Is my tank done cycling?

B

bolis03

I have been out of the hobby for some time and am a little rusty. I need some advice, so if someone could help me I would really appreciate it.

About a month ago I added about 10lbs of died rock /sand and seed them with 10lbs of each. About a week the live rock started to grow a brown hard incrusting allege. The allege is not slimy, nor hair like. The LED light was only turned only for about 3hrs a day. I took a water sample to a LFS for testing and all parameters are at 0. So am confused those this mean my tank has finished cycling? How soon can I start adding a cleaing crew?

My tank is a shallow closed loop system
Tank size: 48”L x 12”Wx10”T
Total Gallons: Aprox. 12
Lighting: (2) Aqua Illumination Nano
Filters: Live rock and sand. No sump or other mechanical filtration
 
I will assume you thought the die off on the live rock would cause the cycle. If you have not had a ammonia spike I would not trust it has cycled. Normally tossing in a dead shrimp would start the cycle. However, with no sump or filter I see regular water changes in your future. don't add anything until you know it has cycled correctly. Once it has cycled, add very slow, too much on a small tank can cause the tank crash. I suggest a HOB filter.
 
I would personally feed the tank a bit of flake food daily until you see nitrates. When you get a nitrate reading you can be sure the cycle is complete.

Also, those tank diminsions are closer to 25 gallons I believe.
 
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