia that is being produced at the moment.

How Much rock do you have in the tank?

This is what I wondering as well. It's a 230g tank an a 90g sump. I was kinda thinking 3 chromis wasn't going to cut it. I think I might go find some shrimp :biggrin:

There isn't any purple coraline on the new rock we added, however it is starting to grow green coraline. There is still lots of purple coraline on the four large pieces of live rock we added (on the 21st) from the main tank to help seed it.

About a 150-180 pounds.

Im thinking since you started with live rock ( i bet your 'dead rock" was still alive) that your tank did a very soft cycle, especially with the small bioload. I would add slowly and I bet your good to go.

I should also add that there is lots (and I mean lots) of pods, mini brittle stars and bristle worms (all of which came in on the LR we added from the main tank) surviving and doing well in this tank. There is also some collonista snails in the sump as well as spirorbid worms. I also have a little patch of gsp doing well in the tank too. For light I have a 48" T5 four bulb light.

I would just start slowly adding the fish etc. you want to keep. Say in the order of 1/month or so. You have a very large system that wont get thrown out of wack very easly by the addidition of a single fish. After a month your tank should have more than caught up to the additional bio-load.

I was kind of wondering this, but wouldn't there be some colour change in water in the test tube when I tested for No2 and No3? Even if it was only a soft cycle?

My problem with adding the fish I want to keep is that I already have the fish that are going into this tank. Right now they are in my main tank (which is overcrowded at the moment) the fish I'm adding are my four large angelfish (Queen, Emperor, Blue Ring and Blueface) which cost about $150-200 each. I don't want to take any chances with them, plus they all get along (for the most part) so adding them all at the same time would be better in order to keep the peace. My two perc.'s are also going into this tank, right now they are hosting in my large frogspawn. I would like to move them over but I don't want to risk killing off my/their frogspawn. I was thinking of getting a wrasse on boxing day... hummmm maybe I could add one of those?

I would get another test kit to see if the test kit is the problem.
I would not add your angels until you are certain.
BTW you have been around enuf to know that the dated practise of using fish to cycle a tank is simply not acceptable.

I used the test kit on my main tank and it worked fine, there simply isn't any readings of No2 or No3 in my new tank.

No worries my angels wont be going in until I'm 100% certain it's cycled. Even if it means waiting a few more months.

I know fish (even chromis who can haddle it) shouldn't be used to cycle a tank, but since I had the LR curing in a rubbermaid for 3 months before adding it to the new tank and since I used live sand and since I added some large pieces of LR from the main tank, I didn't think there would be too much of a cycle.

BTW if the No2 and No3 spike will it kill off the pods etc. that are already in the tank?

PS I do plan on plumbing the new tank together with my main tank once the new tank is ready.

It won't kill the pods.

Good to know thanks.

i think it cycled so fast you missed the NO2 spike after the ammonia spike and straight to NO3 but with the large tank and large amount of liverock you even missed this spike in the 2 weeks between tests.
as you said the LR was dead so nothing coming from it for ammonia in the cycle so the only ammonia was from pods and the chromis, and there just is too much water for them to create an ammonia spike.

Well if you were to plumb them together before you moved the fish you wouldnt have to worry about cycling the new tank. The old tank would look after the bio-load.

what were you thinking 3 chromis :surprise:

you need at least 3 tangs to cycle a tank that size.. :mrgreen:

Steve

Maybe, but on the other hand if the rock in the new tank causes any major spikes or problems (think of when Chin added just a few pieces of uncured rock to his large tank and he lost a lot of his nice fish) I could lose thousands of dollars in fish and corals. Not a risk I'm willing to take.

:lol: I'll keep that in mind for next time :wink:

Did you use that hagen Cycle, if so you dont really get a spike or much of a cycle. I know that from 4 other tanks

No, just LR, live sand and chromis.

holy heck with a tank that size you sould add like 2 bottles to get the cycle going too

Asmodeus...did you find that it actually sped up/finished the cycle or just got the ball rolling?

yes it did it slow,y brought it up to the proper levels so basisly you dont get a spike... you have to triple dose actually to get the right spot and then you can have stuff in at 2-3 weeks

for my 120 gal i used 2 big bottles a bit of a over kill. but it worked

interesting...I'll have to take that into consideration the next time I set up a tank...My 90 just finished cycling (bout damn time) but I've got a nice long 135 that sure would look good as a reef...herm....
thanks

Hummmmmm, sounds like it's worth a try.

seriously get 2x 500ml bottle they do 500 gal each I think and pour it in and watch what happens ok ... trust me it will cycle soon and faster then you think

This sounds like a classic case of an instant cycle. I doubt the rock was dead in the first place. Those pods had to have come from somewhere. Uncured maybe, but you certainly cured it over the 3 months (or whatever it was). I'd say you are not getting NH3 and NO2, because the tank cycled instantly. This is the result of there being enough nitrifying bacteria in the rock already, to deal with any ammonia. As for the NO3, I'd say you are not detecting a reading there because you're bio-load is extremely low right now.

Long story short, you're good to go, IMO.

Cheers,

This is what I've been pondering. Is there no NO3 at all as in it's not cycled yet or is it cycled but the NO3 is not reading because of low bio load. *sigh* I wish I knew for sure.

I'm going to find out soon how well off this tank is or not because we just put all the LR with our zoo corals on it in this tank. We had the zoo rocks in the sump under PC lights but they looked so terrible, we decided to put them in the new tank under the T5. I have to say the zoos are starting to open up and look better, so here's hoping.

I think if in a week or so if all the zoos are doing well in the new tank, we'll plumb the two tanks together and move the angels over.

Thought I'd add pic.'s of what the LR looked like a month ago:
[IMG]http://i261.photobucket.com/albums/i...k/DSC_1021.jpg[/IMG]

and what it looks like now:
[IMG]http://i261.photobucket.com/albums/i...k/DSC_1073.jpg[/IMG]

The zoo rocks are going to go back to the reef tank once everything is plumbed together and the angels are moved over.