Param question.

So i have tested all my water..and on the 3rd day...just 5 mins ago i tested the water...nothing has spiked yet..is that normal?

If you guys have checked out my 14g build then you know what i am talking about and how i tried to cycle it haha

 

Didn't follow your other post but I keep a log of everything on my tank since day one. After five days I had 2.0 ppm of ammonia and by day 16 it had peaked at 8.0 ppm. I put two silversides in the tank to get things going.

 

Okay..Were you curing rock?

 

What you are doing is called a soft cycle.

Introduction of LR with periodic water changes until all die off has stopped and ammonia level remains close to or at 0.

While many people in the LFS business do this when setting up systems and people that have been at SW for awhile. The basic concept of not stocking a system too quickly still applies. You have to give the system time for adjustment between introduction of fish and some inverts. Just because your parameter read 0 for ammonia and nitrates, does not mean the system is ready to be stocked. Too many other things go into the cycle that can not be tested for.

 

I had 11lbs. In there the first week.

 

Okay..Thats someting new to me..never new that thanks alot.

How long would you say?

 

It depends on if you are going to put anything else in soon, and size of water changes, and how often, and how much die off ( sounds like very little), size of the tank, how much rock, and about 100 things I do not remember right now.

You can not go wrong checking the parameters daily, if for nothing else than to see how the system cycles with live rock, seeded sand, and 2 fish.

 

Okay..So i cant do anything else then? just let it sit? but your saying their is like a cycle that i cant test for pretty much right?

 

Yes that is what I have experienced and many others I know. I would almost compare it to " New Tank Syndrome" but with more variables involved other than just parameters like ammonia, nitrates, pH, alk, mg. Newer small systems have a tendency to have swings that we do not catch IMO.

 

Okay..cool, thats good info thanks.