Too Soon?!

So I am a little nervous...

I have had my 55 tank up and running with water for a month, been running everything (protein skimmer, bio filter, and another pump creating flow) with 2 inch base crushed coral and 2 inch live sand, 30 pounds live rock for about 2 weeks. I added hermit crabs, snails and a CBS in the tank...

It kind of dawned on me that even though the live rock is cured, it has not established a cycle in my new tank...

I am going to hold off on fish and keep an eye on my levels as my ammonia is kind of high (neutralized it with a solution) but, will my Inverts be ok??

Thanks for all of your help!

 

what were the test results of the ammonia? have you checked for nitrates or nitrites?

 

Ok, Nitrite was 0, Nitrate was 10 mg/l, and Ammonia was .75, Ph is all good...

 

Toss a yellow tail or chromis damsel in there to start eating and producing waste to get a cycle going. You can shut that skimmer off for now. With no bioload, you're just skimming nutrients out of the water and wasting electricity.

 

The hermits and snails will probably die. The CBS actually has a chance. Those are TOUGH little critters.

 

Should I take them out of my tank before they die?

I have had them in for a week and they are extremely active...

 

You should NOT be running the protein skimmer or the mechanical filter during the cycle, just FYI.

 

By neutralizing the ammonia you are just prolonging the cycle. I would suggest that you let it sit for another month, test the parameters again and when the nitrites and ammonia are at 0ppm, then you can begin to add livestock, but slowly!

 

Sorry. Help another noob out here. What's a CBS?

 

Coral Banded Shrimp