tank upgrade cycling period?

currently upgrading my reef tank into a 3 ft one but running into some questions, wuts the cycling tank period usually take? asking bacause im cycling the 3 ft now and the water quality atm is that of a fully cycled tank.

im using bout 10kg of live rock from my old tank and bout 30kg of cured ones bought from lfs. also skimmer and pumps from the old tank as well. the first week the ammonia nitrate and nitrite sky rocketed but im half way through the 2nd week now and ammonia is showing 0 nitrite is 0.1 <--- my nutrafin test kit the lowest value is 0.1 and nitrate is 5. i added a few hermit crabs in there and throw a bit of fish food in there as if its a stocked tank.

im wondering did i do anything wrong?? i though it takes at least 4 weeks to complete the cycle, and im scared to add anythin into the tank atm

any advice would be great!
(old tank is bout a yr old)

 

I would wait a week or so just in your decided to go thru a mini cycle. I did some changes on my tank, and out of my stupidity of not thinking, lost a lot of corals from a minicycle.

 

You really can't put a time limit on the duration of time needed to cycle a tank! All tanks are different and the way of cycling a tank varies as well. On average though, I would say a month is a very real period of time to enable your tank to cycle fully and successfully IMO!
I would continually monitor your water parameters however, to be aware where your tank is in the cycle process!

 

I am currently doing a cycle I learned from a 3reef'er that has me cycle my tank with no lights until about 8 weeks then only actinics and add sand, then at week 12 before MH's are turned on. All I have in the tank is my rock that was nuked and 2 cups of established sand from my 55 gal and 1 yellow tail damsel.
Your trying to rush a cycle that will only get you in trouble down the road. Let nature take it's course. Just like Matt say "go slow and let it grow"
Coral Reefer said it best, " no two cycles are the same" Just keep testing your water then after all parameters are good wait another week and test again. DON'T get in a hurry, this is a hobby of patience!

 

If given 12 weeks with a single yellow tailed damsel all you ever need to test for is Ca and alk and magnesium . Never rinse the new sand or baserocks and it will cover with in a few months with corlline and water parameters will be rock steady Take the money you are using for Ammonia and Nitrites and but the needed alk and ca kits. I have cycled 100's if not 1,000 like this and its never been an issue. and the nitrates can be dealt with when or if needed. You guys have to really take it slower but hey its your money and time ..Oh also I'd add this way they all cycle the excate same in that they are fully cycled and ready to start up.

 

Amen! ;D I'm on week 3 and there has been no algae in my tank what so ever, (brown, red, green) nothing. I didn't want to wait that long but seeing how it is going so far I'm glad I did.
:thumbs_up Thanks for the advice Tangster :thumbs_up

 

That sounds right to me. I did the same thing about 6 months ago (Went from a total volume of 40 gallons to 90 gallons). I used all of the rock from my old tank and all of the same filters and all of the old water. I added all NEW sand to the bottom. I had a little spike of NH3 for about 1 day and then it was fine. It really never needed to recycle at all.

 

well still continue to test the water daily nothin much happenin and didnt add anythin new beside a MH to the setup. will continue to monitor the water though. i did bought a bottle of reef builder, just wonderin should i add it now or wait till i actually have some corals in the tank then add it?

 

If the brown algae you are referring to is diatoms, thats a sign that it is cycling. Algae blooms are part of the cycling process. Its natures way of taking care of excess nutrients in the water untill the bacteria can catch up with the bioload. If you dont have any blooms, then your not cycled in IMO. From what I have read, 1 fish for a few months is NOT going to do much for the bacteria growth. The bacteria will die off when the food supply run outs or there is not enough to maintain the growth. Thats why you start off with one, then a couple weeks later, add another and so on untill everything evens out (cycles). The more you add the more your bioload demands on the bacteria to breakdown the ammo etc. If you wait a couple months and toss in a few fish, then you can overload your system and cause ammo spikes etc. because there is only enough bacteria to support 1 fish.

Now if you bought some kind of prepackaged bacteria such as "cycle" or "bio spira" then you would be ok, IMO. I have used those products before to help the cycling process.

For all new tanks that I do, I am using 20+lbs of livesand, one small bottle of cycle, and a small bottle of asst. pods. That should cut the cycle down to 3 weeks. I already have a way of cutting it down to 4 weeks, but its not as cheap as other ways.

 

I am about to start up a new tank, 75g, and I will keep a log of it in a post on here with all of my test results etc.