Reef Tank Cycle Chart
 

Here is a chart of my current 75 gallon reef tank cycling. Cycle looks good, the nitrates bloomed today in a big way... I used a cup of sand from my 200 gallon reef tank and Stability to get things going. I also don't believe in cycling with fish, so I used Dr. Tim's ammonia to feed the tank. Makes things move much quicker and isn't cruel to the fish.

Looks like progress. The SG is a bit high, if I am reading the number correctly.

Yup, the last reading was 1.031, mostly due to evaporation. I'll bring it back down with some top off water.

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I would never recommend anyone bring the ammonia to 5ppm..
1-2ppm is plenty..
Too late now but maybe for your next tank you won't go so high..

You are just going to need to do a crap ton of water changes to bring your sky high nitrate levels down..

Good luck..

Yup, as soon as the ammonia and nitrites are at/close to zero then I will do a 70% water change to get those nitrates down!

And probably more after that..
If you are lucky your first water change will drop you below 50ppm ;)

No doubt. :)

Those nitrates are not your tanks actual nitrates levels. All test kits measure nitrites and nitrates together and If I remember the formula true nitrates should be about 25-30ppm.
nitrates get broken down to nitrites and are then measured. The nitrate reduction process isn't 100% effective so nitrites have a proportionally higher impact on nitrate readings.
Nitrites are not harmful to fish in saltwater. In fact you can start water changes now as ammonia has hit 0 and bring nitrite and nitrate down to acceptable range.
50% water change will bring nitrites down to 5ppm giving that bacteria a little easier task will drop nitrates down to half as well till nitrites go to 0 then you will be able to see the true nitrates in your tank.

For those wondering how the math works...
1ppm NH3/NH4 gives you 2.7ppm NO2 and 3.6ppm NO3.

Yup, that's 100% correct. I dosed another 2ppm ammonia and in two days the ammonia went back down to zero, nitrites are zero and nitrates are approx 20. So I'm doing a large water change this week, test again and that should be good to go. :)

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your tank is ready, cycle is complete. I wouldnt dose ammonia anymore. Just a few water changes and start adding fish. Inverts and corals come in later when nitrates are ideally 5-10ppm stable and phos under 0.05. Good luck and safe reefing.

Thanks. 3 days ago I added 2ppm ammonia, great to see the ammonia and nitrite levels fall quickly after that. Ammonia is zero and I tested nitrites with my ULR checker and they are .63. Did a 40% water change this morning, will test again and then 1 fish to start.

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Sounds reasonable, although I might want for a day or two of zero nitrite before trying a fish. Nitrite is not toxic at the levels we tend to see, but it'll give a bit more time for all the bacterial phases to get in good shape.

I totally agree. I will,probably wait another week or so.

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