Cycle: did I miss the ammonia spike?

americnjewl · Jul 21, 2023

30g tank, live rock, CaribSea sand
Day 1: tank set up, added water, sand, rock
Day 2: ....
Day 3: 5ml MicroBacter7
Day 4: 5ml MicroBacter7
Day 5: 5ml MicroBacter7
Day 6: 75ml Fluval Cycle
Day 7: 30ml Fluval Cycle (today)

I only started properly testing at day 6 (was using test strips that I didn't realize were expired, thinking if I see any indication of ammonia I can do a proper test). Testing done pre-dosing with API master kit (I know, we'll switch when this one is done).

Yesterday ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate were all at zero. Today, nitrate was maybe 10ppm and everything else seemed 0ppm. No bacterial bloom.

I didn't learn about ghost feeding until yesterday, so I haven't done that. LFS said we'd be okay to add seahorses in a week, but that's a big investment to dump into the tank.

Is it possible I missed the ammonia spike when I wasn't testing? Can I toss a snail or hermit crab in there and see how it does?

KrisReef · Jul 21, 2023

If you used live rock there may not be anything to measure except nitrate production going forward. I would add some pods and phytoplankton to get them rolling before you add Seahorses to the tank. They will feel a lot better being introduced into a ripe garden filled with prey items that they can slur upon. Got any pictures of the corral? Folks who keep these may have some more specific ideas regarding the habitat set up.

jda · Jul 22, 2023

If you have real live rock, it should be able to handle a ghost feed, or even some fish waste pretty well.

This does not mean that you are cycled, as in done-done, but you can handle parts of the cycle probably pretty well. What is on your rocks will spread and populate - each day your tank gets more dynamic and will be better equipped to handle influx of new things, or an accident.

Snails and hermits need things to eat. New tanks are not usually the place for this.

Seahorses are sensitive fish and quite difficult in very established system. They are very messy, wasteful and sloppy eaters - new tanks are not good at wasteful or sloppy fish. I would wait until you have algae come and go a bit before you give these creatures a go.