Is my tank cycled?

[Feet Pixel]

Let me start by saying I have never been a fan of cycling with fish.
I bought this tank from someone that is moving. It was overgrown with algae so i scrubbed it under a garden hose with a brush. I put all of the rock back in there, kept the fish in a cooler with powerhead & heater for three days and then added them. It's been a week now and I just tested my water. Here are my readings:
Ammonia- .35
Nitrite - 0
Nitrate - .5
PH - ~8.3

Is this tank cycled? I must receive one piece of acropora he held onto next week and it is a nice piece that I don't want to die. Should I post locally to see if anyone can hold onto it for me?

Thank you so much. I had a saltwater aquarium 10 years ago and have forgot most of what i knew.

 

[EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal]

No, it is not cycled. You will have 0 ammonia when it's cycled. The ammonia level you posted is borderline toxic to fish and inverts.
Corals use ammonia for food, so adding the acro MAY not be a problem, but I am not an SPS expert, so the tank may not be ok for that particular coral.
Please do a water change as soon as possible and add some nitrifying bacteria to the tank. (Or remove the fish until the tank is cycled)

 

[Feet Pixel]

No, it is not cycled. You will have 0 ammonia when it's cycled. The ammonia level you posted is borderline toxic to fish and inverts.
Corals use ammonia for food, so adding the acro MAY not be a problem, but I am not an SPS expert, so the tank may not be ok for that particular coral.
Please do a water change as soon as possible and add some nitrifying bacteria to the tank. (Or remove the fish until the tank is cycled)

Thank you for all of the info! I have biospora that will arrive tomorrow. I will get water mixing tonight and do A water change tomorrow as well. The tank is 60 gallons with a 25 gallon sump. How many gallons should I mix?

 

[EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal]

Thank you for all of the info! I have biospora that will arrive tomorrow. I will get water mixing tonight and do A water change tomorrow as well. The tank is 60 gallons with a 25 gallon sump. How many gallons should I mix?

I recommend a 15-20 gallon water change as soon as possible. You can go up to 30 gallons but whatever you can do quickly is best. Test ammonia again a couple hours after the water change.

 

[Feet Pixel]

I recommend a 15-20 gallon water change as soon as possible. You can go up to 30 gallons but whatever you can do quickly is best. Test ammonia again a couple hours after the water change.

Appreciate it, i'll get it changed out tomorrow after work

 

[EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal]

Did the fish survive until you were able to do a water change?

 

[Feet Pixel]

Did the fish survive until you were able to do a water change?

aw thank you for checking in! And thank you for all of your help yesterday.
Yes, the fish survived. Today I changed out 30-35 gallons and I also added a bottle of biospira. When should I test for ammonia again?

 

[Feet Pixel]

Oh i just saw that you said to test again a few hours after the WC. I will do that in an hour or so.. I am generating another Brute bin with RODI water tonight just in case

 

[Feet Pixel]

Did the fish survive until you were able to do a water change?

I tested a few hours later. Ammonia was much lower obviously, but there wasn't any reading on nitrites. Is that because 4 hours wasn't enough? I will test again today after work. Thanks again for helping me. I was thinking i was okay with .3 ammonia, for some reason i didn't think it was toxic until it broke 1 or 2- you probably saved my fish <3

 

[EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal]

You really just need to test ammonia and nitrAte. Nitrites aren't a problem like in freshwater. If you have the biospira, please add it ASAP so the bacteria can help reduce the ammonia more quickly.

 

[Feet Pixel]

You really just need to test ammonia and nitrAte. Nitrites aren't a problem like in freshwater. If you have the biospira, please add it ASAP so the bacteria can help reduce the ammonia more quickly.

Okay thank you, that's good to know. I added an entire bottle of biospira last night after the water change. Does it hurt to add more? I can buy another bottle and have it tomorrow.

 

[IslandLifeReef]

Okay thank you, that's good to know. I added an entire bottle of biospira last night after the water change. Does it hurt to add more? I can buy another bottle and have it tomorrow.

What test kit are you using to test ammonia? If it is API, a reading of 0.25 is usually considered the same as 0.00.

If you are adding coral, you should also es for PO4 before you add the coral. I the rock was covered in algae and you scrubbed it with tap water before you put it in the tank, it may contain a lot of PO4. High PO4 can be bad for SPS.

 

[CoralB]

No! no! no! no! no! No! It’s not cycled !!! Nope !!!
Notta !!! No way !!!

 

[Cell]

No need for more Bio-Spira. One bottle is sufficient. It works. I'd add it and check ammonia 24 hrs later.

Is there a sandbed or is this barebottom? Did you reuse the sand?

Did the rocks stay wet? How long was the garden hose rinse?

It's nice to be able to do this again: @brandon429

 

[brandon429]

Hi friend Cell hope you’re doing great today Sir

GPFeathers
we have four recent jobs where entrants washed their rocks in tap water and it didn’t recycle. It simply takes more than that to cause sterilization


so, post a pic of this tank.

if it looks wrecked, I bet it’s not cycled. If it looks normal in every way including clean water then the assumption would default to the prior tap water rinsers who were successful, agreed add biospira and it’s ready after a few days wait. This isn’t any particular rush, biospira is well known for quick ready

 

[EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal]

Okay thank you, that's good to know. I added an entire bottle of biospira last night after the water change. Does it hurt to add more? I can buy another bottle and have it tomorrow.

No need for more.

 

[Feet Pixel]

You really just need to test ammonia and nitrAte. Nitrites aren't a problem like in freshwater. If you have the biospira, please add it ASAP so the bacteria can help reduce the ammonia more quickly.

Today ammonia is measuring between 0-0.25, and the water in the test tube was murky whereas last time it was a very transparent light green.
Nitrates registered at 10-20 today

What test kit are you using to test ammonia? If it is API, a reading of 0.25 is usually considered the same as 0.00.

If you are adding coral, you should also es for PO4 before you add the coral. I the rock was covered in algae and you scrubbed it with tap water before you put it in the tank, it may contain a lot of PO4. High PO4 can be bad for SPS.

It is indeed API. Thanks for that info, I will test that soon. I intend to make this a reef tank, yes.

No need for more Bio-Spira. One bottle is sufficient. It works. I'd add it and check ammonia 24 hrs later.

Is there a sandbed or is this barebottom? Did you reuse the sand?

Did the rocks stay wet? How long was the garden hose rinse?

It's nice to be able to do this again: @brandon429

thank you.
It has a sand bed, but there was only about 10 lbs of sand in it (60 breeder) I have since added an additional 20 and I have 20 more That hasn’t been added. I was planning on adding a cup of it here and there over the next few weeks. Is that ok?
the rocks didn’t dry out, but they weren’t submerged in water. They were placed in an empty bin for about 2 hours. The garden hose rinse was probably 30sec-1min per rock. Safe to say I didn’t exceed that because I was annoyed about how long things were taking… lol..

Hi friend Cell hope you’re doing great today Sir

GPFeathers
we have four recent jobs where entrants washed their rocks in tap water and it didn’t recycle. It simply takes more than that to cause sterilization


so, post a pic of this tank.

if it looks wrecked, I bet it’s not cycled. If it looks normal in every way including clean water then the assumption would default to the prior tap water rinsers who were successful, agreed add biospira and it’s ready after a few days wait. This isn’t any particular rush, biospira is well known for quick ready

I really appreciate you showing up to help me. I have a lot to learn and this is happening so fast because the deal was too good to pass up.
As you can see some of the rock has diatoms on it. The sand had some too but I vacuumed them off yesterday during a water change.
the water is strangely murky. In the third picture, I took a picture looking down the length pf the tank to demonstrate what I’m talking about. It’s been like this for ~3_4 days even after yesterdays water change. What is causing that?

 

[Dburr1014]

Okay thank you, that's good to know. I added an entire bottle of biospira last night after the water change. Does it hurt to add more? I can buy another bottle and have it tomorrow.

Chances are you should be fine.
Fish look well.
No new additions of fish for now.
What lights you have for the coral?
Most likely a bacterial bloom

 

[Cell]

Happy fish, I doubt ammonia is an issue at all. Might have dodged a bullet reusing the old sand though depending on how old and how much got kicked up during the transfer. Recommendation is to never reuse old sand, but you are past that and seem ok. Adding more sand slowly is fine. If you aren't rinsing said sand though before adding, then your tank will be cloudy for a bit. Not sure if that's the current issue or not though. It may just be a bacterial bloom. Provide extra aeration and a UV will clear it up. Absent a UV, just time.

 

[IslandLifeReef]

Today ammonia is measuring between 0-0.25, and the water in the test tube was murky whereas last time it was a very transparent light green.
Nitrates registered at 10-20 today


It is indeed API. Thanks for that info, I will test that soon. I intend to make this a reef tank, yes.


thank you.
It has a sand bed, but there was only about 10 lbs of sand in it (60 breeder) I have since added an additional 20 and I have 20 more That hasn’t been added. I was planning on adding a cup of it here and there over the next few weeks. Is that ok?
the rocks didn’t dry out, but they weren’t submerged in water. They were placed in an empty bin for about 2 hours. The garden hose rinse was probably 30sec-1min per rock. Safe to say I didn’t exceed that because I was annoyed about how long things were taking… lol..


I really appreciate you showing up to help me. I have a lot to learn and this is happening so fast because the deal was too good to pass up.
As you can see some of the rock has diatoms on it. The sand had some too but I vacuumed them off yesterday during a water change.
the water is strangely murky. In the third picture, I took a picture looking down the length pf the tank to demonstrate what I’m talking about. It’s been like this for ~3_4 days even after yesterdays water change. What is causing that?

Looks like a bacteria bloom. Do you run a skimmer? Make sure that you have good water movement at the surface. I would also consider adding an airstone until the bloom goes away. Bacteria blooms can remove oxygen from the system.