Cycling Time

[RobberyinCSharp]

Hi everyone.
I just decided to start a Nano tank that I'll be adding small anemone and corals to. No fish. The tank I have started doing this in was a planted tank that had been established (formerly with fish) for about eight months. When I decided to switch to salt water, I simply cleaned the filtration media off with tank water and added it back to the tank, then added live rock, sand, and salt water to the tank. I'm not trying to be impatient, but I am genuinely wondering if there's a difference between saltwater bacteria and freshwater bacteria, and if my tank could already be considered cycled.

I've tested the water parameters for the last few days and here is what I got:

Day 1:
NH4 - 0ppm
NO3 - 0-5ppm
NO2 - 0ppm
pH - 8.2

Day 2:
NH4 - .25ppm
NO3 - 10ppm
NO2 - 0ppm
pH - 8.2

Day 3:
NH4 - .25ppm
NO3 - 10ppm
NO2 - 0ppm
pH - 8.2

Day 4:
NH4 - .25ppm
NO3 - 15ppm
NO2 - 0ppm
pH - 8.2


Thoughts?

 

[lljdma06]

The presence of ammonia indicates that your tank isn't cycled yet. Pictures of the tank? I seriously doubt freshwater bacteria would survive in a saltwater environment. While the bacteria may serve similar functions, no, they are not interchangeable. At least this is my understanding of the subject.

Impatience isn't a great asset for this aspect of the hobby. I know you were just curious, so that's fine , but SW is a bit different from FW. Even when things are handled slowly and well, disasters can still happen.

How much LR did you add?

L