What's the deal?

[nikkipigtails]

Ok...the rocks and water have been in the tank since 6/20. On the 6th our params were:

Ammonia: 1-2 ppm (it's closer to 2)
Nitrite: 0 ppm
Nitrate: ~5 ppm


I tested today and the params were:
(I haven't been doing anything with calc or alk so they're exactly what they are when th SW is mixed up)
Calc: 375 ppm
Alk: 4.9 dKh
pH: 8.0
Ammonia: 0 ppm
Nitrite: 0 ppm
Nitrate: 0 ppm
Phosphates: 0 ppm (but I still have HA so I know it's there)

I tested a total of 3 times because I was sure something was screwey but I got the same thing every time!

Is my cycle already over? I have a big ball of cheato in the fuge so I was expecting to see a sharp drop in the trates but I didn't think the ammonia would go form almost 2 ppm to 0 without me seeing a spike in the trites or trates. There was a 4 day gap in testing because I thought it would take longer for things to change.

Algae blooms: We had a big bloom of brown fuzzy stuff that lasted about a week or so. Then we had a small green algae outbreak which was quickly overtaken by HA. I'm noticing a very, very light dusting of brown on the sand, but, like I said before, I think the amount of flow we have on the bottom is keeping the diatoms from settling in.

Does anyone have any ideas?

Oh, and there are 2 mushrooms and a small colony of button polyps that are HH on one of the rocks...they're still very alive, just not very happy.

 

[SeahorseBT]

Which test kit are you using?

 

[nikkipigtails]

The alk is IO, the calc is Salifert and the rest are API. I've always gotten accurate readings from these test kits so I dunno

 

[Woodstock]

The numbers look normal to me (other than low ca/alk) for a newly cycled tank.
Remember that macro algaes absorb both ammonia and nitrates very quickly! Their abosorption could be speeding things up.

What type of rock did you use?
If you placed anything in the tank/sump that came from a cycled tank, you seeded yours with nitrifying bacteria that will certainly speed up the cycled a LOT.

I would trust the Salifert and API kits

 

[BigAl07]

Did you "Feed" the cycle any?

I guess if I wanted to get a better "Feel" for the status of the Biological filtration system I'd drop a deli shrimp in and observe & test. If it goes quickly then you have a healthy biological filtration system and are ready for some critters. If it takes a while to break down and you see some significant #'s then you were correct in being cautious.

 

[Fish Crazy]

Nicki my tank cycled very fast because I used sand and rocks from established tanks and was able to add fish in one week so it is possible

 

[nikkipigtails]

Doni: We used ~100# of uncured rock, ~60# of cured rock and ~50# of dry base rock. All that is spread between the DT, the sump and the RBTA tank.

So the macro has sped up the cycle but is there the same amount of denitrifying bacteria in there as if there wasn't any macro? I guess I'm asking if the cycle was just as hard or did the chaeto absorb all the ammonia before it had the chance to increase the bacteria?

Al: We didn't really feed the cycle. ~100# of the rock we used was uncured and just plain nasty...it was the rock that we had in 5 gal buckets for a week because the trash cans kept busting. It was RANK! I threw an old sample of fish food in there (I think that's where all the phosphates came from).

 

[nikkipigtails]

 

[DAHansen]

I like Al's suggestion of running a bio-test. Also, I'm always a big fan of the sniff test - pull out a few rocks and give them a whiff. I know that I have smelled things in reefing that are the worst odors I will probably ever smell (worse than the time our freezer broke while on vacation while it was loaded with a couple hundred pounds of meat.)

Also, wouldn't the uptake of nutrients from the algae soften/slow the full cycle a bit?

 

[Frankie]

Not the sniff test! LOL!
That's a trade secret Dave. You need to be cautious with what you tell these people or we will all be out of a job~

 

[Stacef]

Did you "Feed" the cycle any?

I guess if I wanted to get a better "Feel" for the status of the Biological filtration system I'd drop a deli shrimp in and observe & test. If it goes quickly then you have a healthy biological filtration system and are ready for some critters. If it takes a while to break down and you see some significant #'s then you were correct in being cautious.

Al-what would you say is quickly, and takes awhile? any rate of time to put with this?

Sorry to hijack..

 

[Woodstock]

Doni: We used ~100# of uncured rock, ~60# of cured rock and ~50# of dry base rock. All that is spread between the DT, the sump and the RBTA tank.

So the macro has sped up the cycle but is there the same amount of denitrifying bacteria in there as if there wasn't any macro? I guess I'm asking if the cycle was just as hard or did the chaeto absorb all the ammonia before it had the chance to increase the bacteria?

Mostly, I think the cured live rock you added sped up the cycle process but the chaeto probably helped a little too.

 

[nikkipigtails]

Ok. I did the "sniff test" and it smelled like saltwater. My mushroms and my buttons are wide open and happier today then they were a couple of days ago. I just added the first bit of some baked baking soda to raise the alk but I'll post all that in my chronicle.

 

[DAHansen]

Ok. I did the "sniff test" and it smelled like saltwater.

Huzzah! The nose knows!