# Start-Up/Am I Cylced Questions



## Gumbo_Ghost (Aug 5, 2010)

What's going on folks...
I recently bought a 2nd tank (Have a 55G Cichlid tank up and running for about 3 months)

60 Gallons, doing S.W

I pretty much know most of the ins and outs on cycling, having done it with the Cichlids, but I'm wondering about this new tank.

Not sure if I bought snake-oil or not, but I bought my S.W from a Salt-Water store.
It was "Aged", as it came directly out of the Frag/Coral tanks, which is all in one massive massive tank that's sectioned off.

I also started with about 50lbs of "Cured" Live Rock, that I brought home in the S.W

So... I tested it with my API kit I use for Freshwater (Does it work on Salt??)
And got this
Ammonia - 0ppm
Nitrite - 0ppm
PH - 8.6
Nitrates - 10 or 15ppm

I'm wondering where to go from here*c/p*
I was going to wait like a week, and then get some clean up crew. But do I need to wait longer?

Or is my tank pretty much ready to go, based on the water I bought and LR?

Thanks SO much


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## NeonShark666 (Dec 13, 2010)

You are basicly ready to go except your ph is high for SW. Below 8.2 is better. Put in a couple of small hermits and a couple of Damsel fish and see what happens. An alternative cycling fish is Mollies, they love saltwater.


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## Gumbo_Ghost (Aug 5, 2010)

Thanks for your response.
I kind of threw this question out on a few message boards, and of course it's mixed results.

Lots of "Well, maybe..."

And some, "No, not at all... You need to put decaying shrimp, etc in there. And wait 3-4 months"
*frown

I may just assemble a clean up crew and see what happens.


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## automatic-hydromatic (Oct 18, 2010)

Gumbo_Ghost said:


> So... I tested it with my API kit I use for Freshwater (Does it work on Salt??)
> And got this
> Ammonia - 0ppm
> Nitrite - 0ppm
> ...


API has separate master kits for fresh and salt water; they are not interchangeable and you need to use a salt water kit


I have a feeling you'd have different results with a saltwater kit


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## Gumbo_Ghost (Aug 5, 2010)

Ok.
I'm going to pick up the "Reef/Saltwater" kit tonight, and I'll post my results.


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## Gumbo_Ghost (Aug 5, 2010)

So I looked around at a petshop, and they had "Salt Water" and "Reef" tester kits, each API

The "Saltwater" simply did Ammonia/Nitrite/Nitrate/High Range PH
And the API bottles were the exact same as the Freshwater bottles and instructions.

So I'm thinking you can use them on Fresh and Salt.

Now, the Reef one had testing for other stuff as well like Phosphates and Hardness, etc.

I tested my water and it was a little bit over 1.022/30


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## tscott (Jan 7, 2011)

Some of my API kits come with freshwater and saltwater cards in the box. The scale is off by one or two for some things. That's probably the only difference.

Here's mine:


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## Gumbo_Ghost (Aug 5, 2010)

Hmmm, thanks.
It's somewhat close then I guess.

I might just bring some water in to a store tomorrow and see if I get the same.


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## Gumbo_Ghost (Aug 5, 2010)

I ended up buying a Reef kit today, API
this is what I got:

Ammonia - 0
Nitrite - 0
Nitrate - Dropped a little from previous tests, or the other test kit wasn't right? But it's right around 5PPM, little higher

My CALCIUM was right around 520ppm
and my Carbonate(KH) was at 10 or 179ppm

I also bought 2 Snails, which immediately darted for a rock, and haven't moved since.


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## pmarlowe (Dec 30, 2010)

Several things...

I would *never* put water from a LFS's tank in my tank. Never. Too many possible diseases that could be introduced. The beneficial bacteria are in your rocks, in your sand, but not in the water. Nothing magic about LFS water, except it's polluted as all heck. It's kind of troubling that a LFS would even sell you water out of their tanks. 

You're not going to see any ammonia readings, even if you don't have fully cured rock, until you add something to create the ammonia. Sounds like you know about cycling from the FW tank, so no need to say more. Personally, I'd add something to create ammonia to see if the rock was really cured or not. For me, the cocktail shrimp (from the grocery store) is my preference, but damsels will also do the job if you feel like chasing them trying to get them out of the tank after you're cycled, if they live through it.

For API, the ammonia and nitrate test kits use the same chemicals for SW and FW, but use different color charts. The nitrite test kit is the same for both.

As far as if you're cycled or not... can't really know for sure unless you test it. If the rock was truly cured, then you should be cycled and ready for fish. Often times though, LFSs are constantly selling off and bringing in new rock that all goes into the same "curing" vat... so it's tough to know what is cured and what isn't. If you didn't get cured rock, then you're in for a cycle once you introduce ammonia.


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## beaslbob (May 29, 2009)

Gumbo_Ghost said:


> So I looked around at a petshop, and they had "Salt Water" and "Reef" tester kits, each API
> 
> The "Saltwater" simply did Ammonia/Nitrite/Nitrate/High Range PH
> And the API bottles were the exact same as the Freshwater bottles and instructions.
> ...


the difference is that some api test kits have one color scale for marine and another for fresh. Others like the nitrIte use the same scales for both.

You initial values (no ammonia/nitrItes but some nitrates) are very common for a tank that is balanced out with plant life probably in this case the algae on the live rock. As the tank matures aerobic bacteria will build up and the algae will get more and more if its nitrogen from nitrates. So at that point nitrates will drop down.

I would add macro algaes like chaeto in a refugium which can just be a simple in tank partition.

You also might want to take a look at the diy two part from dr holmes-farley. Even with just a live rock tank and no hard corals, it will inexpensively help keep the nice pretty pink corraline thriving.


I also like mollys for the initial fish.


my .02


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## trouble93 (Nov 8, 2008)

For the most part the worst water you could start your tank with would be your LFS' water as stated above for many different reasons. Most fish stores keep there salinity low to combat diseases and parasites on average low 20's sometime lower. And you can't always trust what process that some rock has gone through before going into your tank. Some stores buy back rock from crashed tanks. Alot of this is beefs I have with some LFS remember there bottom line is to sell you something. I would add my own ammonia source and start from there. Another thing I would suggest is not adding fish you don't plan on keeping over the long term. Damsels are the best hide and seek players on the face of the earth and catching them is no fun. A new tank takes time it's hard to set and watch a empty tank but what fun is it to keep watching things not make it because we rushed through the most important process the cycling. If you start out with problems you will always be playing catch up and this is where a lot of new hobbyist get discouraged.


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