Tank at one week - no change?

So I have had my tank set up for a full week now. I haven't noticed any changes that would tell me the tank is in a cycle - but my knowledge is quite limited at this point.


Setup:

58 gallon Oceanic Megaflow
~30# base rock and ~25# LR, mostly Fiji
Sealife Systems RM100 Refuguim/sump (Sealife Systems ReefMaster)
3# LR and a ball of Cheato swarming with amphipods in fuge.
Ehiem 1260 return pump
Seastorm Motorized 75 Protein Skimmer (off for cycle)

Lighting:
Right now: 2x40w HO 6500K just for arranging/viewing changes
Planned (on order) Sunlight Supply Galaxy 2x150 electronic ballast w/ Lumenmax pendants. 14000K HQI, open to suggestions on bulb brands.


I have been dosing with Seachem Stability as directed: Seachem. Stability


So to the issue..... I have been testing my water often, and haven't seen a significant increase in ammonia. On day 3 I had a small spike in nitrite to 0.20 and at the same time my nitrate went to 10. All levels are too low to register on my test kit today.
(Instant Ocean OceanMaster: Product Catalog ).

LFS test from yesterday (4/26/09):
pH: 8.20
Alk: 2.5
ammonia/nitrite/nitrate: 0.00
SG 1.022
Calcium: 350



So guess my question is: Has my tank cycled all it's going to? Or at least enough to add some hermits and snails? I expected a sharp rise in A/N/N, and only saw a slight change.... did I just miss it?


I haven't seen the brown carpet of dead diatoms I see in a few other tanks around town, nor have I had any significant algae bloom. The LR has faded a bit, no longer bright greens and pinks, or not as much anyways. There is a pretty significant amount of brown (algae or diatoms?) on the live rock but i can't be sure it's not always been there. It looks darker for sure. The LFS said the rock is between 2 and 6 weeks old, and should be mostly cured.

I started off with a HUGE colony of pods on one of the rocks, and most are still on it, flittering around like the happy little pods they are, if some died, certainly not all of them did. I recently saw what I think was an amphipod in the DT, and they're all over my cheato.

On about day 3 I noticed a very small duster/tube, the entire fan is maybe 5-6mm, the tube is about 0.75mm wide and an inch long. It's very "active" and hides on almost any stimulus. No doubt it's alive.

2 days ago (4/24) I found 3 starfish on the walls of my overflow. They were all heading up to the fingers on the overflow, so I plucked them off and tossed them into the rocks, they all scattered and I can't find them now, but they seemed ok when I last say them on the base rocks....they blend into the liverock too well.

So I have life in the tank. No bad smells, no slime, no algae other than a few macros and coraline on the rocks, and the cheato in the fuge.

And I also would like to get a second opinion (well, third) on what the LFS said. They told me they have seen tanks w/ Stability never go through a tell-tale cycle, and that it's possible to start adding a very small cleaner crew in the next couple days. I'm wondering if they're trying to stock my tank for profit, or if they're sincere in their view that Stability can really rapidly cycle a tank. My experience with FW tanks is that yes, some products really do what they say, and others don't. So if anyone here knows about Stability and if it works as claimed by the maker, please let me know.

Anyways, enough rambling for me tonight. Thanks to all who respond for your help, I hope I can contribute so much some day.


-Doug

 

Well your tank could be cycled. However keep this in mind. When you start out with baserock, its dead and you need time to develop the biofilm on it for it to become live.
If indeed your tank is already cycled because your LFS gave your some awesome Live Sand and Live Rock, your bacteria in there is still young and few. I'd give yourself at least a few more weeks just to make sure.

This gives your bacteria a chance to grow and really reduces your chance at losses. As you have found out buy purchasing all your equiprment, rock, sand, etc. this isn't a cheap hobby. So give yourself some time, if nothing else for the sake of insurance against losses (not only to your critters, but also to your pocket book). You've got nothing to lose, but everything to gain by going slow during this cycle period. Also by doing it this way, you afford yourself the time to do research on your next steps.

If it was me I would just enjoy the starfish and stuff you can see, keep your eye on them to make sure they're alright. That'll be a tell-tale sign on how stuffs going, if they start looking funny, you know you got problems!

-G

 

Ok, just got home, thanks for the info so far. Here's a few pics to illustrate the state of my tank.

First is a wide shot of the tank
2 & 3 are live rock
4 is base rock.

 

You may have had a small cycle from the live rock but I would say to throw a few raw shrimp in there to get a good cycle going. Probably not enough bacteria yet to do much good. After your cycle you should get a very noticable brown diatom everywhere and this will go away and then the green algae everywhere, thats when I would add my clean up crew.

 

i would say feel free to add all the hermits and snails you want. and feed them a little, your rock probably doesnt have any die off, so i would think just waiting would only decrease your bacteria population(as it starves with out ammonia). i rather doubt you will see any big jump in ammonia nitrite etc that will be enough to kill those guys.

then see what happens, dont expect much because scavengers and inverts present minimal bioload.