Cycling question?

[gleach]

High I have a 60g aquarium and I have just set it up and am keeping a close eye on my cycling process. I set the tank up on January 1st and The cycling process has gone quite fast I did use some start up bacteria and as of recent my nitrites have dropped off and I'm waiting for the nitrates to come down. My ph is a bit high but within the recommended range. My question is on how long do I need to hold off before doing the first water change? I do not plan to add any fish or frags for at least 1 more month.

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[Bectan01]

Your nitrates won't comedown by themselves, that's what a large water change is for. If you have seen the rise and fall of ammonia and nitrites, then I would say you are cycled

[gleach]

But should I alow for more growth of beneficial bacteria before doing a water change it has only been almost 3 weeks?

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[gleach]

Just don't know if I should wait it out a little more and see if the nitrates will come down a bit more.

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[Bectan01]

The nitrates won't go down by themselves, you need to manually remove them. It is only ammonia and nitrites that will drop to zero of their own accord when the cycle is done did you see a spike in amm and nitrite?

[gleach]

I was only able to test 1 time a week because I was working out of town. My first test showed high ammonia and the next test showed low ammonia and last weekend I brought a a sample to my f/s and they told me the nitrites were 0 ammonia was 0 and nitrates were a bit high.

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[melosu58]

We have a great article about this in our sw articles section.

[lstimpy]

Yup, water change time, your cycle is over!

[gleach]

Yeah did it. Since the post did first water change, tested and everything was perfect. I put a small zoanthid frag in and it looks great so bought a second one today it's looking good so far it opened up immediately after putting it in my tank. I have a bit of brown algea. Next week I will buy my clean up crew then I'll let it set for a month before adding anything else.

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[gleach]

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[lstimpy]

Yay! Congratulations!

[gleach]

Yeah thanks I'm happy! Patients payes off. I know I'll have some trials and tribulations but I'm exited to have a nice challenge. I think I'm in love with this its so interesting and beautiful and there is so much to learn.

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[lstimpy]

I know! It's awesome! I just put a frogspawn in my tank yesterday and I stared at the thing for two hours! I'm such a nerd.

[gleach]

Take a picture I wanna see I don't know what that is. I do the same thing I only have two frags and I'm obsessed haha.

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