Do you water change during cycle?

[pjtech]

10lbs of live sand

and 10 lbs of cured rock

have been in tank for 3 days.

Do I ever do a water change

while tank cycles?

 

Thanks

Patjs

[fishbabies]

not unless you have a fish in the tank and it looks like it is about to die....and even then you are simply prolonging the cycle process and causing a longer period of stress for the fish....poor baby. The die-off from live rock and sand during cycling is actually a good thing beacuse it feeds the cycle.

[pjtech]

So just top off with DI/RO water

throughout the cycle and thats it?

 

Thanks

Patjs

[fishbabies]

you got it :-)

[~_~]

You always do water changes if the ammonia gets high, unless you prefer having the life on your rock die...

[JohnnyMTB]

What would be high enough ammonia to prompt a water change during cycling?

[seabass]

There is certainly debate on this question. Obviously without any ammonia, you won’t have a cycle, and since water changes can reduce ammonia it was thought that you shouldn’t change the water during the cycle (after all, you are only trying to keep bacteria alive). Others will tell you to do a water change only if your water smells bad.

 

However as ~_~ states, you are also trying to keep critters alive that are not yet visible. Most hitchhiking critters won’t become visible for a few weeks. Since you want to keep as many of them alive as you can, and since ammonia is highly toxic to most marine life, I feel that water changes during a cycle can be beneficial to the life in your tank.

 

Just like after your tank has matured, partial water changes will not eliminate your bacteria population. Bacteria reproduce very quickly so don’t worry about them as much as your hitchhikers.

 

If left alone, I believe that the cycle can feed on itself. The ammonia levels will cause some die off, which will increase ammonia, causing even more die off… Sure, the cycle will complete without water changes (with survivor hitchhikers), and its speculative what else might have survived the cycle if water changes were performed.

 

The other question becomes, do partial water changes impact cycle times. I believe they do, but I couldn’t tell you how. In theory, if you are reducing the bacteria population with a water change, that could lengthen the cycle; however, if you are reducing the die off of creatures on your rock, that could shorten it.

 

Therefore, I think that once you have enough ammonia to start a cycle (usually by introducing LR), you can start your routine weekly water changes. It also gets you used to maintaining this new tank. Just monitor the progress of the cycle and don’t add new livestock until after the cycle has completed.

[drdrew]

yes.

[JohnnyMTB]

Well explained answer Seabass. I'll be starting my cycling this weekend with LS/LR, so I'll start 10% wc's a week after. You do want to preserve as much life as possible on your rock and in your sand, so it makes sense not to let ammonia go through the roof ( or at least your cover glass!). Less ammonia theoretically can extend cycle time, but in trying to achieve a balance I think if you can preserve 10-25% more of your original life you'll end up with a more capable bio-filter, even if it means sitting on your hands during a longer cycle period.

[fishbabies]

if the tank does not have fish, i think the levels of ammonia and nitrite are so minimal that rock and sand critters can easily ride out the cycle. your tank does not need a certain level of ammonia before the bacteria kick in....just time. BUT....the higher your levels go....the more bacteria will start to develop so that when you eventually add a fish( = more ammonia) it is not like you are cycling all over again because you already have sufficient bacteria to handle the increased bioload. removing ammonia or anything that produces ammonia (fish included) is going to cause the bacteria presently at work to diminish. LR and LS critters are much hardier than fish in relation to the ammonia levels encountered during a LR and LS only cycle.

[fishbabies]

if your LR and LS critters include a mantis ...you might even want to kick the cycle up notch and consider ####ing in your tank....wink-wink

[Xanareef]

It was explained to me once that a level of 1ppm ammonia is sufficient to cycle your tank, and not kill everything that's "good"

 

I forget who told me that though =/