Water condition

[ShawnNY]

I had my first reef tank delivered and installed this past Friday. (10/25)
It's a 90 gallon glass bowfront with an in tank overflow and a 10 gallon or so sump containing the skimmer heater etc. After staring at 135 lbs. of live rock for two days, I got bored and decided to test my water tonight.
According to my Aquatru test kit, ammonia, nitrate and nitrite are all 0% and my Ph is at about 8.3. The temperature is a bit high at 84 as is salinity at 1.025.
My dealer told me he had given me cured live rock and the tank would be ready to go in a short period of time, but this seems ridiculously fast based on my reading.
Is it possible for the water to cycle this quickly? Or, has the cycle yet to begin?
Any thought would be appreciated. And yes, I lowered the heater.

[Jeremy1973]

Welcome to TheReefTank Shawn!

It is possible..but.. I would still go on the side of caution. I would take a small piece of shrimp and throw it in. And still watch your parameters for a week. Even if something is cured at the LFS, moving it out to your tank will cause die off on it, and that little bit can do another cycle. So, I say wait a week to be on the safe side.

Again..WELCOME!

[JennM]

I respectfully disagree with adding dead shrimp, but I do concur that waiting a few more days and testing is a good idea.

Cured rock may not cycle again, and in my experience, moving cured rock from point A to point B doesn't cause any signficant die-off - and I move tanks often - have done 2 this month.

The biggest thing in this hobby is patience - you're at the "hurry up and wait" stage. Spend some time REALLY looking at the rock - you might be surprised at the plethora of life already in your tank

Jenn

[techniner]

100% Agree... Wait it out... Having cured rock will make a difference but not an overnight one.

You should wait it out a couple of weeks. I say a couple of weeks because I would take extreme caution when starting up a tank... You might see post about throwing a few damsel's in to to start out the tank.. but be aware once they are in they are IN.
they are quite tuff to catch especially with 135 Lbs of rock....

So Iw ould make you fish selection from the start .. the ones you want for sure...

Don't rush into this.. you have plenty of time to do this and do it right.. your at a point where you can set yourself straight from the start. Do it !

Good Luck !

[JennM]

Again, respectfully disagree - Damsels are a scourge and once you get them in, you don't get them out without ripping apart the rockwork, or adding a large lionfish

Just go slowly. Watch your water quality, and wait. When you do proceed with fish, choose your specimens based on health, hardiness, and aggression - add the bullies last, and don't add fragile fish to a new system. Add fish one or two at a time, no more, and avoid overfeeding. That much rock in a tank that size, if it's cured, SHOULD be rather forgiving, but there's no need to push the envelope.

Just use common sense, and a good dose of patience.

Jenn

[Mafiaman]

2 tanks

1) Large 135g with 70g in sump, uncured LR went thru aldae blooms. Green, and Brown

2) 39g HOB filtration and skimming. Cured LR, I mean it looked like it had been kiln dried! No signs of any thing on it.
Still had same Brown and Green algae blooms.

The fastest way thru a bloom is to let it eat it self out of nutrients.

If you have livestock in tank and are feeding them The algae gets some also.

Wait for the blooms they are coming....

Remember what your mother said ,Starve a bloom feed an infection,
Or was that for colds and flues?

Oh well my .02

[Jeremy1973]

Don't get me wrong, I have never done the shrimp method, just what I have heard many doing as compared to throwing in damsels. (which I would recommend not doing )

And look at Jenn..all respectful! :hugs: And gee, just cause you have probably moved more tanks around in your store then I will ever touch... heh heh... If I lived closer, I would always be happy to help you out Jenn!

[ShawnNY]

Wow, thanks for all the feedback. I'm really in no rush. It just seemed odd to get 0 readings after a couple of days.
Thank you again for all your help, I'm sure this is not the last question I'll have though.
Glad I found this place!

Shawn

[hayday]

jenn is absolutely right about the "hurry up and wait" bit. it sucks, but your patience will pay off. look at it this way, you now have lots o'time to do some research and figure out what you want to put into your little piece of the ocean.

-hayday

[Jeremy1973]

Or it gives you time to go and find a second or third job to help support your new addiction..er...hobby.

[Geoff]

Originally posted by ShawnNY
Wow, thanks for all the feedback. I'm really in no rush. It just seemed odd to get 0 readings after a couple of days.
Thank you again for all your help, I'm sure this is not the last question I'll have though.
Glad I found this place!

Shawn

not super surprising. that they all read zero after a couple of days. this is about the time that the nitrates will start to rise on ya. the first two can get processed pretty quick, getting rid of the nitrates some times takes a little time.

at about a weeks time you will start to get the first of many algae blooms. just let them do their thing. it is a lot less stressfull to watch these algae blooms when you do not have anything in the tank that costs money. this is all part of the start up process. in a couple of weeks you can start by adding the clean up crews. several days before you decide to add the clean up crews do your first water change. test the water daily after this. you should not see any change in your levels. if you do, then you might want to wait another week. they will start getting the algae under control. fight the urge to get a dumptruck full of them at this time. the algae will die back on its own, the cleanup crews keep algae under control after the dieback of the algae. i find that you usually need about half of the crew that most stores recommend. imagine that.

it is really neat to sit and watch all of the new critters coming out of the LR. enjoy watching the tank cycle. have fun testing the water everyday. watch the different algaes take over your tank then die away. it is all neat stuff. just do not rush things. my wife's tank has been cycling now without any thing in it but LR for the past 3 months! all the blooms are done now and we are looking at finally getting some fish in there. but not in any big rush, the longer you wait the more stable the tank will be.

almost forgot, 1.025 is a great salinity. i keep my tanks at 1.026. what do you plan to keep in your new glass box? tell us more about the setup, skimmer, lights, substrate, we are info junkies here.

imo,

G~