Cycle question

B

Bigsauce

New member
Here's a bit of a background on my setup. I setup a 40b with sump about mid July. I currently have live rock and some acid washed/ power washed dry rock in the tank. So here's the situation I could use your input on. The tanks been running for over a month now and the cycle is still at the ammonia stage. I have tested the water with an api test kit. It shows Ammonia at between 0 and .25, Nitrite at 0, Nitrate at 0. The Ph is at 8.1. I test the water biweekly and the results remain the same. About two and a half weeks ago I had red slime show up on my sand bed, following that by a couple days diatoms appeared on the glass. My glass is now completely covered with what I think are diatoms. At the beginning of this week the red slime has started to disappear slowly. Is my tank cycling abnormally slowly or is it just me being impatient? lol Could the slow cycling have anything to do with the non live rock I put in?

Thanks for your input guys,



David
 
Just take your time, every tank is different. Be patient. I personally would wait another3 weeks.
 
seems like you just have to wait it out.. if you would like to speed it up maybe add some more live rock from a good source... i recently did a reef tank upgrade and used freshwater live rock and turned it into saltwater live rock. at first there was a green algae forming but since i used pretty much of my old water and live rock, the cycling was at a minimum. IME this is normal, just let it ride out.
 
I actually think the cycle has completed and your ammonia test may be off. With zero nitrites and zero nitrates after over a month the ammonia should be at 0. See if there's an LFS or local reefer that'll test your water.
 
Agreed. Take it to an lfs to be read. By now, and after having the diatom bloom you should be good to go

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BigBarnacles said:
I actually think the cycle has completed and your ammonia test may be off. With zero nitrites and zero nitrates after over a month the ammonia should be at 0. See if there's an LFS or local reefer that'll test your water.
Click to expand...

+1 I think the cycle has completed. Just double check the test!
 
+2, or 3 I lost track :D

Diatoms usually indicate that the cycle is complete. But as has been mentioned, double check by bringing your water over to either an LFS, or another reefer near you.

Once you get some good zero readings, the cycle is for sure complete.
 
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