Newbie waiting for cycle

[Craig.Marchand]

Hi all,

A bit of background. The wife and I purchased a 46 gallon tank off of kijiji. He was originally set up for a saltwater system with coral. The purchase included:

- 46 gallon bowes tank
- 2 bulb light (sorry, don't know the details besides that its 1 white and 1 blue)
- Rena Cal 50W heater
- 2 power heads
- Coralife 65G super skimmer
- Fluval 305 skimmer

The young man who sold us the aquarium was very knowledgeable and explained everything to us. We visited our lfs to discuss getting started and to ensure we had everything that we needed. They briefly explained that if we wanted to do saltwater (which we did) that we would have to cycle the tank. They explained that we should buy live rock. We purchased 47lbs of live rock, plus sand and instant ocean salt. We drove home set up the tank and have been waiting ever since.

We are currently on day 17 of the cycle and none of our levels seem to be changing. Our salt level has been approx 1.02, pH of about 8.3, temperature of 78. Our ammonia, nitrite and nitrate levels have all stayed at 0. I have never ran the skimmer and put the light on for a few hours most days for now.

Is this normal that everything has stayed pretty well at 0? Should levels not be changing at this point? I've read that adding in a shrimp could help, should I be doing this?

Any help would be greatly appreciated. I am still very new at this so any advise would be great.

Thanks

 

[Mebbid]

How high are you dosing the ammonia in the tank while cycling it? Too high of an ammonia level can stall a cycle. Also, what test kits are you using?

 

[Craig.Marchand]

I have not been putting any ammonium in the tank as I was told that that was the purpose of the live rock. I am using API (aquarium pharmaceuticals) salt water tests using water samples taken from midway down the tank and the provided drops.

 

[Mebbid]

That would be why you aren't seeing any nitrite or nitrate then. There needs to be ammonia in the water to convert to nitrite and then to nitrate to cycle a tank. Try putting a single uncooked shrimp in a nylon stocking into the tank and then seeing how the tank parameters react to that. If you start seeing nitrate without any ammonia or nitrite after a few days then your tank should be ready for its first fish.

 

[Craig.Marchand]

Ok thanks for the advise. Ill give that a shot today and will let you know if that gets things started. Is the purpose of the live rock not supposed to add ammonia though? Or was this simply my LFS convincing us to buy rocks at 7$/lbs?

Now one thing I failed to mention is that my LFS is about an hour away. From the time the live rock left the aquarium at the fish store to the time it was placed in our aquarium after getting set up it was probably 3hrs, but the rocks were packaged moist in a styrofoam box. Could this be part of the problem?

 

[Mebbid]

Ok thanks for the advise. Ill give that a shot today and will let you know if that gets things started. Is the purpose of the live rock not supposed to add ammonia though? Or was this simply my LFS convincing us to buy rocks at 7$/lbs?

Now one thing I failed to mention is that my LFS is about an hour away. From the time the live rock left the aquarium at the fish store to the time it was placed in our aquarium after getting set up it was probably 3hrs, but the rocks were packaged moist in a styrofoam box. Could this be part of the problem?

The live rock is there to grow bacteria that will break down ammonia into nitrite, nitrite into nitrate, and nitrate into nitrogen gas. The ammonia is introduced into the aquarium through livestock waste and food.

The cured live rock you bought is technically already cycled but you want to check how quickly it is processing ammonia before you try adding any fish into the tank. It also wasn't a bad price. I paid $5 - $9 / lb depending on the pieces I bought.

Take a look at this link:
Cycling a Saltwater Aquarium

 

[Bectan01]

How are you checking salinity? 1.02 is a very odd reading. Do you make your own salt water or buy it?

 

[Craig.Marchand]

I am using a hydrometer. It's been reading around 1.019 to 1.020.

 

[Craig.Marchand]

And I have been making my own saltwater using instant ocean salt and room temperature tap water. This was the way the LFS suggested or to use the more expensive jugs of saltwater.

 

[ColBen112]

I have seen where if you have a lot of live rock witch it sounds like you have a good amount your tank might not even need a cycle or cycled within hours because of all the bacteria that already exist off the rock my friends bio cube did it also and I was shocked! The "live sand " should of had a good amount of ammonia In it to kick off a cycle so there is a good chance your In the clear.

 

[Craig.Marchand]

So an update to my previous post. I added a single shrimp in a stocking and left it in my tank for 48 hours. When I checked my readings I still had 0 ammonia, 0 nitrite but finally saw a small nitrate level (5-10ppm). Hourah my tank has probably been cycled all this time I have no purchased my first few fish. To start we got a yellow tang and 2 clown fish. I did a test 24hrs after introducing the fish and I have a reading of between 15-20ppm. I know the idea with saltwater is to have as low of nitrate as possible. I also know that it takes time for the tank to adjust to the higher ammonia levels from the new fish and that weekly 25-30% water changes will also bring down the nitrate levels. I just have a few questions now:

- What is considered an unsafe level of nitrate?
- How long should I wait before introducing more fish?
- Is there any fish I should avoid mixing with my current fish?

Thanks for the help!

 

[DIZZLE808]

What is considered an unsafe level of nitrate?

Mines was sitting between 20-40ppm for a while with no setbacks. That being said you should still strive to keep it as close to zero as possible. You get more leeway with your nitrates in a fish only system, reef not so much. I finally added a HOB skimmer and it took my nitrates down to less than 5ppm.

- How long should I wait before introducing more fish?

Seeing as you added 3 fish at one time I'd wait a few weeks before adding anything else so you don't overwhelm your system.

- Is there any fish I should avoid mixing with my current fish?

Definitely stay away from more tangs. Live Aquaria has a compatibility guide that's worth checking out.

 

[Mebbid]

I agree with waiting a few weeks before adding a new fish.

I do however have some bad news about your choice in fish

Yellow tangs need a 100g tank minimum which gives 6ft of tank length for swimming space. This is an important amount since tangs will get stressed out if they don't have enough swimming space which will quite often lead to an early death

 

[chefbill]

And don't use tap water. ro/di won't break the bank, just your back.

 

[Craig.Marchand]

Ok thanks for the advise. I will definitely wait a few weeks before introducing any more fish. As far as the tang requiring a 100 gallon tank that is really too bad and I really wish my LFS would have told me that ahead of time, especially since I explained the size of tank I had. At least now I know to do more research ahead of time instead of simply trusting what they tell me.

The yellow tang seems to be doing well although compared to the clown fish seems to be much more timid when I approach the aquarium. It also does not seem to come up for the good an instead seems to feed off of the live rock. Is this normal?

As far as Ro/Di water would you recommend purchasing it or buying a system to do it from home?

Thanks again,

 

[Rmckoy]

Either buy the water keeping in mind that you are relying on the provider to have changed the filters in their water system recently .
As for mixing .
Depends on what you are stocking .
Fish are ok with lower saline but
All the oceans are 1.026 SG or 35 ppt
For only 2 bulb fixture , I am having a hard time thinking of what kind of corals they would have kept .
My 75 gal I have 6 bulb t5 HO fixture and that is barely enough for some of the corals