New tank 55gal

[Palegic]

I have had my 55 gallon up and cycling for about 26 days so far... I have 58 lbs of pre-cured live rock and 50lbs of sand and 10lbs of live sand...During the first week or 2 weeks my ammonia peaked around 2.5 ppm along with my nitrites over 1.0 ppm and nitrates around 30 ppm. My params have now been consistently sitting around .25 ppm for ammonia as well as my nitrites around .1 ppm and nitrates 5.0 ppm for the past almost 3 weeks.. my ph is 8.1 and alk is 2.8 SG is 1.022-1.023..My temp was 78 for the past 3 weeks but I raised it a couple of days ago to 82 because I heard that it promotes more bacterial growth.

It seems as if i am at a stand still. I have gotten a bit discouraged and started to add biozyme for the past 3 days and am thinking about adding biro-spira instead to get things moving.

Will adding a piece or 2 of already seeded live rock with corraline growth from my lfs help get things moving faster? or do I have to re cycle pretty much and just add a couple of small shrimp to boost my ammonia levels more? Im lost here guys give me a hand lol

A little more info: I have a little less than 25x water flow with 2 koralia #2's, no lights on and its in a darker corner of the room. I turned off my skimmer when I started adding biozyme, But it was running for about 2 weeks and getting a light brown tea colored water.

 

[Deanos]

If your ammonia levels aren't dropping any further, you probably need more filtration (live rock/sand). Also try a new test kit to verify the numbers.

 

[Palegic]

I have 58 lbs that should be enough and a 3" sandbed...The problem i have with adding more rock is that i might have to cure it before i put it in my tank now...correct me if im wrong but could i or could i not put more uncured LR in the tank now. If i needed more filtration because my ammonia is staying at .25ppm could i add pure ammonia and if it drops back down to .25ppm in a day or so then i would know that filtration is the problem right?

 

[emps]

Have you done any water changes during the cycle?

 

[NYreefNoob]

you can buy base rock and put a piece or 2 in at a time, and 58 lbs isnt much in a 55g i have more than that in my 24g nano and i agree about trying a different test kit. do you have a sump ? hob refugium or filter ect

 

[Palegic]

I was told by my lfs and by liveaquaria(where i got my liverock) not to do anywater changes to cure it...i just got myself an api test for ammonia b/c my lfs was out of the whole test kit but this one is reading 0 ppm..i was getting a reading of .25 ppm with the red sea test kit could it really be that much different how do I know which is correct lol..thanks yea Im gonna go get about 20-25 more lbs of base rock..I have no sump or filter right now I had a set limit I wanted to spend before the holidays but after the holidays im going to be getting more L/R and a sump.

 

[BlueSi4]

You should do a water change to get new water in, that should help you out. Also, are you using tap water?
As far as live rock goes, you need about 1.5 to 2lb per gallon, so you need at least 75-80lb, but somewhere around 100lb you should be good. Also, once you do the water change, you can add a hardy fish, such as a damsel to help with the cycling process.
BTW, Welcome to Manhattan Reefs!!

 

[Palegic]

hmm well I am going to be doing a pretty big water change but i dont think im going to be adding any fish especially a damsel i don't wanna try and get that bugger out..plus im pretty sure my tank is about done cycling Im gonna keep testing for about a week...my ammonia is at 0ppm with my new api test and a little under .25 nitrite which im hoping a good water change will take care of. If everything tests good for the next week Im thinking about getting a pair of true percula clowns. Then start on my cleanup crew. also Im gonna slowly add 25 lbs of base rock to the tank to to get it more towards 80lbs

 

[BlueSi4]

Sounds good on the clowns, they are pretty hardy too. When i first started i had about 20lb of live rock and a damsel, and when i added the clown, the damsel went after it, so i had to take all the rock out in order to catch that damsel lol.
Most people here use Salifert test kits to measure the parameters, you should look into those they will give you the most accurate readings as far as i know.

 

[KathyC]

Palegic..you do not want to do a water change during your cycle, it will extend the cycle Try & be patient. If all of your parameters aren't in line yet, it's because there was a larger amount of dead material on your live rock to start with.
I am happy to see that you are not going to use a living animal (a fish) to help cycle your tank..that is cruel and completely unnecessary. The only organisms in your tank that you need to 'feed' (to keep your cycle going) is the bacteria in the tank and while you have an ammonia level they are being 'fed'.
Once you are certain your ammonia is zero (maybe take a sample to your LFS so they can double check for you), you could feed the tank a small piece of flake food every few days to keep the bacteria alive (they do need to eat).

I would also suggest that you add your snails & inverts BEFORE you add any fish to the tank as that is the regular way a tank gets started. You need to slowly increase the amount of creature you add to your tank so that the bacteria can keep up with it. Be sure they are all doing well and you have all of the equipment you require (like proper testing kits, a refractometer) before you purchase fish.
Base rock is uncured rock. Cure it fully in a bucket with a power head & heater until all parameters are in order and THEN add it to your tank. You could add it now and wait for the cycle to totally finish before adding your clean up crew. But I wouldn't add to a cycled tank.

Do you have a ro/di or are you using tap water?

And welcome to MR!!

 

[tosiek]

meh, i just wrote a long essay just to have my browser not post it. So i'm going to summarize.

LR is counted by weight but it works more by surface volume. So a 10 lb golf ball of LR is not the same as a 10lb football size piece of rock. The more porus the better.

Biozyme is a freshwater product no? It doesn't convert the ammo or trites, it binds both in the water column. Thats a bad thing. Biospira is an OK product but you never know if it was kept frozen or not plus thats going to be 50+$ your going to spend to use on a 55 gal tank to finish a cycle that is not ending to something wrong in the tank. Fix the reason and the problem is solved.

API, red sea and other brands of test kits are usually off. My instant ocean test kit still reads .5 ammo when i do the test and i'm 100% sure i have no ammo in my tank. That might be the reason your getting the ammo reading for 2 weeks straight.

Also i would not add the fish before a cleaning crew has been through your tank for at least a week or two. Let them clean the rock off of any gunk and junk. Let them crawl and poo and crawl and poo for a while before u add anything. It'll help your bio filter establish better and that'll keep u from coming back here and saying ":help: all myfish are dying and i don't know why" in a week or two. :biggrin:

Take it slow. This isnt freshwater =0)

 

[Palegic]

Biozyme does have a freshwater variant but i was using the saltwater variant...Biospira is 29.99 at my LFS and it does 55 gallons. Not sure if i really need now though. My tank has been set up going for 4 weeks today and with the API kit I got 3 days ago it seems as if my ammo and trits have been at 0 for those 3 days if not longer. My red sea kit was reading the same wrong readings for about 2 weeks.
I also dont have "golf ball" size pieces of liverock lol I have 7 peices of large "football" sized Fiji L/R 1 about the size of a basketball and about 6 pieces of softball sized baserock that have been in there since the beginning as well.

Is that true about adding fish food I feel that it would unnecessarily raise ammo levels in the tank...or should i just wait a few more days to see if my ammo n trites are still 0 then start on my cleaning crew...the only thing about the cleaning crew is none of my lfs's have any decent snails or crabs for the right price..the lfs store i have been goin to sells blue leg hermits that are a little larger than a pea for 3.99 and the red legs for 5.99 each which is a little steep IMO and they just don't have a good selection of snails. I might just have to go and order online.. Any suggestions on places on LI that I can get a decent cleaning crew at?