Cycle complete in 2 weeks?

I've had my 29 gallon tank cycling since 10-27-10. I had added a shrimp which is now completely dissovled. I've also had my water flow (powerheads and overflow) running as if its established, idk if that matters or not. I've been topping off about .5 a gallon a day with distilled. I had to transfer my cheato from another tank to my 2 gallon fuge in a 10 sump/fuge about a week ago. Tank has roughly 30-35lbs of base rock with about 40lbs of live sand. Tank also has 5 limpets that caught a ride on a mag cleaner. I was told by another member of 3reef to wait a week and test again and if it checks out to go with my cuc. While I'm not saying I don't believe them (it would be awesome if my tank was already cycled) it just seems that 2 weeks seems kinda short for a cycle. I've heard people say that it takes up to 6 weeks for a cycle. In no way am I saying a mature tank, I know that takes 6 months to a year or longer. My params are as follows:

10-27-10 (start)
Ph- 8.4
Nitrite- 0ppm
Nitrate- 0ppm
Ammonia- 0ppm

10-30-10
Ph- 8.4
Nitrite- 0ppm
Nitrate- 0ppm
Ammonia- .5ppm

11-2-10
Ph- 8.4
Nitrite- 0ppm
Nitrate- 0ppm
Ammonia- .5

11-8-10
Ph- 8.4
Nitrite- 0ppm
Nitrate- 0ppm
Ammonia- 0ppm

The sand sat in the tank under 3" of water for maybe 3 to 4 weeks bc I changes my mind and decided to go with a sump, so I didn't add anything. I basically filled the tank with water and the sand, then 2 days later emptied all but 3" of water so I could move the tank.

 

What test kits are you using?

 

API from petsmart

 

Bump

 

Chances are the live sand had some die off during that 3 week period which fueled the cycle. When you added the LR and water and shrimp to it, the already grown bacteria spread quickly. It's entirely possible that your cycle is almost done. As another 3reefer said though I would wait a week to make sure your ammonia stays at a constant 0.

Also, your cycle is more like 4 or 5 weeks since, in all likeliness, the LS in 3" of water was cycling on it's own just as LR does when out into a tank full of water.

Good luck!

 

Wow if it were a snake it would have bit me in the face, didn't even think about that. Thanks for the rookie slap lol.

 

Haha no problem. It's amazing what you can overlook when it's your own problem I do it all the time.

 

Well I checked them again today, ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate were all 0. Ph was 8.4. Then I decided to check my salinity with my new refractometer, it was 1.030! My swing arm hydrometer was telling me 1.023. Stupid thing, will the water being so salty have a affect on my test results?

 

Not so much that it would make a difference IME. I once had a SG of 1.033 and while the corals did not like it much the tank still did fine once the SG was corrected. The hydrometer gave me a reading of 1.023.

 

That freaks me out a little the hydrometers were so off, my 10g was reading a consistant 1.022 so who knows what it really was.