Nitrogen Cycle

[polok121]

My tank is about a week old. well i have been checking my Ammonia level, about daily and its been at zero. Today i decided to measure, just for fun the Nitrite level. and that of course was also zero. Nitrate on the other by my surprise was an orangish color the scale says its at roughly 10 mg/l. so I guess my question is did my tank cycle? i still can see any life on my rocks. my salinity is 1.022 my pH is 8.0. Any advice? am i ready to put fish in?:eusthink

 

[polok121]

also some more info. I have about 24lbs of LR and i have not added any source of Ammonia yet, but when i started this tank i bought aragonite "Nature's Ocean" brand. also my pH is 8.0, is that ok? and if not can i use that pH buffer stuff on a Nano?

 

[KidNano]

0 ammonia and 0 nitrite with a nitrate reading to me says the tank has cycled. What size tank do you have? did you use live sand?

I would do two things.
1. bring your salinity up to 1.026. This is what natural sea water typically reads. I've found that it also helps maintain the proper calc, mag, alk and PH levels.
2. Wait at least another week just to be sure. Paitence pays off in this game.

Good luck and post some pics.

 

[polok121]

Well i did use that "Nature's Ocean" brand substrate. so would that throw off my cycle readings? 1.026, huh interesting :idea:

 

[TimSchmidt]

I keep my water at 1.026 as well, but there is an acceptable range. For reefs I tend to want to get as close to natural sea water so I don't have to supplement my calcium and alk.

Your tank is always cycling. It just seems you didn't have a large spike to start off the initial nitrogen cycle. Time is always good, you will get an algae bloom eventually. That is normally a good indication to me to add a clean up crew and move on the next step. You can almost NEVER go too slow in this hobby.