First Tank, First Cycle..Few questions...

So guys its been almost a week and im a bit confused....according to my readings my tank has already cycled which makes no sense to me at all...after the live rock was added i took a readying the next day...the nh3/4 where high but wasnt expecting it to be that high that quick...then the next day the nitrites started showing up but now everything reads at zero except nitrates which have been going down steadly over the past few days....i was ghost feeding my tank cuz i thought the cycle just didnt happen but even with ghosting everything is still showing zero...is this even possible, could it be because of the live sand and cured live rock??? any suggestions would help...o and today my nitrates are reading at 10ppm. yest they seemed closer to 20ppm...

o and one more thing i was using the testing strips but figured something had to be off with them so i borrowed my buddies chem test kits and its showing the same readings.

 

If that live rock was cured and ready, it will speed your cycle up since it should already have a bio filter established in it. But I don't know how your nitrates could be going down that fast without doing water changes. A fuge with macro will help, but i don't know if you have macro yet? And it wouldn't drop it 10ppm over 24 hrs

 

have a fuge but jsut rock and sand but did do a 15% or so water change.

 

and btw thanx for the help

 

120 gallon tank with 180 lbs of cured rock it's conceivable that you will not see a cycle. Good job on the ghost feedings, keep it up that is a lot of bacteria to feed.

I would get back test results from the local fish store just to make sure.

What fish do you want to start with?

 

lol honestly i hadnt really planned for fish cuz i expected to have a few weeks at least to research during cycle lol...any suggestions?

 

Well you have 120 gallons to play with, do you have preferences to any types of fish? Some people like smaller reef fish (me), some Tangs (they must have a tang) some wrasses.
Newer hobbyist seem to always want at least 1 tank with a Lion Fish. If you want clowns or any other types of Damsels that is where I would start. Definitely double check values and keep feeding the tank. I would not add Tangs to a new set up but there are quite a few I would feel comfortable with.
Just to be on the safe side I would go another week before introduction, but I have had tanks were I used all live cured rock and I never had a cycle. You always want to stock extremely slowly though, the biological filter has to have time to catch up between additions.

 

I would throw a few green chromis in there to start. They are cheap and I have always liked them

 

Yea im not one for the lion fish...i actually wanted the tank originally jsut for coral so im kinda leaving the fish selection up to my GF as long as they are reef friendly and not so aggressive i have to worry about them eating everthing smaller than them lol...appreciate the suggestions.

 

o and one more question how slowly do u suggest stocking...only one at a time or could i start with a 3-4 due to the tank size??