Tank Cycle?

kodak · #1 11-30-2008, 05:10 AM

I am curious to know something... I set up a 10g with 15 lbs LR in the tank and some LR in the HOB filters and 100% water from a friends established tank, the only thing that was not live was a small bag of aragonite I added to one of the HOB filters to hold bio... Ive had the tank set up and running for about 3 weeks now.. Has it completely cycled yet?

Thank you

Snaz · #2 12-01-2008, 06:19 AM

Regardless of tank size a cycle is a cycle and usually takes 3-4 weeks to complete. So use the standard guidelines when trying to determine if your cycle is complete. ie - Ammonia, nitrate and nitrite all read zero.

Matthew N · #3 12-01-2008, 02:19 PM

I just setup a new 20g nano and all the live rock and sand came from an excisting tank. Also about 20% of the water was already 'cycled'.

At the two week mark I couldn't read any ammonia. And added a couple of fish and everything seems good

It seems to me that with a large amount of cured live rock and sand that the cycling period is a little shorter.

Trigger Man · #4 12-01-2008, 07:20 PM

In the end it just comes down to waiting on the ammonia and nitrate, and nitrite levels to fall in line. Cured rock does help in the fact that it already has the nutrifying bacteria in it, which gives a head start. When adding new fish to any tank they should always be added slowly in order to allow the tank to adjust to the new bio load.