Cycle Time of 135 (1 Viewer)

[Guest]

Okay...it's been 12 days since I dropped in ~50 lbs LR, ~40 lbs dead LR (saved from old setup)...added another 9 lbs LR on Saturday and I've got no ammonia, nitrite or nitrate readings. I even went so far as to add a damsel last Saturday (I know it's wrong but had to do something and I've got the homemade fish trap ready).

There may have been a minute ammonia reading day before yesterday. I meant to retest for nitrates last night but time got away from me.

I've never had a tank this large...my 30 gal had readings on all 3 within 5 days of adding 15 lbs LR. Maybe the cycle was so small (due to the large water volume) that I missed it? Wouldn't I then have nitrate readings?

I'm not trying to rush things...just not sure what to expect in a large volume tank.

 

[KarenB]

In the first week on our 135 we started off similarly, about 70 pounds of live rock, 30 pounds of base dead rock, about 140 pounds of dry sand/crushed coral seeded with about 40 or so pounds of live sand. We had basically an instant cycle, never had an ammonia, nitrite or nitrate spike. We let everything settle in for a week and let the live stuff spread into/onto the dead stuff. After the first week we added 5 chromis, and then from there slowly added more fish. Every time we added fish, we added more live rock. We never had bad readings. So effectively we had an instant cycle, but it was still over a month before I felt like things were really starting to take off, like with the initial algea bloom and all. I think you should be fine, just go slowly and keep adding more live rock.

 

[Guest]

Thanks Karen...I don't want to be sitting around waiting for the "spike" for nothing. Definitely will be taking it slow...if nothing else then for $$$ reasons.

The amazing thing I've noticed is the buds of corraline popping up on the dead rock that's been sitting in the garage for almost 2 years. This happened within hours of putting it in the tank. AMAZING!

 

[KarenB]

We had the same thing on the live rock and glass, etc., and it ended up not being coraline, as I first thought...it was the beginning of the dreaded, yet to-be-expected, algae bloom.

 

[Guest]

If your live rock was well-cured, you probably won't see much of a cycle at all. I had the same thing happen when I setup my 75 - added 120 lbs. of cured live rock, never saw an ammonia spike. After a week, I threw in a few pieces of raw shrimp, tested a few days later - still no ammonia.

What this means is that you brought in enough nitrifying bacteria with the live rock to handle your current bioload. The important thing to remember here is that the population of this bacteria is very dynamic - if there isn't enough food (i.e. ammonia) in the system, then the population will shrink. As the food source increases, the population will slowly increase.

The best advice at this point would be to proceed slowly. A good rule of thumb would be to add 1 fish per month, to give the bacteria population time to adjust to the increased bioload. If you start adding livestock too quickly, you WILL see a cycle.

 

[Guest]

Actually I have been "feeding" the tank with cubed food every 3-4 days hoping to initiate the spike. My LS activator from IPSF should be here Thursday (pods, worms, sand & mud from their tanks, etc.).

I'm going to trap the damsel in a few days and add pair of clowns and a few small peps. Then my Montipora frags this weekend....and then in a few weeks add a few anthias and some shrooms. (If all is good with the readings of course.)