Is it possible that my tank is almost cycled in a week?

redneckgearhead

redneckgearhead

Active Member
Sounds like a plan, did all of those fish come from this tank? I don't think I would add them all at once if you can keep from it.
 
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aussiefishfan

Member
No, hermy gets his own fresh one every day - the other I chopped and placed in a little bag where he can't get it. It's pretty slimy now. BTW, I've been told that the crab is carnivorous - noticed that he didn't touch the algae provided for the tangs when he was in the same tank. Is there anything else I need to feed him to make sure of a balanced diet> there's not much info out there about gaint hermit crabs.
 
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aussiefishfan

Member
redneckgearhead said:
Sounds like a plan, did all of those fish come from this tank? I don't think I would add them all at once if you can keep from it.
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The fish are currently in a rather poorly 3ft tank we inherited from a friend who'd lost interest. The fish and the corals have totally outgrown the tank, long term HA problems, high nitrates that I just cannot get rid of, etc. The sooner I can get the poor buggers over the better, although I must admit that I'm rather suspicious of the short amount of time my tank has taken to cycle. I've given myself till the weekend to see if I can get it to spike by chucking in fish pellets etc over and above the little slimy shrimp. Just had a thought = maybe I haven't put enough nasty shrimp in - the tank is about 320 gallons...
 
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aussiefishfan

Member
For those who are interested, it seems that my tank was indeed cycled. I ended up having to make a rather risky decision as all the livestock in my sick 3ft tank looked as though they were on a decline. Myammonia and nitrite levels had been 0 or very close to it for a while, despite the addition of the shrimp. We went for broke and added the corals first with my big fox face. Following day, no spike, so we added the other fish. Sadly, the elegance that I had been nursing along never made it - my only loss. Since then have only picked up a faint cloudiness on the ammonia test which disappeared the following day. Some adjustments made to lighting and positioning of the anemone. Tonight we brought home the anemone's maroon clown.

Wooo hoooo. What a risk, and how lucky am I to actually get away with it! I have finally done something right! Will keep up with the daily tests for quite a while I reckon - and focus on getting the little tank healthy - strip back to basics, turn old sump into refugium and get new sand and start a cycle from scratch. That was I have a QT/naughty corner tank up and running and ready at a moment's notice! Sound good?
 
lbiminiblue

lbiminiblue

Well-Known Member
aussiefishfan said:
Some of you may have followed previous posts and will know that I started my tank cycling a week ago. ON Sunday last week we scored a massive amount of LR (roughly 150kg) which we put in the DT and had about another 20kgs from the other 3 ft tank (which has been struggling with nitrate problem) which we placed in the sump. I tossed ina prawn and some bacteria (quick start).

On the eve of the second day: Ammonia 0.4 (didn't test for anything else)
Third day: Ammonia 0.6 Nitrite 0.05 Nitrate 8
Fourth day: Ammonia 0.8 Nitrite 0.01 Nitrate 50
Fifth day: Ammonia 0.4 Nitrite 0.1 Nitrate 40
Sixth day: Ammonia 0.1 Nitrite 0.15 Nitrate 40
Seventh day Ammonia (minute amt) Nitrite 0.05 Nitrate 15

Okay so I'm guessing with the elevated nitrate levels, those have leached out of the problem LR and are now stabilising. It seems that by tomorrow my nitrite levels may well be 0.

General plan is to add weed tomorrow to start eating the nitrates.

Question: can I add cuc tomorrow if nitrites are 0?

Also, I have a giant hermit crab that REALLY needs out of my small tank - is it safe to add him to the big tank? I think I probably need to re-home him as he will get stuck into my cuc given half a chance...

Thoughts?
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what type of hermit is he?
 
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aussiefishfan

Member
As far as I know he's a Giant Hermit Crab or "Petrochirus diogenes". The only problem is that he's got plain white feelers, not stripy as described on the species description - so I could be wrong. I'll try to get a pic up when I get home and ask for identification opinions...
 
wscttwolfe

wscttwolfe

Active Member
my nitrate levels also went up to 40 or 50, then came down to 15, but I always thought that the test kit was giving false readings
 
C

cheeks69

Wannabe Guru
RS STAFF
aussiefishfan said:
The LR came straight from an established tank, into barrels, covered with water from the tank, straight home and into my tank which had been circulating with salt and sand for about 2 weeks. I din't scrub it or anything. Very clean stuff.
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If the LR came from an established tank then it would have been colonized with nitrifying/denitrifying bacteria so as long as it was not kept too long out of the water it would've been fine. The decaying deli shrimp just served as algae fuel decaying in the tank IMHO. Also that hermit could be a problem considering it's size and could turn to corals to satisfy it's appetite.
 
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aussiefishfan

Member
Yup, you're right - fortunately not much coral yet - wanting my water parameters a helluva lot better than they are now before I moveon to the next step. I have a leather and some fluffies and an anemone for the clown fish, and that's about it. he hasn't taken a chomp out of anything.... yet. I know I will have to re-home him and it's just a matter of time before he munches something precious. Anyone In Brisbane want a Dardanus megistos???
 
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