CYCLING QUESTION

Why don't you get some dr Tim's nitrifying bacteria to get the tank going. What kind of stuff could you be getting in the skimmer with nothing in the tank. Do you have filter socks? Running the skimmer should not matter it's not going to pull anything out of the tank that should be in there

 

Ammonia needs to be present to finish the cycle. Keep the skimmer going, maybe even feed a little food here & there.

It will come down and your cylce will be complete, which basically means you now have nitrifing bacteria which will convert ammonia into nitrates.

Your tank will still mature for quite awhile while everything else becomes alive. It takes awhile, so take it slow.

Best thing you can do is find another persons established tank, and suck some detritus from the bottom of their tank and add it to yours, a cup of sand to will help tons.

 

Yep, the ammonia will go down. Should go to 0 and stay there. Then you'll see Nitrites do the same.

 

I would let the skimmer run since you have the Pukani in there. I have read it holds phosphates and takes time to cure properly.

 

It takes 14 days for ammonia to spike and then trend downward, nitrites at around 20 days will spike and then trend downward, by 28 days nitrates will trend up and remain until a water change. At 30 days ammonia and nitrites will be at 0 and remain there, any produced will instantly be converted into nitrates which can be removed by water changes or macro algae etc.


Yes, I would put a piece of shrimp in there, that way the cycle keeps going, (a source of ammonia for the bacteria doing the converting).

 

That is correct Bud. I neglected to make note of that "7.5ppm" is very high.

and to be clear, "at 6 months the tank will reach stability" that is a highly stable system like what many established tanks are dealing with in terms of chemistry and bacterial blooms and cycles. After a mere 40 days the tank will be stable enough to be stockable, although you will see some visible bacterial and algal blooms.

 

Yah you can pretty much look to randy Holmes Farley as the authority on everything related to reef chemistry, but I have a feeling he as well as Steven pro and others write conservatively which is generally a good idea when you have many eyes (not just our community) on your publications.
But yea, even after 40 days you're going to see some diminishing but measurable nitrogenous waste oscillations and you should vey slowly proceed with stocking.

 

The addition of live sand at this stage will likely prolong the cycling process.

 

I've said this before .. Why doesn't people use turbo start I use it on evey new tank works wonders..

 

It's live bacteria in a bottle.. Adams and seascapes both carry it now.. This is process to starting a tank
1. Fill it
2. Wait 24 hrs so water is clear
3. Dump in fish
4. Wait 48 hrs after fish and dump in the turbo start
Done works every time
If corals are going in I wait a few weeks to allow everything to settle in
Just read the instructions on the bottle.. I don't get why people still allow their tanks to cycle and have to fight all the algae and diatoms. I started a reef tank in this manner with bio pellets and was growing purple coralian in 2 weeks