# Cycle Stalled?



## solarz (Aug 31, 2010)

It's been two weeks since I've started the cycle, and ammonia has stayed at 2ppm, with 0 nitrites registering.

This is a 79g tank with ~10 lbs of live rock from an established tank. I've also added 2 cups of live sand from that tank.

I did make the mistake of forgetting to add dechlor to the water when I first put in the live rocks. I rectified that a day later, and added some more live sand. Then I realized that I forgot to turn on the heater.

How big of an effect would those mistakes have on the cycle? Is it normal to take this long? I had assumed that with 'cycled' live rocks, the tank would cycle much faster?

Should I buy some fresh LR from the LFS to help with the cycling, or should I just wait some more?


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## altcharacter (Jan 10, 2011)

My opinion:

You're alright. The rocks they ship from across the ocean aren't heated and they're just fine. There had to be some beneficial bacteria left over from not being heated since it wasn't freezing but more room temp. More than likely the water was around 70 degrees or so which won't really damage a tank much. What is really bad is heat! Put your tank up to 82 or 83 degrees and watch everything melt.

I once forgot a blood shrimp in my car during january for 8 hours and when I got home the bag was almost frozen. I felt so bad for the guy but I put him in the tank so the crabs could eat. Wouldn't you know it, as soon as the crabs headed towards him he bolted the other way!!

Put something in there and see if it lives. Like a few snails or something.


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## solarz (Aug 31, 2010)

Okay, just checked nitrites last night, and it's off the charts. Ammonia, however, is still at 2ppm. 

Hopefully, it's not going to take another 2 weeks, or more, for nitrite and ammonia to both go down...


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## altcharacter (Jan 10, 2011)

and now that you've said that....it'll be 4 weeks


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## solarz (Aug 31, 2010)

altcharacter said:


> and now that you've said that....it'll be 4 weeks


Come on, you lazy bacteria! Reproduce!


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## solarz (Aug 31, 2010)

The nitrite went down earlier this week. I waited a few more days to transfer the rest of my LR over along with the 3 fishes.

Looks like the whole thing took almost 4 weeks!


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## Letigrama (Jul 6, 2008)

solarz said:


> It's been two weeks since I've started the cycle, and ammonia has stayed at 2ppm, with 0 nitrites registering.
> 
> This is a 79g tank with ~10 lbs of live rock from an established tank. I've also added 2 cups of live sand from that tank.
> 
> ...


Just my rookie humble opinion, but why only 10 pounds of live rock??? I got 15 pounds on my 25g. Just saying. Live rock is great in all kinds of way. Can you get any water from an existing tank already? I always do that when cycling a new tank... did you try the raw shrimp?


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## solarz (Aug 31, 2010)

Letigrama said:


> Just my rookie humble opinion, but why only 10 pounds of live rock??? I got 15 pounds on my 25g. Just saying. Live rock is great in all kinds of way. Can you get any water from an existing tank already? I always do that when cycling a new tank... did you try the raw shrimp?


Because that's what I had at hand. I currently only have 1 damsel and 2 ocellaris, so I don't need a whole lot of LR right now. Now that I've moved everything over, I have about 20 lbs of LR + 20 lbs of lace rock.

I didn't use raw shrimp. I used cooked lobster legs.


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## BettaBeats (Jan 14, 2010)

10 lbs of live rock is way under what would be required for your tank. The volume of water compared to bacteria culture is out of proportion and will result in a longer cycle. Wait until the bacteria establishes in your sandbed and you will be fine


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