Fishless cycle ?

[brad15]

Hello everyone. I just started my new 65 gallon reef. Used dry rock and the wet Fiji sand( don't know if that's considered live). I dropped 3 cocktail shrimp in my dump to do the cycle. It's now been a week and for 2 days my #'s seem to be the same. 1.0-2.0 ammonia. Anywhere from 2.0-5.0 nitrite. The purple color on chart is difficult to differentiate. 10 nitrate. Water is cloudy and smells for most of the week. Not running my skimmer or carbon reactor yet. Only gfo reactor cuz of phosphate leaching of new rock. Temp is 78-79. Am I stalled? Normal?

 

[mr_X]

Are the shrimp dissolved or did you remove them? the ammonia will definitely come down. It has to.

 

[brad15]

No yet dissolved. They have a bubble and a death coccoon around each.

 

[mr_X]

ammonia will be present until they are gone.

 

[brad15]

So not until they are gone will the cycle be complete?

 

[brad15]

Do you think adding a small piece of live rock will help it along? Or with both amonnia and nitrites present will it kill the rock?

 

[mr_X]

You should have added all of your rock during this cycle. "Live" rock is simply rock that's covered with bacteria. during the cycle, you are growing a bacteria colony. this colony resides on surfaces. You definitely want your rock in the tank being covered by bacteria right now.

 

[brad15]

I already have both sand and rock in tank from the beginning. I was considering adding a small piece of live rock from a friend's tank but wasn't sure if my current parameters would kill the rock.

 

[mr_X]

That's not necessary, plus, it won't help anything. It's just a waiting game now.

 

[brad15]

Since a small amount of nitrates are now present, should I start running skimmer and add chaeto?

 

[mr_X]

No. Just leave it be until you are completely done the cycle. Then do a water change, and then you can start your skimmer and algae, add livestock slowly....

 

[brad15]

Ok thank you. Much appreciated.

 

[begginersluck]

The waiting game can be annoying but unfortunately all saltwater tanks go through it.