When will the cycle start

[GOBY]

I have a 28 gallon Via Aqua with 8lbs of cured live rock and 52 lbs of
sand 20 of which is live I had it setup for 4 days and the cycle never started so the lfs store said to put in some fish I added 2 green chromis a week ago and the ammonia and nitrite are still at zero I was wondering when it is going to cycle. For filtration I am using a prizm skimmer and
a penguin 170 will the cartridge in the penguin remove all ammonia or is the tank going to cycle with the cartridge in I am thinking of removing the cartridge since I was only using it to clear up the tank from when I first added water. the chromis are doing fine the ph is 8.2, temp. 78 degrees and ammonia and nitrite are zero. I would like to add some snails and
crabs but dont want to put them in and then have it cycle. I want to also add 2 ocellaris clowns. Any help would be appreciated

 

[fishfreek]

The cycle will not start unless you have an ammonia source. The two chromis will work as an ammonia source but they will provide a very low ammonia production.

I suspect that you will not notice an ammonia cycle unless you add something that will significantly increase your ammonia production.

At this time with the cured live rock (the wording CURED is important) you probably will not notice any ammonia even from day one. This is because the live rock has the bactera bed populations to easily deal with the ammoina that is being produced.

You should be able to add your snails and clowns with little problems. Keep an eye out for ammonia for about a week after you put them in and you will be alright.

Make sure you acclomate your snails slowly.