I'm a little confused

[Detri]

I have had my tank running for under 4 weeks. My Ammonia dropped at around 6 days (normal from what I have read) But my Nitrite is at zero now and has been for a week and a half. I was expecting that to stay up for atleast another 2 to 3 weeks. My rock is from people I have met that I was asking questions about getting the tank started before I came here. I am told the rock is atleast a year old. Would this have something to do with it? Would the old hang on filters have anything to do with it?

I'm just concerned that I may have done something wrong, and hopeing that the tank just cycled faster and its ok.

And appauligizing for being a noob to I just want to have a tank like or atleast as healthy as all yours. Oh buy the way I used 3 diffrent brands of test kits and all produce the same result.

 

[big t]

If you start your tank with established rock and the rock is transported properly from say the fish store to you house properly, you will have from no cycle to a very short cycle. So it sounds pretty normal to me.

 

[Kensn]

If the rock was from established tanks, it is most likely that it didn't have a large die off as would uncured rock would. It sounds like the bacteria level in the rock was already established and you didn't have to wait for it to build up.

oops Tom beat me to it.....

 

[Detri]

Ok Thanks!!!! I am just being paranoid I guess. But I blew mt light budget on the test kits hahahaha. I'm going to do a water change and a little clean up tomorrow. and add a few snails and hermit crabs. See how they do and go from there.

 

[Krish]

Nothing to worry about Detri as Tom and Ken already said. That's quite normal in a case like yours.

 

[Scooterman]

One question to add, do you have a sand bed? I ask this because this would be the only other concern, typically a sb will take a long time to really get established. I think one thing most people don't realize about a new tank & the 6 week cycling is the LR. If you consider where the LR was gathered, then transported to a wholesaler then retail etc, by the time it gets to your tank you need weeks to let the rock recoup from the die off but if you get rock from an established tank already then you may not get much of a cycle at all the sb would be the only other thing to consider.

 

[Detri]

The sand bed is Aragonite from the sump of an established tank to

 

[clayswim]

If you want good coralline growth it's best to have low lighting in the beginning anyway; since coralline doesn't like light. It also cuts down on nuisance algae. Anything that comes from a mature tank will bring nitrifying bacteria with it; even those hokey looking castles and treasure chests (my apologies to anyone with hokey looking junk in their aquariums). When that's done, even if only temporary, it greatly helps to speed the process along.

Clayton

 

[Detri]

Well. I couldn't wait. I had to clean my tank and gave it a water change. My friend came over with some snails he wanted to get rid of from his tank (his breed and has to many) and dumped them in as a gift. I hear they are sensitive, so if they die I ave to iron out a few things. If they live I will add a Blenny or 2 in a couple weeks.

Thanks all for the responses. Makes me feel really good to have a healthy tank.