Are we there yet?

Our tank has been up & running for a little over 5 weeks.

Ammonia - 0
Nitrites - 0
Nitrates - 10 (down from 25 a few days ago)
Phosphate - .25

Not sure of the pH or Alk yet.

Is it finished cycling? If not, are we getting close?

Thanks!
julie

 

your getting close, wait for nitrates to hit zero

 

Thanks sostoudt!

 

Hello, nitrates may never get to zero. 20 and under is accepted. 0 is better but may not happen without a refugium or plants in the tank. I would suggest (or maybe I did already) to add a phosphate reactor and run Pura Phoslock as the media. This will give you 0 phosphates (that is achievable) and you will avoid Green hair and other nuisance algae.
I would say you are ready for a beginner fish (meaning hearty) and a small clean up crew.

 

Ask your lfs for some cheato (most will give it to you for free). Most fish don't eat is so you can throw it in the tank to help with the nitrates.

 

One caution on the cheato in the display, it spreads by creeping roots so can become a problem with corals and will become intrusive. When you prune it, because of the creeping root system, it just keeps going and can over run the tank. I opted for Halimeda. Halimeda: The Cactus Algae by Kirby Adams - Reefkeeping.com It is non intrusive.

 

Hey! Thanks! Great information! 8)

 

Thanks for your suggestions bc219 & unclejed!

julie

 

Definitely check your pH before getting any fish. If it is way off, your fish will suffer greatly. Most tap water comes out of the faucet at 6.7-7.0 on the pH scale (at least mine does here in CA). Running RO/DI won't change the pH balance of water, please keep that in mind. If the pH in your water isn't conditioned (assuming you are making your own water) you may be looking at 7.4-7.8 pH. Salt mixes claim to buffer the water, but they don't do a really good job at it. Even my Tropic Marin Pro-Reef salt will only buffer my 6.7 pH RO/DI base water up to 8.0 without the use of a pH buffer. As important as the other params are, this is equally as important. In more acidic water, the fish will literally burn alive.

 

Like others said, your PH is important here too. So assuming that's fine...

When I cycled, once I hit 20 on nitrates I added a very large clean up crew (170 snails and 20 hermits or so in a 55g). I've documented it here http://www.3reef.com/forums/inverts/clean-up-crew-53007.html

My die off has been minimal (had bad luck with some limpets). They did their thing (clean tank!) and after that I added some shrimp (skunk and pep). That's where I'm at now. The nitrates have most recently read 5 - so they may keep going down for you.