Base rock to live rock?

I did (close to) half and half LR to Base Rock. I added the base rock in mid-august of 2008. Diatoms came and went. I've got a little bit of algae on the base rock. I wouldn't call it live yet. Still, more or less, just white rock.

Granted, i'm a week shy of 3 months still - but my experience says it takes longer than that (or can take longer anyway). I'm in no hurry though, just letting you know my experience.

 

And let the fun begin!

I honestly think what everyone means by 2 to 3 month is thats how long it takes for a tank to be completely cycled... Cycled through the ammonia cycle, cycled through the various stages of algae cycle, and last and most important cycled through the biological filtration cycle.

I have seen people wait till ammonia and nitrite levels drop, put fish in and have nothing but trouble because their biological filtration was not up to snuff. I have also seen people never have their ammonia and nitrite level rise at all put fish in a week later and never have a single problem.

But starting from day one with a normal new tank, new rock and sand its going to take 2 to 3 months for it to become "completely stable" and free from Algae bloom, Bacterial blooms and all kinds of other stuff.

Now you wont find that in any book, on the Internet or anywhere else but from experience. Now keep in mind that I am not saying your wrong but as a very wise man once said every one in the world have two things in common, opinions and arseholse and no two are alike, right....

 

thanks for clearing things up about the rock.

 

Even if you just add trace elements?

 

That may be what they mean but, we're talking about the "nitrogen cycle".

If you were talking about when a tank "becomes stable" then it would vary up to a year.

 

OK, but you do realize in your post you left off an entire step in the nitrogen cycle?

 

What step ?

 

The conversion of nitrates into nitrogen gas (N2), which then escapes the aquarium. You should see rises and falls in ALL of ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate when watching for the cycle, not just the first 2
As gazog said, you can look to pet sites or industry sites that operate on a buy-die-buy-some-more principle and get the short speedy cycle, or look to actual science and field experience and run a longer cycle
JMHO

 

From a chemical point of view when do you consider a cycle complete? It can't simply be waiting 3 months .. there's a chemical point.

I think we have different definitions of what a "tank cycle " is.
All my research says a tank cycle is complete after the bacteria can keep nitrites at 0.

 

Yeah, I'm into my 8th month and i'm still getting bits of diatoms and algae here and there...


From what I hear, thats when it's completely cycled. When you register 0 NH4 and 0 N02...which primarily means that it's safe for the tank to be inhabited by fish.