How fast is too fast?
Good afternoon,
Another post about my adventure setting up a 10g nano. We started with about 10lbs of LR and waited for a couple of weeks. We were away for the second week of its young life. We haven't seen any amonia or nitrite spikes indicating a cycle. After about three weeks, we added a peppermint shrimp and an emerald crab, along with a couple of snails and a mushroom. The shrimp died within 3 hours, but everything else is doing well. Another week went by, and we weren't happy with the aquascaping. We added another 5lbs of LR, and on impulse we also added three blue-legged hermits and a small colony of yellow polyps.
I was worried that we were moving too quickly, and when we tested water two days later, we saw slightly elevated amonia and nitrites. I imagined that the cycle was now going to start, and warned my family that things might get ugly for the livestock if the cycle was long and/or extreme. However, the amonia and nitrites went back to zero the next day, and there isn't any perceptible change in nitrates. All the critters seem to be happy.
I feel that we went a little too quick at the start. I don't want to have new tank syndrome... It's been another week since the last additions, and the water parameters haven't changed. How long, do you suppose we should wait to add a fish or other anemones/corals?
Regards,
Matthew
|