still no signs of a cycle...

[Luke]

coming up on 2 weeks this wednesday... everything reads 0... no spikes of anything so far... 32 gallon tank... i had about 30 pounds of live rock in there.. added 19 more pounds yesterday... i also put in a bottle of bacteria last week... all my live rock was "pre cured" is there a chance i wont have a cycle? or am i being to impatient? i have 2 damsels in there right now... i did notice the live rock i added yesterday brought some copepods and a 2 featherdusters with it... so i think.. either A. there is/will be no cycle.... B. there already was one and i missed it? or C. im being too impatient and still have to wait for one...
also.. water is super clear and fish seem happy

[tbone74]

Toss in a piece of shrimp and let it rot. That may help things out. You may have gotten lucky and gotten some cycled rock and it is taking care of business already

[tomgl]

This is not uncommon. Two weeks with the live rock and no ammonia or nitrite showing, I'd say your done. When a tank is cycling your ammonia will spike first and then start to slip following a nitrite spike that will then start to fall off followed by a nitrate increase. This can take time while the bacteria grows. If I recall from your other post you mixed live rock and dead rock then added a bottle of bacteria? Try adding a couple of fish and feed them, then monitor you levels if nothing happens with the ammonia and nitrite your cycled. I would try this before adding the shrimp piece.

[Luke]

This is not uncommon. Two weeks with the live rock and no ammonia or nitrite showing, I'd say your done. When a tank is cycling your ammonia will spike first and then start to slip following a nitrite spike that will then start to fall off followed by a nitrate increase. This can take time while the bacteria grows. If I recall from your other post you mixed live rock and dead rock then added a bottle of bacteria? Try adding a couple of fish and feed them, then monitor you levels if nothing happens with the ammonia and nitrite your cycled. I would try this before adding the shrimp piece.

i have 2 damsels that have been in there the whole time... im thinking i may not see a cycle... im going camping next week for a week... after that it will have been a month... it should be safe then right? my plan is to replace the 2 damsels with 2 clowns... that should be ok?

[tbone74]

I think you should be fine. Have fun camping!

[tomgl]

i have 2 damsels that have been in there the whole time I remember you posted that in another thread. I was thinking you could increase the bio load with a couple more Damsels buying more expensive fish. Clowns are part of the Damsel family and are very hardy fish and would make a great choice.

[McIntosh]

My vote is that your tank has cycled as much as it is going to cycle. Pull the damsels if you are only using them to cycle the tank and start adding the permanent inhabitants when you are back from your trip.

[Luke]

when i take the damsels back to the LFS how much credit do they give on the returns? bought them for $5.00 each

[Narazbad]

What type of damsels are they?

[iap]

1/4 what they sell them for

[tomgl]

Some will only take them and no credit. Call around.

[Luke]

What type of damsels are they?

a blue and a domino

[TheGreatAukSociety]

It's done cycling.

[sakeating]

I know that BTR is pretty reluctant about taking fish in. I don't want to speak for him but I know that in the past he had a lot of problems with disease that he attributed to taking in fish with unclear backgrounds and origins. I know it ended up costing him a lot in the long run.