What will happen with cycle?

[schigara]

My tank is 75g with a 55 sump and has been running about 6 weeks with a deep sand bed and enough pure ammonia to reach 5.0 mg/l. I finally got 30lbs of live rock yesterday and put it in.

Just before I put the LR in, I checked the water....3.0 ammonia, nitrites maxed and nitrates at 10. Today my numbers are .25 ammonia, nitrites still maxed and nitrates 20. This is with a Tetratest drop tester.

PH is 8.0 and gravity is 1.024

Should I leave it alone for a while or should I add little more ammonia?
The LFS that sold me the LR advised me to use Kent Marine Tech CB daily.

 

[Max]

I wouldn't add anymore ammonia but, you might consider a water change to lower nitrites. It won't hurt your bacterial populations they can only eat so much . I wouldn't add any additives either until the cycle is over," just something to keep your ph and maybe ca levels up.

 

[schigara]

Thanks Max,

I was kinda thinking of a 20% water change but wanted to wait a day or 2 to see if the nitrites would drop on their own.

The tech cb is a 2 part alk and ca buffer. I don't have test kits for those yet so I will hold off using the buffers until I get the tests.

Since I am already seeing nitrites and nitrates from just having the DSB for 6 weeks and given that I only put the LR in yesterday, how long would you guess the cycle will take to complete?

I wouldn't add anymore ammonia but, you might consider a water change to lower nitrites. It won't hurt your bacterial populations they can only eat so much . I wouldn't add any additives either until the cycle is over," just something to keep your ph and maybe ca levels up.

 

[Max]

Ah dude. So sorry to say this but, I think you may have been the victim of some well questionable advise. If you didn't have l.r. in the tank when your cycle started you might need to recycle a little. You still have ammonia readings so it may be enough to help the bacterial population/infestation in the l.r. grow enought to filter your water. Most filtration is done in the l.r. the dsp mostly does denitrification. Watch your ammonia readings to answer your question if it hits 0 in a day or so you might consider restressing to .5 ppm and keep it there for four or five days so that your tank will be able to take initial stresses a little better. It should be over in 4-6 weeks .
sorry to be the bearer of bad tiddings/
Chris