Hows my cycle going?

[AH-99p]

Hello,

The prawn has been in the tank for 3.5 days now... should i take it out now or leave it to keep rotting away?

Ok, my results 2 days ago were:

Ph: 7.8
Ammonia: 0.25
Nitrate: 160
Nitrite: 0.25
Salt: 1.022

My results today are:

Ph: 7.8
Ammonia: 0.5
Nitrate: 160
Nitrite: 2.0
Salt: 1.023

Is the cycle going well... i'm a little concerned that the ph is a little low and the nitrate is at the highest value on my scale... Is this normal or do i need to do anything?

One thing i have noticed over the past few days is more and more life coming out of my liverock, some of my liverock also came with algie on it... on one rock this algie has been fine thoughout the cycle process, but on the other it seamed to die off... however its now starting to regrow, this is a good sign, right?

Thanks for the help / advice,

AH

 

[melosu58]

Yes It looks like it`s going well. Leave the shrimp in there. Its going to take about a month to cycle so be patient. Yes the coraline algea will start to turn white and then turn back to beautiful colors. Use this cycle time to read up on SW aquaria. Have a great day.

 

[AH-99p]

Excellent - thanks for the heads up... I was getting a bit worried when some of the levels were extreamly out. Would continuing to add live rock to the aquarium while it cycles be a good idea or a bad idea?

 

[melosu58]

If you are going to add LR do it now while you are only days from starting. if you wait too long then you`ll have to cure it first. Now is the time to add if you are going to do it.

 

[AH-99p]

thanks again for the reply. thankfully a couple of the big aquatic warehouse / mail order companies are within 10 minutes of my house... they sell fully cured live rock, so would this be suitable to add to my aquarium gradually?

 

[hackteck]

yes it would but its better to add at the beginning of your cycle

 

[AH-99p]

and just to confirm... having such high Nitrate levels is normal for the cycle? Mine are currently at: 160..!