I added corals to a non cycled tank....

FluffySackson

Gambusia
MFK Member
Aug 27, 2014
599
6
18
Before you call me stupid I'll have you know I'm new to keeping saltwater. My parameters were in check (I was dosing ammonia and using an Eheim 2217 loaded with established bio media) so I thought I was in the clear. The 2 corals I bought (zoanthids on live rock) were added and I knew the live rock would leech ammonia. However I thought the rock would leech 0.25ppm at the very most and it ended up leaching about 2PPM, basically restarting my cycle. I'm dosing 5x doses of prime to keep it down. The zoas are doing ok (even if a few smaller polyps died, and the cycle is almost done) What would you suggest for to do for the next 2 days until the cycle's finished?
 

noimpact

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Feb 7, 2015
8
0
0
california
Before you call me stupid I'll have you know I'm new to keeping saltwater. My parameters were in check (I was dosing ammonia and using an Eheim 2217 loaded with established bio media) so I thought I was in the clear. The 2 corals I bought (zoanthids on live rock) were added and I knew the live rock would leech ammonia. However I thought the rock would leech 0.25ppm at the very most and it ended up leaching about 2PPM, basically restarting my cycle. I'm dosing 5x doses of prime to keep it down. The zoas are doing ok (even if a few smaller polyps died, and the cycle is almost done) What would you suggest for to do for the next 2 days until the cycle's finished?
Dude, you have to wait until there is NO ammonia, nitrite, or nitrate to add corals... Your cycle will take WEEKS (I highly doubt another 2 days will stabilize your system), even longer if you are dosing ammonia regularly (dosing ammonia is only to BEGIN a cycle in order to kick start a new tank's ecosystem - you are typically supposed to STOP after dose #1). When your water is clear, you have no ammonia, nitrite or nitrate... ONLY then it might be time to CONSIDER adding livestock. Your canister filter is only going to propagate nitrates... I had one for 8 weeks on my current tank, and it could NOT process nitrates even with the super-expensive biomedia.

What size tank do you have? What's your water salinity/specific gravity? PH? Alkalinity? Nitrite/nitrate readings? Phosphates? Copper? Tap water or RODI? Salt mix? Livestock? Powerheads? lbs of Liverock?

You should have initiated the cycle with uncured liverock, salt water with a 1.023-1.026 specific gravity, ~8.3 PH, appropriate alkalinity, and NOTHING in the tank. Let the tank do it's nasty (it took mine 6-weeks) and once it stabilizes, CONSIDER putting in a clean-up crew. Wait another week or two for readings to stabilize and then CONSIDER adding non-coral as desired... once your desired bio load can be compensated for by the ecosystem, and Nitrates are at 0-20 you can CONSIDER putting in SPS/LPS corals. Realize that every change to the ecosystem is going to change the bio-load and could, potentially, initiate another "mini-cycle" - I plumbed in my sump about 2-weeks ago, which added 20lbs pre-cured liverock and 10 lbs live sand to support the display due to my nitrates being 40-60 - I ran the sump on it's own filtration for 2-weeks before that waiting for a cycle (yes, pre-cured liverock may still need to cycle if removed from water to transport). When readings were solid and there was no die-off (ammonia/nitrite), I did a trickle plumbing feed (partial water from tank to sump, and vice versa at much less than <1 gph) to merge my sump and my display tank in order to reduce environmental impact. My hitchhiker corals (they appear to be pagodas) now seem extremely happy and they were rather weather-beaten with my nitrates >30. I'll be giving it a minimum of 2 more weeks on the sump and evaluate the water chemistry before I add anything else...

Moral of that story is don't be impatient. It takes more than ammonia and 2-weeks to establish a 5-300gal self-supporting boxed-up version of the ocean...

-Noimpact
Fresh (12-week, post-cycle) 50 gal reef, ~14gal custom auto-top-off gravity-fed siphon-driven split-vertical sump, diy air skimmer, 70lb liverock+30lb live sand (sump/display), 5 hermit crabs, 4 friendly bristle worms, 3 turbo snails, 2 happy clownfish, 2 peppermint shrimp, and 1 nassarius snail... + hitchhiker soft corals (pagoda?)
 

FluffySackson

Gambusia
MFK Member
Aug 27, 2014
599
6
18
Dude, you have to wait until there is NO ammonia, nitrite, or nitrate to add corals... Your cycle will take WEEKS (I highly doubt another 2 days will stabilize your system), even longer if you are dosing ammonia regularly (dosing ammonia is only to BEGIN a cycle in order to kick start a new tank's ecosystem - you are typically supposed to STOP after dose #1). When your water is clear, you have no ammonia, nitrite or nitrate... ONLY then it might be time to CONSIDER adding livestock. Your canister filter is only going to propagate nitrates... I had one for 8 weeks on my current tank, and it could NOT process nitrates even with the super-expensive biomedia.

What size tank do you have? What's your water salinity/specific gravity? PH? Alkalinity? Nitrite/nitrate readings? Phosphates? Copper? Tap water or RODI? Salt mix? Livestock? Powerheads? lbs of Liverock?

You should have initiated the cycle with uncured liverock, salt water with a 1.023-1.026 specific gravity, ~8.3 PH, appropriate alkalinity, and NOTHING in the tank. Let the tank do it's nasty (it took mine 6-weeks) and once it stabilizes, CONSIDER putting in a clean-up crew. Wait another week or two for readings to stabilize and then CONSIDER adding non-coral as desired... once your desired bio load can be compensated for by the ecosystem, and Nitrates are at 0-20 you can CONSIDER putting in SPS/LPS corals. Realize that every change to the ecosystem is going to change the bio-load and could, potentially, initiate another "mini-cycle" - I plumbed in my sump about 2-weeks ago, which added 20lbs pre-cured liverock and 10 lbs live sand to support the display due to my nitrates being 40-60 - I ran the sump on it's own filtration for 2-weeks before that waiting for a cycle (yes, pre-cured liverock may still need to cycle if removed from water to transport). When readings were solid and there was no die-off (ammonia/nitrite), I did a trickle plumbing feed (partial water from tank to sump, and vice versa at much less than <1 gph) to merge my sump and my display tank in order to reduce environmental impact. My hitchhiker corals (they appear to be pagodas) now seem extremely happy and they were rather weather-beaten with my nitrates >30. I'll be giving it a minimum of 2 more weeks on the sump and evaluate the water chemistry before I add anything else...

Moral of that story is don't be impatient. It takes more than ammonia and 2-weeks to establish a 5-300gal self-supporting boxed-up version of the ocean...

-Noimpact
Fresh (12-week, post-cycle) 50 gal reef, ~14gal custom auto-top-off gravity-fed siphon-driven split-vertical sump, diy air skimmer, 70lb liverock+30lb live sand (sump/display), 5 hermit crabs, 4 friendly bristle worms, 3 turbo snails, 2 happy clownfish, 2 peppermint shrimp, and 1 nassarius snail... + hitchhiker soft corals (pagoda?)

That's what I did. My ammonia and nitrite were 0 and I had a little bit of nitrate (about 10) and I didn't know the live rock would leech this much ammonia. I expected 0.25ppm at the very most
 

FluffySackson

Gambusia
MFK Member
Aug 27, 2014
599
6
18
I cycled the tank for a week with 2 previously established filters (I don't use one of them on the tank anymore, just used it to help seed the tank)
 

noimpact

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Feb 7, 2015
8
0
0
california
That's what I did. My ammonia and nitrite were 0 and I had a little bit of nitrate (about 10) and I didn't know the live rock would leech this much ammonia. I expected 0.25ppm at the very most
0.25ppm is enough to kill your tank inhabitants, so if you expected that you shouldn't have added anything to the tank. Live rock should only be "leeching" (more appropriate would be creating) ammonia if there is still dead material on it... natural bacteria / brown algae (would have accompanied live rock) should begin the nitrification process. You are looking at 4-6 weeks for everything to settle down.

What test kit/method of testing are you using? I have seen faulty/conflicting readings from test kits before.
What's your setup? 5gal tank? 200gal tank? What do you have for a substrate? Are you using properly mixed water?

How to /maybe/ rescue your tank inhabitants:

1. Do a 50% water change with RO/DI + appropriate saltwater mix. Measure the alkalinity and PH... if alkalinity is too high (>500) or pH is too low (8.3-8.4) you could be killing everything you put in there... creating new ammonia, and initiating a cycle if your biofilter/nitrification process hasn't been appropriately established.
2. Take ammonia reading after 15 mins (allows new/old water to mix a little). If ammonia level is reduced, you may be getting somewhere. If the ammonia level is not reduced, either your test kit is broken, or you may want to dig shallow graves for your corals.
3. Remove and thoroughly clean your filter with a vinegar/water solution and replace all the filters/media... I suspect some of the material/media from the "established" aquarium may be contributing to/not helping with your ammonia issue (e.g. if it's killing bacteria).
4. Reattach canister filter (still not recommended but that's all you have)
5. Take reading after the canister filter has run all the tank water through it (50gph filter on a 50gal tank would be read after about 1.5x the hourly rate to process the # of gals you have)
6. If there is increase in ammonia, you need to pull your live rock and scrub it with a brush to get as much dead material off as you can, then put it in a secondary (curing) container, filled with saltwater, heater and something to move the water around (possibly a canister filter). Place container in the dark for 2-4 weeks depending on where it's at in the cycle... take readings every couple days. After ammonia and nitrite are 0, put a cleaning crew in (mostly snails, maybe a hermit or two - they are just there to clean the rock).
7. If they survive for a week, you can probably move the rock and cleaning crew to the display tank (preferably with minimal air time.
8. Test water regularly at the display tank and the curing container.

-noimpact
 

noimpact

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Feb 7, 2015
8
0
0
california
I cycled the tank for a week with 2 previously established filters (I don't use one of them on the tank anymore, just used it to help seed the tank)
One week is just enough time to CREATE the ammonia via die-off/decomp from the live rock... Live rock is it's own seed - the filters were completely unnecessary in this regard.
 

FluffySackson

Gambusia
MFK Member
Aug 27, 2014
599
6
18
I've had 0.25ppm ammonia spikes that usually go away within hours having a large biofilter (I added the corals within a few days of the spike, unaware that it would become larger) Thankfully the cycle is finished (Borrowed some Fluval Bacteria mix from a neighbor) , 0 ammonia, 0 nitrite and about 20 nitrate. The coral lost of a few polyps but they're beginning to bloom again. Close call, but at least I learned something from this mistake.
 
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