Where is my Cycle?

[euro_Boy_To]

I left for a week and put a shrimp inside...

I have 20lbs of live rock inside my 29g aquarium.. and 20lbs of dead rock..
it has been established for 2 weeks, and 1 week with the shrimp..

PH was 7.8 when I got back and 8.2 before I left for a week.. (keeps going down)
I used some Seachem PH powder to get it back up to 8.2 when I came back.. In total I used half a bottle of the stuff.. 250grams and the PH still goes down slowly.

The shrimp is covered in white goo and glued itself to a rock ... but all tests indicate no cycle..
I have 0 ammonia, 0 nitrate, 0 nitrite..

My water temp is set to 75 and SG at 1.023..

Any ideas?

 

[melosu58]

One week is not abnormal. It will be starting soon. Dont add anything to your tank as this might slow things down. Just let the cycle take place on its own. After the cycle the PH will probably be OK and if not you can buffer with PWC or powder buffer if need be. There is no fish to worry about now. Just be patient and dont add anything yet.

 

[seaham358]

with 20 lbs of cured LR it is possible you wont see a cycle. If the LR has a good load of bacteria on it you will not see one. I never had a cycle in my 55 when I use 55lbs of cured lr. Give it another week and if you still see no jump in amm then IMO your good to go.

 

[tmkx3]

I didn't really have a cycle either because of cured rock. If you decide to go ahead and add fish do it very slowly like one fish a month and make sure your ph is stable first. good luck

 

[euro_Boy_To]

My PH keeps dropping.. down to 7.9 in just two days, from 8.3..
I've already added 250grams of the Seachem PH 8.3 powder..

Is it bad to keep adding while I have the shrimp in there and waiting for a cycle?

The rock was crap.. the LFS told me it's cured but it looks like it wasn't.
Until I added the shrimp it was just light greenish/white and it looks like no bacteria was present at all...

Now it's starting to come alive with bright green starting to appear.

I'm also getting foaming at the top a little, and the surface of the water looks like it has some kind of oil on it?.. it makes the rainbow color with light.. I'm also finally getting slimy deposits building up on the heater and the piping

So far so good, the PH keeps going down on me.. I have the CaribSea sand which is supposed to help, and caribsea rock, and Tufa rock all which are suppose to boost PH..
what could make the PH keep going down?