Is it possible to cycle in 2 weeks?!

I have a 125 that I started cycling about 2 weeks ago. I had it it 3/4 full with water and 120 lbs of Carib sea sand for 4 days. I then added 60 of old Marco rocks that had been in a tank previously but had been dry for several months and 30 lbs of south seas rock. I then added @20 gallons of water from a friend's established tank and a large live rock from his sump. The cycle started at .50 ppm ammonia, 1.0 ppm nitrite and 0 nitrates. Then went to .50 ammonia, 2.0 ppm nitrite and 10 ppm nitrate. Today (10 days after adding the water and lr) I'm at 0 ppm ammonia, 0 ppm nitrite, and between 20 and 40 ppm nitrate (API test so hard to get exact numbers). Can it really be over that fast? Also, never got a diatom bloom, but I have not been running my lights.

 

Hi SteelerMike

yes , it is very possible under the conditions you described for the tank to have cycled
the addition of live rock from established set up has introduced a colony of the required bacterias, and they have processed the available nutrients

the diatom bloom is probably on the way, my experience is that they occur for me between weeks 3 and weeks 6 and then fade away between weeks 6 and weeks 9 approximately working from memory.
thus in your case the ammonia and nitrite spikes have occured faster than was typical in my set ups and as such will occur once it has finished

I suggest a water change now, and whilst doing that syphon out any accumulated detrius on the rockwork and sand bed etc , as that will help reduce the nitrates, and also remove the detrius that is adding to the nitrate levels

Steve

 

Thanks Steve! I will do a water change tomorrow and retest! 8)

 

Welcome Mike

I am sure you already know this
but the bacteria in your set up have processed the nutrients created from any die off, from the rock
at present you have colonies of various bacteria species that need to increase slowly in accordance with slight increases each time of live stock

so adding CUC members, in stages would be next step for me
followed by slow/ weekly or longer periods between stocking of higher life forms

Ammonia and Nitrite could spike again, if you tried to add to much livestock at any given time

basically there would be to much food on the table for the bacteria's to process quickly enough
hence the need for controlled livestock additions, whereby you can ascertain the new arrivals reaction to the conditions and also periodically test the water to make sure your bacteria is colonising as rapidly as needed to keep up with each additional bio load increase

snails are good 1st introductions as they help clean up the diatom mess, help work on the algae that will arive when the lights get bought into the equation etc
they are sensitive to water parameter issues (some species more than others) and if they are shuffling around the aquarium for a week or 2 with no issues, then your good to go with fst fish or coral introduction

Steve

 

Will do Steve. Will the snails have anything to eat if the diatom bloom hasn't happened yet? I think I will start my lighting cycle as well to encourage some growth for them to eat. Is this a good idea?

 

there will be some decaying plant material already on the rockwork so a handfull of snails should do fine in your set up IMHO
introducing lighting at this stage is also fine IME
reduced daylight period , building it up slowly in order to control the amount of algae that develops is my preference these days

I have done the 12 week set up, no lights, never mind a cycle, just leave it alone approach , it works, but its boring as heck and after 12 weeks if there are algae spores and nutrients, you still get algae issues anyway (so you wasted 12 weeks of your life and could have been looking at an aquarium already)

the brown dust we call diatoms is actually the skeletons of the dead diatoms, which is why you get the massive amount in the new set ups
diatoms are probably always present in our tanks
in a new tank with lots of new silicates, diatom reproduction is intense
then the silicates are harvested and diatoms die off en masse
hence the explosion in a cocoa factory look of the tank at that stage

some diatoms survive and in the future if you add something new in plastic, silicates once again become more available, the diatoms multiply and then later start dying off again - hence you get localised diatoms/ cocoa powder in and around the new plastic item

Steve

 

So, I put 10 cortez reef cleaner hermits in this Saturday since they were on sale at my lfs for .79 a piece. They seem to be doing great and my daitom bloom is now starting as well. My question now is, should I get more of a full cuc now that the diatom bloom has happened? I was thinking of ordering from reef cleaners, but their cuc package for a 125 has about 200 critters in it and I'm not sure if there is enough in my tank to feed them all!!

Also did a few tests today and my ph is 8, dkh is 7% and calcium is 460. The ph and dkh seem a bit low, should I put a marine buffer in the water, I do have some Seachem marine buffer on hand.

 

Hi SteelerMike
DHK of 7 is OK , anywhere from 7 - 11 is considered acceptable
PH of 8 is OK
tank is developing and there are many chemical imbalances as it matures
no need to add any buffers at this stage

CUC, I would definitely considered adding to what you have in about 2 weeks time, allowing you a bit longer to monitor the current members , as algae will start to develop now your using your lights so available foods for CUC members will increase