Hi. I am a new to the hobby just set up 29 gallon tank about a 3 weeks ago. Started with live sand and live rock that was already established from the lfs. I am running it with a tom rapids pro3 filtration system and two power heads for circulation and have ocean current lighting system. My question is about the cycle. How do u know for sure if it has cycled. all my parameters are where they should be according to what i have read on r2r and saltwater aquarium for dummies.
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- Thread starter Joker86
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Since it was live sand and live established (I assume cured) rock then the cycle should be minimal (if any). That's what I had done btw. Did you put any load on your filtration to start/check the cycle i.e. ghost feed/raw shrimp/pure ammonia (add a fish is possible but generally not recommended) etc? That's the best way to tell if your system is ready. After adding some sort of load your ammonia and nitrite should all but immediately be or go to zero and nitrate to come up a bit.
yup. and dont be confused by the way folks use the word cycle. the cycle isnt a phase that comes and goes with the first algae bloom. the cycle runs the entire life of the tank. (thus my hatred of the term mini cycle)
and yes it is sometimes a good indicator of the cycle starting.
live sand is cycling, live rock is cycling. so yea your prob good to go. Your tank is cycling. the things to look out for are what morpheas mentioned.
you will get the ugly algae phase from algal and bacterial dieoff detritus etc. and micro algae and bacterias are finding their balance. that kinda gunk during that phase isnt good for animals.
but yea test, clean and do a water change, and go find a fish.
:)
congratulations BTW. and welcome to reef 2 reef.
and yes it is sometimes a good indicator of the cycle starting.
live sand is cycling, live rock is cycling. so yea your prob good to go. Your tank is cycling. the things to look out for are what morpheas mentioned.
you will get the ugly algae phase from algal and bacterial dieoff detritus etc. and micro algae and bacterias are finding their balance. that kinda gunk during that phase isnt good for animals.
but yea test, clean and do a water change, and go find a fish.
:)
congratulations BTW. and welcome to reef 2 reef.
That's good. If you monitored your ammonia/nitrite/nitrate after ghost feeding and you haven't seen a spike i.e. the filtration was able to handle it, I'd personally go get a fish in your shoes.
Good luck and enjoy this wondrous "hobby"! ;)
Good luck and enjoy this wondrous "hobby"! ;)
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