Tank cycle advice please.

[vietcu]

Just started a 40g tank and would like some feedback please. So far I added 20 lbs of aragonite sand(not live) into the tank and let the sediments settle for about a day. Day two I bought 7 lbs of live rock and added them into the tank to let it start the cycle. I then added 4 lbs of bare rock on day 3. Haven't tested the water yet for ammonia or nitrite. The barometer is reading 1.022-1.023. Planning on getting 10 more lbs of live rocks this weekend and 1-2 lbs of live sand also. I got a jumbo shrimp in there as well. I set the thermometer to 79 but the water doesn't seem to go above 74 during the day, and 76 at night. Here is a picture of what I have so far.

 

[Kurt_Nelson]

Even after you add the rock this weekend, you're still probably going to want another at least another 20 lbs or so. About 1.5 lbs/gallon is a rough rule of thumb. Looks like you're running a BioWheel, so that will help out with giving your bacteria a home, but additional live rock would be better.

I wouldn't worry about the live sand. Regular sand will do just fine - it'll be "live" in a few weeks. Regarding the thermostat on your heater, don't trust it to be too accurate. Go by the reading on your thermometer (looks like a Coralife digital... good choice) and adjust your heater's thermostat until your thermometer reads what you want it to. It'll take a day or two of messing with it to get things stabilized since it takes a while to bring 40g of water up a degree or so.

I'm also confused by your comment about temperature. Normally, the low temps are first thing in the morning, when your lights are out and your house is the coolest. The high temps are usually in the evening, when your lights have been on the longest. Or are you in a hot climate where you have air conditioning and its effecting the tank?

 

[vietcu]

I live in Ohio, sure wish I live where I would have to use a/c this time of year. I work during the day so I set me house to about 60f, then before I get home the heater kicks on to about 70. I guess I can crank the heater up a bit in the tank, that should do it. I'll take your advice and purchase more than 10 lbs of LR this weekend.

 

[Kurt_Nelson]

I live in Ohio, sure wish I live where I would have to use a/c this time of year. I work during the day so I set me house to about 60f, then before I get home the heater kicks on to about 70. I guess I can crank the heater up a bit in the tank, that should do it. I'll take your advice and purchase more than 10 lbs of LR this weekend.

Ahhh... I understand the temp swing now. Yeah... I bet you wish you needed A/C!

It's also best to put all the live rock in up front, so you don't risk a mini cycle later on if you decide to add more rock that isn't cured. So that's great that you're going to get more rock.

Seems like you're headed in the right direction. In 2-3 days, you should start seeing some ammonia. Once the ammonia gets up to 2.0ppm or so, you are probably safe to take out the shrimp - it's done it's job. (Be careful taking out the shrimp. It may look solid, but it's not! Yuck!) Congrats on doing a fishless cycle!

What are your plans for the tank? FOWLR? Reef?

And welcome to AquariumAdvice!

[Edit: Looks like your heater is a Stealth? I've got one of those in my saltwater mixing tub, and I think it's set for 80 deg. Water temp in the tub varies between 76 and 77. Just to give you a comparison.]

 

[vietcu]

Here is an update I bought 20 more lbs of LR and 4lbs of base rock. I haven't cleaned the base rock yet so not putting those in until later. I also turned up the thermometer to 80, hope that fixes it. I should have checked this site when before removing those shrimp, still have some remnants in there that I can't get to. I noticed 2 little polyps(hope thats right) on my LR that popped up when I turned the lights on which is pretty cool(kind of new to this you know). The rocks that I bought are already cured, so do I have to go through the whole cycle period or not?? Oh yeah I would like to do reef aquarium, bought the Nova extreme with 4x39w lights, hopes thats good enough. Only thing running right now is a 24w bulb that came with the tank.

 

[Kurt_Nelson]

You said you took the shrimp out. Are you seeing ammonia already? What levels? If the rock was cured, I'd be surprised if your ammonia even gets up to 2.0ppm to start with. And yes... even with cured rock, the safest thing to do is add the shrimp and do a cycle. If the rock was colonized with bacteria (fully cured), then you might not see much ammonia or nitrites at all. You might just start seeing nitrates show up in your tank. Are you measuring for nitrates also?

Which brings up another question... what are you using for water? Tap or RO/DI or fish store water? If your water isn't RO/DI, then make sure you take some baseline measurements for nitrates in it so you know what you're starting with.

If you're going reef, you're going to want additional flow in there. Probably a couple powerheads in the corners, pointed towards the front so the flow "crosses" in the middle of the tank. The flow from the biowheel just isn't going to cut it.

 

[vietcu]

I ordered a remora skimmer, and mag7 pump. Going to do a sump, read somewhere that that would be enough and I wouldn't need a powerhead. If I do i have an old penguin 550 that I could use. And I bought some ro/di from walmart, not using tap water. Haven't tested anything, I will tomorrow night and post what those numbers are then. Thanks for the help.

 

[Kurt_Nelson]

... Haven't tested anything, I will tomorrow night and post what those numbers are then. Thanks for the help.

I'm still confused then why you took the shrimp out if you haven't done any testing. I only mentioned taking the shrimp out after your ammonia gets to around 2.0 ppm because I found that higher levels of ammonia during the cycle seem to make them go longer. But you need the ammonia from the rotting shrimp to kick start the cycle.

Even with a sump, you're probably still going to want some additional underwater current. But powerheads are easy to add later down the road.

Thumbs up for not using tap water.

 

[melosu58]

Great looking start. Look up in the articles and read up on the fishless cycle. It will tell you what to look for.

 

[vietcu]

Tested my water today and this is what I have. Barometer = 1.022-.023, Ammonia = 2.0, Nitrite= 0, Nitrate = 0-5(hard to tell with the color), and pH = 8.0-8.2.

 

[Kurt_Nelson]

Sounds like you're on your way! (By the way, barometers measure air pressure. Hydrometers measure specific gravity or salinity. )

 

[vietcu]

Its now a little more than 1 week from the time I added the rocks, and my ammonia and nitrite are both at 0. Does that mean my cycle is complete? I don't want to rush anything but man, thats kind of fast isn't it?

 

[Kurt_Nelson]

If you started with cured rock, then it's totally possible. My main cycled like that. If you saw the ammonia and nitrites go up, then go down to zero, then you cycled. You probably have some measurable nitrAtes now?

 

[vietcu]

Yes, nitrate went up to about 5-10(again hard to tell with the color test). Nothing higher than 10, that I am sure of.

 

[Kurt_Nelson]

Sounds like it's time for a couple 30% water changes over a couple days to get the nitrates down as much as possible, and then you're good to go! I'd add a cleanup crew of snails and hermits (if you want crabs) after the water changes and start shopping for your first fish!