cycling

[possitive k]

hi every one, just getting into the hobby and have a question.
I just started my tank last week and have just put in a few cronie's for cycling(on the advise of a guy at j&l) my reading are ....

Nitrate-10
Nitrite-0.3
PH-----8.5
Ammonia-1.2

Does this sound right?
how long do i cycle for?
when do i put live rock in?

Thanks in advance, this site rocks

[Beverly]

What are "cronies"?

[possitive k]

sorry cromies i think, (damsel's)

[marie]

I think it's spelled chromis . One of the problems with putting fish in before the live rock, is that the live rock has to be fully cured before you put it in the same tank as the fish, otherwise you will get another huge ammonia spike and probably kill the fish. Out of curiosity why did they say to cycle with fish? normaly people use rock to cycle the tank and then add fish

[Beverly]

They told you to cycle your tank with fish? OMGosh

I made that mistake with my first tank, a FW goldfish tank, many years ago. Had 1 ppm ammonia, and the fish looked a bit sick. A few days after I bought the fish, I took them back to the lfs and told them my tank wasn't cycled and that I did not want to risk the lives of the fish in order to cycle a tank.

Tank cycling can be done in many ways that do not involve using live fish. One way is to use live rock, and that is what I would suggest you do. Please take the fish back and use LR to cycle your tank instead.

While cycling your tank with LR, test for ammonia and nitrite for the first few weeks. Once both have gone down to 0 ppm, test for nitrate. By that time nitrate will be pretty high. Do a very large water change to reduce nitrate to as close to 0 ppm as you can.

You can then begin to add fish one or two at a time. Add the most aggressive fish at the very end.

HTH

[possitive k]

when i got the tank it had LR and fish in it, but were removed to transport it. They are now in a holding tank ,( the fish and LR), can i use that rock, or do I have to get new rock to cycle?

[marie]

Test the water in the holding tank if there is no ammonia and nitrites, then by all means put the rock and stuff into the main tank.

[snaggle]

If the rock stayed in water on the trip home then is should not have any die off but it was out of water at all then it will. Also if you want to make sure that there is a good base of nitrifying bacteria then go out and buy a small peace of LR around 5 lbs or so, that is uncured and add that to the main tank with the existing LR with no fish, that should start a second cycle.

Brad

[possitive k]

thanks everyone for your help