beginner questions - cycling w/ cured LR

[pjcozzi]

I'm currently cycling my first saltwater tank. It's a 55gal with 22 lbs of Fiji LR and 10 lbs of Solomon LR (yes I still need to get more).

The LR has been in the tank for 9 days and the sand (55 lbs aragonite) has been in the thank for 4 days.

I have a few questions about the cycling progress:
* Ammonia never registered and the Nitrites peaked at 0.5 ppm after 2 days and is now less than 0.25 ppm. The rock was cured before I put it in the tank. Does this progress sound reasonable? Did I need to add a source of Ammonia?
* The tank cleared up pretty quickly after I added the sand but there's still A LOT of small white things floating in the water and "moving" on the glass. My roommate swears they are alive. It also looks like a lot of this stuff is on the surface. Any ideas?
* My friend has an established tank and wants to give me some water. I've heard of taking sand from another tank but not water. Is this still useful?
* My protein skimmer (Red Sea Prizm) has barely picked up anything. I assume this is OK since the LR was cured?
* With all the dust from the sand I bet my canister filter needs to be cleaned. When should I do it? After cycling?
* I want to add a cleaning crew as soon as the tank cycles. Can I add the whole thing (hermit crabs, turbo snails, maybe one of those red shrimp) at once?

Thanks in advance,
Patrick

[Brenden]

Ammonia never registered and the Nitrites peaked at 0.5 ppm after 2 days and is now less than 0.25 ppm. The rock was cured before I put it in the tank. Does this progress sound reasonable? Did I need to add a source of Ammonia?

With cured rock it is very possible. You could always put some food in the tank to see if your levels rise. If not it will just be feeding the current bacteria.

The tank cleared up pretty quickly after I added the sand but there's still A LOT of small white things floating in the water and "moving" on the glass. My roommate swears they are alive. It also looks like a lot of this stuff is on the surface. Any ideas?

It will clear up in time. If you have a film on the surface of the water that is not good. Point a PH toward the water surface to stir it and help oxygenate the water.

My friend has an established tank and wants to give me some water. I've heard of taking sand from another tank but not water. Is this still useful?

Water will not help you at all. You have LR so you should be good. If you do take sand make sure your friends tank is disease free.

My protein skimmer (Red Sea Prizm) has barely picked up anything. I assume this is OK since the LR was cured?

if it is a new skimmer it will need to break in. Get a coat of slime before it starts working good.

With all the dust from the sand I bet my canister filter needs to be cleaned. When should I do it? After cycling?

Either way. I would probably wait until your water clears up then clean it.

I want to add a cleaning crew as soon as the tank cycles. Can I add the whole thing (hermit crabs, turbo snails, maybe one of those red shrimp) at once?

just make sure your NO3 is low. I would hold off on the shrimp until you get a handle on your tank.

[pjcozzi]

Thanks for all the info.

Originally Posted by Brenden

It will clear up in time. If you have a film on the surface of the water that is not good. Point a PH toward the water surface to stir it and help oxygenate the water.

I had one PH pointing at the surface and the other pointing down. Now I switched both to point to the surface (160 gph a piece). I do see what looks like a film when I look at the surface from below but not when I look at it from the top. What do you think this film is?

Originally Posted by Brenden

Water will not help you at all. You have LR so you should be good. If you do take sand make sure your friends tank is disease free.

That's what I thought. Also, should I avoid PWC during cycling?

Originally Posted by Brenden

just make sure your NO3 is low. I would hold off on the shrimp until you get a handle on your tank.

Ok, I will start with just the hermits crabs and snails.

Patrick

[melosu58]

I know you already said you know that you need more LR. You will need to at least double what you have. Because you already put cured LR in your tank you`ll probably only experience a mini spike. You might want to do like brenden said and add a little food so as to get a real cycle or just add some uncured LR that will jumpstart your cycle.

[tecwzrd]

Originally Posted by pjcozzi

Did I need to add a source of Ammonia?

If not adding uncured lr soon I would add a cube of frozen or one cocktail sized raw shrimp to build up your bacterial base more before adding any stock.

Originally Posted by pjcozzi

there's still A LOT of small white things floating in the water and "moving" on the glass.

Since they are moving they are more then likely pods.

Originally Posted by pjcozzi

I've heard of taking sand from another tank but not water.

As Brenden said make sure the tank is currently disease free and I’ll add make sure that copper has never been added to the tank to treat pass infections. If so do not use.

Originally Posted by pjcozzi

My protein skimmer (Red Sea Prizm) has barely picked up anything

Skimmers take a couple of days to properly break in and build up a slim coat.

Originally Posted by pjcozzi

With all the dust from the sand I bet my canister filter needs to be cleaned. When should I do it? After cycling?

Keeping lr rubble (broken up lr) in your canister instead of sponges/media will help keep your no3 down. Even with lr rubble I’d still clean it every other week and weekly if you use any filter medium within it. You can clean the sand off the lr in the tank by aiming a ph over it or using a turkey baster.

Originally Posted by pjcozzi

I want to add a cleaning crew as soon as the tank cycles. Can I add the whole thing (hermit crabs, turbo snails, maybe one of those red shrimp) at once?

Also as Brenden said I would hold off on any shrimp for 3+ months to give your tank time to stabilize. If interested in starfish I would stick to serpent/brittle starfish (reef safe) and wait for 6+ months.

All mobile inverts need to be drip acclimated for 2+ hours so they have time to adjust to any sg/alk/ph changes from the lfs to your tank.

The use of a qt tank for all stock is highly recommended so you never have to medicate the main tank.

[pjcozzi]

Originally Posted by tecwzrd

If not adding uncured lr soon I would add a cube of frozen or one cocktail sized raw shrimp to build up your bacterial base more before adding any stock.

I think I'm going to take your guys advice here and add a raw shrimp. Thanks!

Originally Posted by tecwzrd

Since they are moving they are more then likely pods.

Thanks for the link. This sounds a lot like them. No worries then.


Also, I wanted to ask you guys about lighting during this period. I'm currently running them (one 40 watt full spectrum white, one 40 watt actinic blue) 6 hours a day. Since the LR is cured is it OK to up it to 10-12 hours or will that produce too much algae?

Thanks again!
Patrick

[Brenden]

Algae (diatoms) will be in your newly cycled tank regardless of lighting time, so go ahead and be ready for it so it will not stress you later. The only thing light will help in your tank now is coralline if you have any. Otherwise it is not needed. I will also add I would probably only add half a shrimp. Since your tank has probably already started a mini cycle. Throwing a whole one in now will just over cycle and cause a larger algae outbreak later.

[pjcozzi]

Originally Posted by pjcozzi

I think I'm going to take your guys advice here and add a raw shrimp. Thanks!

I added a medium size raw shrimp this morning. You should have saw the expression on the guy's face when I asked for only a single shrimp. He just gave it to me.

Patrick