Cycle Question - Cube 10

Astacey7 · Sep 6, 2021

Hello all and thank you in advance for any advice!

I am currently 2.5 weeks into the cycling process and am unsure why I do not have any nitrite/nitrate. My cube10 has love sand and live rock (lr from a tank in my local fish store). Below is an image from August 30, single API ammonia, test strip from 9/2, and a panel API from today. Any suggestions? I do not believe the tank is cycled, but would be ecstatic if it s ready for fish. I do not want to rush anything and cause harm. Should I add a Dr. Tim’s one and only or start xlm? Thanks again!

brandon429 · Sep 6, 2021

Hey you did a skip cycle is why, see this thread

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A thread tracking pure skip cycle instant reefs, no bottle bac

This is a testless cycling thread, we don't want ammonia testing here for any job if possible, because we are teaching reefers/readers that moving live rocks system to system does not restart the cycle: many in our community don't understand that rule and feel that any tank being setup simply...

www.reef2reef.com

your tank should become part of the example set above since you’re showing a compliant api reading too, which matches exactly how skip cycle setups work.

when you have fish plus feed plus time, you’ll remember the no nitrate days. Nitrite simply has no bearing in reefing any longer when applying updated cycling science such as skip cycling.

transferring wet rock from a pet store to home preserves the original cycle, it never restarts it. That your ammonia test doesn’t show .25 is rare among api kits, that’s a rare test verified skip cycle above and the rock has visual cues we can see even if no testing was available. Skip cycling is how all reef conventions setup halls of instant tanks all ready to go without stalling. It is the most reliable form of cycling in reefing, above all forms of cycling.

even if your api showed .25 that’s what it usually shows in two year old reefs, per google. It’s still a clean skip cycle above.