How Long Does It Take?

[weezawoo]

Got my rock on Saturday. I am just wondering roughly how long it take for some kind of algae to appear so I know I am having a cycle or how long I wait with no algae to know I won’t have a cycle?

Not that I’m in any rush to spend money on anything, just wasn’t sure without testing the water what to wait for!

Thanks

 

[MrLiam]

Mine appeared in abot 5 days but I cant be on here too long im at school woops

 

[dayzofspeed]

why would it cycle, didnt it come straight out of an established tank and was very quickly put into yours, i'm not expecting any cycle at all with mine as it was transported in its own water from an established tank also

 

[weezawoo]

Yeah it was thats y i am wondering what to look out for as i dont have test kits. Im getting tested at lfs to check when ready for cuc. Will get test kits later on.

Get back to work naughty! Lol

 

[dayzofspeed]

who? me or you?........ i finished for the day and am chillin the drinks vending machine was out of order so i refused to work as that contravenes my basic human rights

 

[guidedbyechoes]

Either throw in a prawn or some fish flakes and that should get it going.

 

[woody88]

If you put the rock in the weekend then test or get it tested for ammonia, nitrite, nitrate and ph.

If ammonia and nitrite are zero, nitrate 10 or below and ph around 8.0 - 8.3 then your good to go adding cuc.

If the rock was transported in water and wasnt out the water for more than 15 - 20 min then chances are you won't get a cycle so don't expect to see diatoms anywhere.

Either way test results will prove wether or not your tank is cycling.

Normally if the rock had any die off you would normally have some sort of reading for ammonia or nitrite or both after 48 hours give or take.

TEST IT!!!!!!!!!!!! lol

 

[HappyGeorge]

Either throw in a prawn or some fish flakes and that should get it going.

No don't do that until you know what's happenning. As Days said it may not cycle at all, none of my 3 marine tanks ever did. Throwing in a nitrate factory might help if everything is dead and you're starting again but without a CUC the poor little critters in your LR will have to cope with a whole prawn and you may just end up causing a nitrate problem. Wait for test kits, if the rock is mature and there's no die off then all will be fine and any Hitch Hikers will happily graze on the LR without any food being added. If there is die off then that will initiate the cycle anyway don't add anything.

 

[weezawoo]

Thanks guys!
I will take it on Friday for a test of it all, if it is all ok I think I might buy a hermit or 2 just to look at haha
I didn’t want to get it tested if I was being hasty and should wait another week.
Most likely no cycle due to being transported in water but then again you never know what will happen!
If there is no cycle this time hopefully means the next bit from him won’t either as it will come in the same way!
I was purely asking so I knew what signs to look out for! (I may be met by bad stuff when I get home one day lol)
I am saving for the test kits, got KH atm so will build up slowly. Going for Tropic Marin tho! Let the comments begin

I will let you know my test results

 

[fishy55599]

trust me you dont want it, got loads of diatoms and stuff