5 Day Cycle? - Tested

I never used any of the bacterial additives so I'm not 100% on the cycle time.

I used livesand and liverock, ghost fed the tank and my tank cycled in 2 weeks.

If you use the shrimp method, i would put it in a media bag just so it doesn't make a mess in the tank.

You will see your ammonia rise usually to .50, then drop, then the nitrite will start to rise and drop, and the same with nitrates. Once you no longer have readings of ammonia and nitrite, and the nitrates lower its usually the end of the cycle. I would then do a normal water change and re test for another week before adding any live stock. You want to make sure you have completed the cycle.

I have a 15g and 10g. Both had different cycles although set up the same way.

My 15g cycled in 2 weeks and after the 3rd week of no ammonia and nitrites I added a fish....
My 10g tank took 4 weeks to cycle and a fish wasn't added till the 6th week.

The 15g has had more algae issues continuously and the 10g hasn't.

Try not to stress out about it, patience is key, going slow is important. Make plans during the waiting time

Ps..keep the lights off during the cycle

 

Do not allow ammonia levels to exceed 3ppm. The bacteria that convert nitrite to nitrate grow slower then the bacteria that convert ammonia to nitrite so a bit of a log jam can occur causing nitrite to spike. This spike in nitrite can become toxic Stalling the cycle.Once nitrite and ammonia become undetectable you will see nitrate form. Nitrate does not decrease on its own. The only way to remove or lower nitrate is through wcs,biopellets, or chemical filtration. It does not decrease naturally at the end of the cycle unless something(algae,corals) is using it.

 

day 4
sg 1.025
temp 79
ammonia .4
nitrite .25
nitrate 5
i think its working

 

Yuppers. It's on its way

 

Today
Ammonia .25
Nitrite .50
Nitrate about 20
SG 1.025
79 F
Update- last night heater shattered and went and got a new one but dosent seem to have done anything to the cycling, I also bought some chemi pure elite and its clearing up the water well

 

Good, cycle is in full swing!

 

you don't want to use carbon imo

 

I would wait to use any carbon until the cycle is complete and you have added livestock

 

+1 on waiting..... I'm new in the hobby, but I would wait. Maybe it's my lack of knowledge but I waited until I started adding live stock and started to run macro algae.

 

Picked up a mocha clown today because for two days strait the ammonia and nitrites are 0 and nitrate is 5 will post pics in a day or 2