Refresher course on cycling tank

[ReefSafeSolutions]

Hi Gang,

 

Been a while since I posted.  I started my tank over and I'm just about done with the cycle.  I used Dr. Tim's bacteria and Ace Hardware ammonia.  

 

I just wanted to make sure things are heading the right direction.  My tank appears to be able to process out 1-2ppm of ammonia in 24 hours.  I haven't checked nitrites or nitrates yet, but I suspect nitrites will be at 0 if I can get ammonia to 0 in 24 hours.  

 

Anyways, if nitrites are 0 after 24 hours, I'm good to go, yes?  The main reason I ask is because I read something about needing nitrates to get to 0, which I thought was strange because in our small systems, nitrates don't really get removed chemically...I always thought we removed nitrates via water changes and/or skimming.

 

Also, will it be detrimental to the established bacteria if I do a 100% water change before adding my critters from my previous system?

 

Thanks!

[Clown79]

Nitrates don't process to 0 on there own and 0 nitrates isn't beneficial.

 

Most do a waterchange after cycling to reduce the high nitrates to a more acceptable number like 5-10

[ReefSafeSolutions]

That's what I thought.

 

I dosed 2ppm of ammonia 24 hours ago, it's down to 0 now.   Nitrites are at roughly .25ppm.  Should be able to add fish by the end of the week, maybe mid-week if I'm lucky.

[Mido]

hi there, 

i am new too, used Dr Tim's bacteria and ammonia 

waited till nitrates was about 20-40, then did a 50% water change then added two small clowns, they did great , i was doing water 10% water change twice a week  for two more weeks added my snails and a week later added beginner corals, 

my nitrates now is at 10 at the end of my week and i do a 10% water change, 

mind u i feed once a day LS marine pellets

water change will not affect the bacteria population 

hope this helps and all the best

 

 

[ReefSafeSolutions]

Yep that's about where I'm at, 20-40 nitrates.  I retested my nitrites because my kits are a little old, and they indeed are at 0.  So, I picked up my corals from the fish store yesterday, I'm hoping they look OK today.  The clownfish I had didn't survive in the store (I'm guessing they sold it..) but there's a local breeder who sells clowns for cheap.

 

I'll post a new tank thread soon.

[OPtasia]

Those nitrates sound a little high. Your corals will do better < 10 ppm nitrates IMHO.

[brandon429]

you listed 90% of the required actions to stamp a cycle closed. the other ten percent is submersion duration

 

 

if you have been underwater beyond 30 days with those readings, change out the water and begin light reefing. always add fish only after completing the fallow period.

 

 

if you have been underwater only 5-10 days with those readings, then wait till 30, bc the nitrate readings can be produced by bacteria added to solution and those can't take a full water change, but after 30 days they've migrated to the substrate where 20 full water changes wouldn't uncycle it. submersion time is needed.

 

at no stage does nitrite even factor into any of it, if you want simple cycling. I would never consult a nitrite reading in a cycle, due to being prone to misreads and errors and the param not mattering for a reef anyway. If your ammonia was never spiked, by rule your nitrite hasn't either.

 

ammonia and submersion times along with boosts used or not are the only two required factors to know the status of a cycle. the way I see the 2018 refresher course for cycling is its based on one param, not three, and a known duration time it takes for bacteria to migrate from in suspension to the surfaces. even ammonia is not required to know...submersion time is the most important of all.

 

the only reason we discuss ammonia testing in a huge cycling thread at R2R is because reefers want something to tinker with

 

it always behaves the same after a given time underwater, per boosters used. that's why we don't have to test for it, if a reefer has 30 days to wait.

 

online charts show how much ammonia to start off with, per volume, for a testless cycle and the nitrite ranges are already known from the starting ammonia, for those who care about nitrite. 

[ReefSafeSolutions]

45 minutes ago, OPtasia said:

Those nitrates sound a little high. Your corals will do better < 10 ppm nitrates IMHO.

If they were SPS I'd be worried, but they are LPS and these specimens tend to like dirtier water.

 

Regarding the underwater period...I added water, ammonia, and bacteria right around the middle of December.  It has definitely been more than 30 days and my corals only appear to be showing the usual symptoms of stress after a move, nothing out of the ordinary.  They were pretty slimy yesterday but that has cleared up and they have all opened up today.

[OPtasia]

You'd also want to consider what higher nitrates and phosphates are going to mean to algae growth.

[ReefSafeSolutions]

I'm all too familiar with algae growth...it's what caused a tank reboot!  Haha.

 

Luckily I should have 0 phosphates right now.  I've only dosed pure ammonia to the tank during the cycle, no food or anything that would contain phosphates.  We just replaced the RODI membranes so no phosphates should be entering the system from our water either.  After doing a couple water changes, nitrates are down to 10ppm, so without phosphates, algae growth shouldn't be a problem yet.

 

I'm doing another water change this evening, and then picking up a pair of mocha clowns later this evening.  Phosphates will likely begin entering the system tomorrow after feeding for the first time.