I just got back into the hobby. I have an Innovative Marine EXT 75 (75 gallons plus sump). It is aquascaped with Caribsea Liferock. I drove down to Tampa and picked up 70 pounds of their Live Sand and 20 pounds of Live Rock for the sump.
So I added the TBS sand and rock about 36 hours ago. I tested ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate using Salifert. Both yesterday and today there is no ammonia. Nitrite is almost negligible, and nitrate shows a little color when looking through the side of the vial instead of from above. So there reading is amplified by 10. See attached.
So I am going top test as the week goes on, but a few questions.
1. If the reading continue along this path, will the tank be considered cycled?
2. Should I add a clean up crew or fish to make sure I have an ammonia source.
3. Any water change after this week?
4. Is it Ok to run my skimmer?
5. Lights are off. I have done this based all of the BRS videos. Should I run a few hours a day however?
Thanks in advance.
Lights are off.
So I added the TBS sand and rock about 36 hours ago. I tested ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate using Salifert. Both yesterday and today there is no ammonia. Nitrite is almost negligible, and nitrate shows a little color when looking through the side of the vial instead of from above. So there reading is amplified by 10. See attached.
So I am going top test as the week goes on, but a few questions.
1. If the reading continue along this path, will the tank be considered cycled?
2. Should I add a clean up crew or fish to make sure I have an ammonia source.
3. Any water change after this week?
4. Is it Ok to run my skimmer?
5. Lights are off. I have done this based all of the BRS videos. Should I run a few hours a day however?
Thanks in advance.
Lights are off.