0 ammonia 0 nitrites and 5 nitrates .. is it cycled ?

[Joeymice]

Don't mind the light and cheato in the fuge was just taking picture for my buddy after I changed my return plumbing only one I have on my phone a.t.m

So like my title says 2 weeks in and I have 0 ammonia 0 nitrites and about 5 nitrates.
I used api for ammonia salifert for nitrites and Hanna checker for nitrates.

I currents run no lights, a ton of marine pure I supplemented with bio-spira and only have my one black storm clown

Is my cycle done and should throw lights up and another fish ? Or CUC, or test coral ? Or am I jumping the gun and wait it out

 

[Frostblitz20]

me personally i always cycle with lights to get the ugly phase started and out of the way *Diatom phase*

 

[Joeymice]

Hmm correct me if I'm wrong if I were to keep nitrates at a minimum would I even have an ugly phase ?

 

[arking_mark]

I'm not sure. What did you do to cycle the tank? Starter bacteria? Live rock? Ghost feeding?

 

[Joeymice]

I'm not sure. What did you do to cycle the tank? Starter bacteria? Live rock? Ghost feeding?

I did 1 clown and added bacteria

 

[Joeymice]

I'm not sure. What did you do to cycle the tank? Starter bacteria? Live rock? Ghost feeding?

Did small feeding of pellets for the fish

 

[Poof No Eyebrows]

I would say your cycled.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

If the ammonia kit is accurate, and there's a fish in the water with no ammonia, then it has cycled.

 

[brandon429]

enjoying the responses, this is highly different set of analyses being offered vs 2005 if the question were asked. agreed to all
changes in the way we approach cycling unique to the setup are becoming apparent, its not always about degrading a dead shrimp into the system or spiking to 2ppm as is most common.

in my opinion this is specifically not a time we'd look for the classic rise and fall of ammonia like the more common approach where they dose up to very high levels and wait for a drop to zero

this way works, it used the dilution of your setup, easy bioload, bottle bac able to carry much more than you asked, to prevent a lethality level of waste from setting in. the applicable wait times for a cycling chart apply here as deposition rates/approximations for the working filter bacteria and as you can see, two weeks is past the ammonia drop phase from a chart.


that means your bac are locked in, even if you did 100% water change and refilled with no dosed bac, the bioslicks are locked into place and will just resume bioload carry as they do now. I believe this tank is cycled not because you can test for such ultra low levels of ammonia, but rather because you followed the standard protocol for a fish-in cycle and they always turn out this way even when more fish are put into smaller tanks. bottle bac is this good

I can't find a single example of this not working, all I can find is a bunch of test kit report variations. but the tanks always look this way, the fish feed and act normal, and appear unburned going back like ten years now.

**also part of updated cycling science claims:

your tank isn't just habituated to one fish, meaning if you want to carry 4 fish you need to upcycle for 4 fish, does not work that way.

when your available surface area (ample per pics) is activated its activated, there isn't a half state. What controls the # of fish you can carry are behavioral limitations and disease vectoring/choose a fish disease protocol or all the cycling concern will just be replaced with a brook wipeout at the start of the year...common in new tanks with mixed lfs fish on dry start rocks. the cycle was the easy part, they engineered it to work flawlessly out of the bottle.

Your tank is bioload ready now, not just for one fish. Anyone who owns a seneye is welcome to post reef tank specific proofs of this statement or not.

 

[Joeymice]

Thanks for all the helpful advice!!! So glad I joined this forum