Do I need to cycle? Am I cycling?

LuckyCricket

Rock the Shocker
Aug 27, 2007
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For a few months I have been reading and gathering supplies for my 29 gal reef tank. I was planing on ordering live rock online but I saw on craigslist that someone was tearing down there tank and was selling the contents, so I decided to go for it.

I got around 30 lbs of live rock w/ some zoas, gsp, and two Kenya trees, 25 lbs of live sand, and 18 gal sump w/pump. The live rock and sand were only out of the water for maybe 10 sec. total before being put into a bucket w/water and then another 10 sec to be put in the tank.

I have been testing the water almost everyday for about a week and there was no ammonia spike or any nitrites. They have always tested zero, and today nitrates were at 5 ppm. Am I cycling, did I not need to cycle? Should I have started with live rock that wasn't cured first?

All I have in the tank are some snails that hitched along with the live rock, but I would like to add a few hermit crabs and a few more snails but don't know if I should. Well that it is thanks for reading my long post

LCM :frog:
 
I'd not have used sand from a tank I didn't know about. I'd not add any more stock to it. Frankly I recommend removing the corals to a QT with frequent water changes and cycle the display tank so that it will be able to support the corals and new life you add to it.
 
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