Params during cycling....

Just wondering what your guys' thoughts are on my cycling. Here's what I did.

Setup tank, all dry rock, added saltwater and live sand, seeded fuge with 20lbs live sand from established tank and one piece of LR from same tank.

Tank set like this for 2 and a half weeks. Did not add piece of shrimp or any livestock, nor did I test the water parameters once during this time period. Was WAY too busy.

After this time period, I added 2 pieces raw shrimp. It is now 3 days after the shrimp have been added, and I just removed them. Did a water test and figured to just see an ammonia spike and zero nitrites and nitrates or possibly a slight nitrite level. Here's what I got though:

Ammonia - 1.0 PPM
Nitrite - .50 PPM
Nitrate - 40 PPM

Now this kind of surprised me, as I never figured the Nitrates would be at that level yet. Do you think that there was enough bacteria in the sandbed and LR I transferred to the fuge to already produce that much nitrate? Was there enough die-off from the 80lbs live sand I added to the DT over the course of 2 weeks, that the LS and LR in the fuge handled it and kicked out Nitrates over the first couple weeks?

I'm not really looking for help here, as the tank will balance itself out, and there's no livestock in it. Just kinda looking for some of your opinions/theories. I found it interesting.

Also, those results depend on if I'm reading this crappy API test kit correctly. What test kits do you guys use? The API kit says "view the tube against the white area on the chart and compare the colors", but I'm not sure if I should be looking down through the top of the tube, or through the side. It doesnt specify.

 

Most likely a combination... the bacteria already in the sand in the DT and in the sand and rock in the fuge would be capable of handling the die-off from the new sand and create nitrates. Whenever you use live rock or sand, you're seeding more than cycling as you don't have to wait for the bacteria to form, only to grow and multiply which it can do rather quickly.

IME with test kits, you look through the side of the tube if it doesn't specify otherwise.

 

Thanks bill. Yeah the params I posted are read through the side of the tube. That's good to know the bacteria can multiply quickly. I was just suprised to see a nitrate reading of anything at all.

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And on what test kits elos are the best of the best. Pricey and time consuming. I like the red sea pro at this time ask around they are all good. People like the salfire I have never tried them