Tank Cycled but NO Algae bloom????

You should see the ammonia spike after feeding... The question is how quickly it gets broken down.

 

Put in some food and test over the next couple days each day. If your tank is truly cycled, you may not (and shouldn't) see an ammonia spike. If you saw ammonia, that means your fish would also see ammonia... and they add waste every day. I would "phantom feed" about what you plan to feed your fish and see if you get ammonia in your tests.

 

When you say test the next few days do you mean just add some food tonight and do my tests for the next few days to see how amonia reacts or to add food everyday and test as well everyday for the next few days?

 

all this is well and good, but if you have had this set up with LR and Live Sand for 4 weeks, I would think its fish safe.

BUT better safe than sorry, get the lights on a schedule tonight and throw in some pellets tonight as well. Then test tomorrow morning for Ammonia, Nitrite, and Nitrate. Then on Saturday throw a few more pellets in, and test Sunday morning for Ammonia, Nitrite, and Nitrate. If all tests well, I would put a few snails and hermit crabs anytime next Monday-Wednesday.

I KNOW IT SUCKS waiting, but stick to that plan and you could have some life in that tank as early as Monday

 

Depending on the amount of food you add you will probably see ammonia spike. The amount of time it takes to "disappear" depends on the bacteria colony in the tank. Since this is a relatively new tank, you will probably see some ammonia IMO. The question is, how quickly it gets broken down. Like jimmy said, if you don't see any then you should be good to go.

 

You should ghost feed at this point the amount you would feed the fish you plan on adding. So, if you're getting a clownfish and you would feed it about 8 pellets of food a day... feed that much and let the tank handle its breakdown. Your tests will show you if your tank can handle that bioload.

My concern is that if the tank hasn't been fed at all in those four weeks, it's certainly possible that the right bacteria are there, but that they are in such low concentration (due to not having resources added to the tank) that they would have to rebalance when the fish is added... starting a new rebalancing cycle.

Yeah, but again, IF he sees an ammonia reading above 0, then the fish would also see that. Seeing ammonia is an indicator that you are not fish ready. If you're ghost feeding and it doesn't show ammonia, then your tank can handle that addition.

Also, once you get to adding fish, make sure you keep testing. Figure about 10 days between adding fish so your biofilter can handle the new additions. It depends on how big your tank is and all that as well.

 

My protien skimmer is coming in either today / tomorrow, should I set that up as well or should I wait?

 

Check to see if your ghost feeding turns up ammonia... if not, plug it in. You don't want to remove waste if you're still cycling as it will reduce the resources available for them to grow.

 

Ok great! I will add a pinch of pellets tonight as well as setup the light schedule. I will test for Amonia tomorrow morning before work as well as once I return from it and follow up with you guys then!

Thanks for all the help! This forum seriously is amazing!

 

You might consider a water change to lower your nitrates before you set up that light schedule. The algae will love having nutrients so you might as well attempt to minimize that problem now.