Cycle and parameters

[mydemun]

Hey everyone , so i just joined the hobby after maybe 10 years considering to try
anyway i've started the cycle 6 days ago with live rock from local reef shop
after two days i think i had a bactrica bloom and water became very milky and cloudy and just yesterday the water got back to crystal clear
but sadly through all this period i didnt have my water test and i just received it today and did my tests :

pH: i would say between 7.8 to 8 but 8 more like it
AMMONIA:between .25 to .50 but i would say .25 more like
NITRITE: 0
NITRATE: 10ppm to 20ppm and i would say 10ppm

please guide me from here guys i dont know why after doing these i feel i got a bit confused and im messing up

thanks everyone

 

[exnisstech]

You have nitrate so IMO your cycled. Maybe do a water change and proceed slowly. The bloom could have been from some die off on the rock.
Nitrates are the only thing I test when cycling.

 

[Gumbies R Us]

You have nitrate so IMO your cycled. Maybe do a water change and proceed slowly. The bloom could have been from some die off on the rock.
Nitrates are the only thing I test when cycling.

I second this with nitrates, once you have those you should be good to go

 

[mydemun]

Thank you for the help guys much appreciated i purchased pair of clowns and couples of hermits and couple of snails will let you know how it goes

 

[mydemun]

You have nitrate so IMO your cycled. Maybe do a water change and proceed slowly. The bloom could have been from some die off on the rock.
Nitrates are the only thing I test when cycling.

this been growing for two days now on the rock i dont know what is it , i have looked online for id but i really cant figure out which one is it

 

[jda]

The ammonia test could be an error. With zero nitrite and some nitrates you are ready to start the next step. You are in now way CYCLED, as in done. The tank is ready to handle some fish or bioload, but it is not complete and not dyanmic enough to handle a bunch of stuff or an accident or anything. Get a few fish if you like, but be smart, take it slow, feed smartly and enjoy the tank as it progresses further.

 

[Garf]

Hey everyone , so i just joined the hobby after maybe 10 years considering to try
anyway i've started the cycle 6 days ago with live rock from local reef shop
after two days i think i had a bactrica bloom and water became very milky and cloudy and just yesterday the water got back to crystal clear
but sadly through all this period i didnt have my water test and i just received it today and did my tests :

pH: i would say between 7.8 to 8 but 8 more like it
AMMONIA:between .25 to .50 but i would say .25 more like
NITRITE: 0
NITRATE: 10ppm to 20ppm and i would say 10ppm

please guide me from here guys i dont know why after doing these i feel i got a bit confused and im messing up

thanks everyone

Two questions.
1) Did you add an ammonia source to cycle?
2) Did you use tap water to make your saltwater?

 

[brandon429]

did any of these tanks fail to hold a complete reef on day one? cycled is cycled JDA, without excuses.

a mature set of rocks will have coralline and reefy inclusions but the ability to carry as big of a bioload as will ever be destined for the tank comes in on the wet rock, day one, the thread is right here with the work logged and we can click anyone's banner to follow up how their tank went after the start.

A thread tracking pure skip cycle instant reefs, no bottle bac

THE GOLDEN EXAMPLE OF A SKIP CYCLE DAY 1 REEF https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/octo-high-end-sps-skip-cycle-build.713256/ read that entire thread before you read ours. that's the heart of skip cycling. Everything we do going forward in this thread reflects on that ability above, in the #1...

www.reef2reef.com

fish disease is the risk when doing rock transfer setups, not ammonia control, in any case when the rock comes from a pet store.

 

[brandon429]

I wouldn't think that gray rock above is as pristine as these from the example, but agreed based on clues stated it's likely the same source but not the same quality. it was skip cycle live rock.

you focus on fish disease preps, not the cycle. if you skip disease preps and make use of those rocks as they sit, you get what the help threads in the fish disease forum shows starting roughly in March of 2024.

post a standing back pic, let's see more rock, what if other sections have better inclusions that would be neat to see

 

[mydemun]

Two questions.
1) Did you add an ammonia source to cycle?
2) Did you use tap water to make your saltwater?

No i didn't i just dosed Seachem prime as im using tap water

 

[mydemun]

The ammonia test could be an error. With zero nitrite and some nitrates you are ready to start the next step. You are in now way CYCLED, as in done. The tank is ready to handle some fish or bioload, but it is not complete and not dyanmic enough to handle a bunch of stuff or an accident or anything. Get a few fish if you like, but be smart, take it slow, feed smartly and enjoy the tank as it progresses further.

I agree its an error on my side charting the colors and doing the test it self as i tested today after yesterday 20% water change and AMMONIA 0 NITRITE 0 NITRATE i would say 5 or 10 and 5 more like it

 

[Garf]

No i didn't i just dosed Seachem prime as im using tap water

Ok, your nitrates could be from your tap water then. There’s no garauntee with live rock. There’s a good likelihood that ammonia will only blip with a few clowns, however, no harm in checking ammonia for a while.

Edit - don’t believe the claims made on the bottle of “Prime”. It does dechlorinate (apparently) but does nothing for ammonia.

 

[mydemun]

I wouldn't think that gray rock above is as pristine as these from the example, but agreed based on clues stated it's likely the same source but not the same quality. it was skip cycle live rock.

you focus on fish disease preps, not the cycle. if you skip disease preps and make use of those rocks as they sit, you get what the help threads in the fish disease forum shows starting roughly in March of 2024.

post a standing back pic, let's see more rock, what if other sections have better inclusions that would be neat to see

that gray area i think it was where it standing but i did some aquascape and glued 3 rocks together i wouldnt call the third one a rock its a dead coral i guess but the idea to shape them into a house look with a chimney xD i wanted to go for world of warcraft theme REEF TANK and i posted on their forum for idea and gonna differently add more live rock from same source but shape them into the game characters and color with corals ,
the rocks full of color and small one which im asking whats started growing on it if you can help me id it as that stone was purple and where this thing growing now was beautiful shinny orange red color , i looked everywhere cant seem to find it

my idea with build is to be very budget friendly and try to stretch even buying the equipment as only when needed as i want to get anemone and some soft corals so i will buy the led lights when i can do that which i i thought in 6 months i didnt know about the instant cycle you just told me about

im willing to invest and go all in but 10 years ago wanted to switch from freshwater to saltwater and always been told by shops i need atleast couples grands to start and how expensive it can be so thats why im trying not to get very confident

 

[mydemun]

Update : tank been running for 23 days amazingly ,
got clowns pair , boxer shrimp , hermit crab , brittle star, pulsing xenia , mushroom
i know im very low on clean up crew but i really wanted to test how healthy maturing my tank is gonna be to out compete and actually i've got the brown algae going but its not going crazy at all even everyday i see my copepods did amazing job on the glass xD ,

i will be posting photos tomorrow