Cycle already done?

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Peedub20

AC Members
Aug 13, 2006
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This really confused me.

I set up my 40 gallon tank on Tuesday of this week. I put the live sand in and about 15 gallons of water.

Yesterday I filled it the rest of the way up and put 40# of live rock in.

I checked my ammonia and nitrates today. I got 0 ppm for ammonia, and between 10 and 20 ppm on my nitrates.

Is it possible it already cycled? The rock is cured, but thought I would get some type of ammonia out of it. When I saw that I had nitrates I was a bit confused.
 
Personally, with it only being a few days I'd get a prawn from the supermarket, put it in a bit of pantyhose or cheesecloth and toss it in the tank. Leave it there until the ammonia hits 2+ and then take it out and let the tank finish cycling.
 
Shouldn't my live rock and live sand cycle my tank for me though?

That is how I cycled my 26 Bowfront.
 
If the rock is cured there won't be a lot of die off for the bacteria to adjust to. I'd personally not trust a tank that cycled in just a few days. Even if is cycled it won't hurt to put the shrimp in and see if the tank can handle it.
 
I chopped up a prawn and monitored my levels even after my cycle was done just to be sure about my levels. If your cycle is truly done another couple of days won't hurt.
 
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