Water Added During Cycle

OK, I'm not really a newbie, but it HAS been over 6 years and I never had this situation before...

We finally picked up a bigger sump/refugium for the 55 gallon tank on Sunday, and put it in last night (that's a whole other comedy). We had to add 10 extra gallons of salt water from the LFS. I was in the big fat middle of the high nitrite part of the cycle on Friday, and of course now it's nice & low. :-/

I haven't bothered to test anything else because I'm assuming I disrupted the cycle. Should I do anything or just give it an extra week, or does anyone have any other advice?

I'll add pics of the new lights, new sump, and (again) rearranged rockwork to my blog as soon as the water clears up (had to put the rest of the sand from the old sump in today & it got cloudy again).

Cycle was officially started 10/10/10 (hmmmm!) and the ammonia already peaked & fell. I didn't test yesterday before we started (of course!) so I have no idea where the nitrite level was before we started. It had been high since I think Sunday if that helps anyone.

Any advice?

 

You diluted the nitrate. A 55g tank with rock can be 25-30 gallons of actual water volume, which would mean you'd be lowering it a significant amount, while the bacteria are multiplying to eat the rest.

You should still wait for nitrite to come down to 0, then do a WC, just like normal.

 

That's what I figured. Should I toss something in there again to kickstart it or just leave it alone?

 

Just leave it.

 

i would think it will rise again . its like doing a wc durring a cycle .. hows it cycleing with fish,coctail shrimp or nothing at all . my latest endevor was with cocktail shrimp and i found it works the best for me just for the sake i can visually see it in action

 

I had tossed a shrimp sized piece of raw fish in there (not live). The piece of fish is no longer in there, a powerhead got it when it worked loose of the rock.

So, did you buy a whole set of shrimp or did you ask for just one at the store & get weird looks? LOL

 

You could always pee in it LOL...I did in mine!! and I threw a couple silversides in for a few days.

 

I'd have to bring the ladder in for that! Still wouldn't be easy!

 

i just got a frozen coctail asortment took a fiew pieces and kept them frozen and gave the rest of the asortment to a neighbor just put one at a time in there . my son wanted me to pee in it lol

 

I bought the single, raw, shrimp. It was a very fun experience, let me tell you.