I am cycleing my 150 gallon tank using raw shrimp you would find at the supermarket, also filled a hair net with gravel from a 75 gallon thats been going for 20 years. I took the filter sponge out of the hob filter on the 75 that hasnt been washed in years, that thing was pure black. I put that in the wet/dry of the 150. Now how long should my cycle take? I have 6 shrimp in right now, and when I get home ill turn the heater up to 85.

Hopefully im giving all the info I need.

P.S. Dont say when the nitrites hit 0, I know this

With using filter material from an estabished tank it could take 2 weeks or more depending on the tank. There is really no set time to say.

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Depends on the system.. My 55fw took 4 weeks... My 2.5gal fw took a week. My 20gal sw took two weeks.. My 10 gal brackish took 6 weeks... My 75 gal sw took 2 weeks..... Seeding it will cut some time off.. Be sure you have everything flowing as if u would with fish in it... I really think the higher flow sped up the bacteria establishment.. Yea i know u dont wanna hear the nitrates thing, but if there arent any plants u may get a false reading as those shrimp u have will continue to biodegrade.. Leave them in for a week, remove them and watch it for a few days.. If it looks good, put a couple fish in and continue watching... I would bet you'll have it cycled in two weeks. but dont add too many fish right after, you'll want to establish it a bit better before you add all of them. luck!

i have seen cycles from 3 weeks to 9 weeks and still not get cycled, there is not specific time line for cycling a tank

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SaltWater section, so you have saltwater I take it? You use fully cured Live Rock? This will cycle your tank in about a weeks time.

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no, never read anything bout using live rock? I want to get some, not 150 lbs or more but like a 50 lb box. anyway how do i do this?

In a saltwater tank, using 1lb of Live Rock per gallon and a Skimmer rated at or above your water volume, and there is no need for a filter, which harbors Nitrates. But, if your asking how do I go about Curing or adding Live Rock to your system. Just put it in. If your buying Fully Cured Live Rock, it already has all the bacteria needed to sustain the tank and will make your tank livable in about a weeks time.

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Its day 8 and levels have not gone up, however, My nitrate in the tank is 10-15. My tap water nitrate is 0. Possible my levels wont go up cause I have that well established filter and bag of gravel?

Could be. And those are good Trate numbers also.

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With plenty of algae (or macros in a refugium) it is entirely possible to have a cycle with little or no ammonia/nitrIte spikes but possibily an initial nitrate spike.

then as aerobic bacteria build up and consume the ammonia/nitrItes the nitrates dip down. IME about 3-4 week later with light bioload.

actually and FWIW the cycle never stops. Just the parameter spikes.


my .02

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levels never went up. its been 2 weeks so i gotta assume its cycled. I took the shrimp out a week a go and the levels stayed good. I took 8 fish from the 75, the tank the filter came from and put them in there. blue hippo, flame angel, pink tail trigger, hawaiian lei trigger, yellow tang, 2 domino damsels, tomato clown, should be ok?

To many at one time. Your tank has cycled, but its not ready to that many fish at one time. They should have been added slowly, over a period of a few weeks. But.....Watch your water parameters now, you may see new cycle.

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It depends a lot on how much live rock you add and if it is cycled or not. You can also add Seachem's Stability product to speed up the process.

Here's a helpful article on cycling a saltwater aquarium
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