Cycling 20 Nuvo

[MacAttack]

Picking up my 20 gallon nuvo, what’s the best way to get my tank cycling.?

[Daniel91]

Research. 🙂

 

Edit: Rock, SW & time would do the trick. There's several "loopholes" but seriously, search these forums - tons of posts with tips, tricks and whatever around the basics of cycling. 

[Nano Nano Boo Boo]

He’s researched, this is more or less a lesson. (I’m his dad) I want him to hear from experienced reefers the best way to cycle a tank. Means nothing coming from me. 

[MacAttack]

1 minute ago, Nano Nano Boo Boo said:

He’s researched, this is more or less a lesson. (I’m his dad) I want him to hear from experienced reefers the best way to cycle a tank. Means nothing coming from me. 

Thanks 

[KW NANOREEF]

As I told him outside today, if he wants to give his tank life very early on, the best thing to do would be to add a source of beneficial bacteria (biospira) to the tank, then to add a source of ammonia (a fish) to the tank so that the bacteria can survive. I suggest a clown because they are almost impossible to kill and are great fish in general. In all 6 years of fishkeeping (fresh and salt) I have never had a quick cycle product kill a fish. As long as you add a hardy fish, your tank should cycle in no time and you would have a fish to watch when it happens. @Nano Nano Boo Boo I hope this helps explain what biospira actually does for a cycling reef tank. Matter of fact you should continuously add beneficial bacteria to the tank after water changes. I’m looking forward to what he does with this tank! What light has he decided on?

[Nano Nano Boo Boo]

Longer the cycle the better for him. Needs to learn patience early. First tank ever for him so watching and learning will be a huge benefit. While it’s an amazing hobby that I’m pumped to have him a part of. We all know it can be frustrating sometimes. Hopefully between the two of us he will be golden. 

[Nano Nano Boo Boo]

I’m torn on lights....keeping an eye on Market Place. 

[KW NANOREEF]

2 minutes ago, Nano Nano Boo Boo said:

Longer the cycle the better for him. Needs to learn patience early. First tank ever for him so watching and learning will be a huge benefit. While it’s an amazing hobby that I’m pumped to have him a part of. We all know it can be frustrating sometimes. Hopefully between the two of us he will be golden. 

If everything is done correctly he should have his tank cycled in a matter of about 2 weeks with all live rock and live sand!

Just now, Nano Nano Boo Boo said:

I’m torn on lights....keeping an eye on Market Place. 

If you want less than $150 then go AquaMaxx nemolight or current USA ic loop

[Nano Nano Boo Boo]

Most likely. May do a Live/Dry combo. 

[KW NANOREEF]

Good idea. I did the same thing and love my tank setup. I had life in it after about a week and a half or two weeks! This will be fun. Weekend trips to blue star during the school year?

[MrObscura]

Well, there's a couple ways to go. Start will all live rock and pretty much skip cycling. Go with mostly dry and seed with a little live. Or go all dry rock and let nature do its thing.

 

The first is the fastest, and the last the slowest, with the middle option falling right in the, well, middle. They all have their pros and cons. Live rock come with a lot of hitch hikers, some welcome and even beneficial while others can be troublesome. 

 

Personally, I like the idea of controlling what goes into my tank as much as possible, so I went all dry rock and dosed pure ammonia.

 

It's, as mentioned, the slowest option, but Imo also the best. Not to mention the cheapest. 

 

 

 

[seabass]

I'm going to disagree (and add) a bit here.  First, I would never cycle a tank with a fish.  It simply isn't necessary, and it's hard (toxic) to the fish.  Sure some hardy fish can survive, but why put them through that?  There are other ways to cycle a tank (cure rock).

 

Personally, I prefer using live rock.  However, both of my tanks were started with 100% dry rock.  While you don't introduce pests with dry rock, you also don't get the biodiversity which can be very beneficial.  As mentioned by the others, a mix of live and dry rock is another viable option.

 

First, with dry rock, use a bottled nitrifying bacteria culture to seed the rock.  Then:

• Dose DrTim's Ammonium Chloride to 2 ppm of ammonia.
• Wait for ammonia to drop below 0.25 ppm.
• Repeat until the rock can process 2 ppm of ammonia, down to 0.25 ppm within 24 hours.

Then change out all of the water.  Monitor phosphate levels with a good low range test kit, as some dry rock will leach phosphate.

 

For live rock, after a couple of days, you simply wait for ammonia to become undetectable.  If nitrate is high after this, then change out the water.  You want to preserve the non-bacterial life on this rock, so (if possible) you shouldn't expose it to ammonia.

 

For a combination of dry rock and live rock, first prep the dry rock as outlined above.  Then you can add your live rock to seed your tank (following the instructions above).  This way you'll preserve the most beneficial life on the rock.

 

Then just add livestock slowly.  For live rock, I typically start with a cleanup crew.  Wait a week between new additions to allow the biofilter time to adjust to the changes.  Then add a small fish, wait, and so on.

 

For dry rock only, there is little for a cleanup crew to eat, so you may choose to start with a small fish along with a couple of omnivorous and carnivorous snails.  Again, add livestock slowly with wait periods to allow the bacteria to catch up.

[MrObscura]

Yea, don't do a fish in cycle. It's cruel and pointless. If you absolutely can't wait then go all live rock. Though based on my research the risk of bad hich hikers and the trouble they can be far outweighs the benefits imo. 

 

If you do go with dry rock and choose to use a bio booster, I recommend purple helix. It's from Atlantic Reef Conservation and is actual marine nitrifying bacteria and well as numerous species of coraline in purified seawater. They bottle it the day they ship it and some of every purchase goes toward reef conservation. The also sell dry and live rock(maricultured) but I wasn't aware of that at the time I ordered my rock, which came from reef cleaners, a sponsor here, and I am very please. 

 

I cycled the old fashioned way with nothing but pure ammonia from the hardware store(which is much cheaper than anything sold for the pet trade). Took about 4 weeks, then i simply added the purple helix as a booster before fish, mostly for the coraline. It allowed me to introduce a bunch of coraline without having to introduce any live rock since I don't plan to buy any frags on rock. Hell I rather not even put a plug in my tank if I can avoid it. 

 

Just realized I wrote a novel. Lol

[Clown79]

I much prefer starting my tank with liverock.

 

Easier cycling, usually a shorter cycle(possibly no cycle if its cured)

More diversity of life with liverock.

 

Or dryrock cycling - @seabass provided great instructions on the process.

[A Little Blue]

For my frag tank, I’ve used two MarinePure sphere balls from already established tank, several coral skeleton from crab tank, move few crabs to this tank and called it a day. Will change %100 water after 7 days and won’t even bother to test the water. Lol

[toddrparr]

When I started my 32 biocube, I added 20 lbs live sand, 25 lbs live rock and a bottle of turbo start. I had/have a few interesting hitchhikers (tiger tail cucumber, sponges and some mushrooms) that may have helped provide a bit of ammonia for the tank. After 2 weeks, I had my first trace of ammonia, 0.25 ppm. Did a 50% water change and 2 days later was back to 0 and have been there for 8 weeks. Added 2 clowns at the 4 week mark and a blenny at 6 weeks, all are happy, tank is 10 weeks old. Not too bad for a first try... Do your homework and KEEP A REEF JOURNAL documenting everything you do to the tank.

[seabass]

11 hours ago, MrObscura said:

I cycled the old fashioned way with nothing but pure ammonia from the hardware store (which is much cheaper than anything sold for the pet trade).

You want to make sure that the ammonia doesn't contain any scents or surfactants/detergents.  Typical household ammonia consists of 5 to 10% ammonium hydroxide which is diluted with water.  However, because it's used as a cleaner, purity isn't their top consideration.  It's probably fine, but it's likely not as pure as the reagent grade ammonium chloride (which is used by DrTim's Aquatics).

[MrObscura]

7 hours ago, seabass said:

You's want to make sure that the ammonia doesn't contain any scents or surfactants/detergents.  Typical household ammonia consists of 5 to 10% ammonium hydroxide which is diluted with water.  However, because it's used as a cleaner, purity isn't their top consideration.  It's probably fine, but it's likely not as pure as the reagent grade ammonium chloride (which is used by DrTim's Aquatics).

Yea as mentioned it was pure ammonia from the hardware store(janitorial strength) not the stuff from walmaft or grocery stores. It was from ace hardware to be exact and is the very ammonia recommended and used used by tons of people for cycling. I had enough to do a 55 and the reef for less than Tim's. 

 

OP if you do go the ammonia route make sure it's the red labeled janitorial strength from ace hardware if possible. If you can't get that make sure you shake the hell out of the bottle and no bubbles/foam appears. 

[seabass]

1 hour ago, MrObscura said:

Yea as mentioned it was pure ammonia from the hardware store (janitorial strength)

Pure by whose standards?  I assume you mean this one: Ace Clean Scent Ammonia 32 oz. Liquid

 

To me, it looks like it might scented (although I can't find the MSDS on it).  Again, janitorial strength doesn't necessarily have the same purity standards as reagent grade.  However, I've read a number of threads where people have used Ace ammonia (mostly before reagent grade ammonium chloride was readily available).  Sure it's $2.44 cheaper (which you'd probably come close to spending on gas).  Like I said, it's probably fine; but I'll continue to shell out the extra couple of bucks for reagent grade.  We spend a lot on our tanks, but it's your call.

[specore]

17 minutes ago, seabass said:

Pure by whose standards?  I assume you mean this one: Ace Clean Scent Ammonia 32 oz. Liquid

 

To me, it looks like it might scented (although I can't find the MSDS on it).  Again, janitorial strength doesn't necessarily have the same purity standards as reagent grade.  However, I've read a number of threads where people have used Ace ammonia (mostly before reagent grade ammonium chloride was readily available).  Sure it's $2.44 cheaper (which you'd probably come close to spending on gas).  Like I said, it's probably fine; but I'll continue to shell out the extra couple of bucks for reagent grade.  We spend a lot on our tanks, but it's your call.

I don't think it is actually scented.  As a matter of fact it smells like ass and will singe your nosehairs 🙂

[MrObscura]

It's definitely not scented and is absolutely pure as in its nothing but ammonia and water. It's not exactly a mystery.

 

Its widely recommended for cycling tanks because of this and is used by countless fish keepers.

 

At this point it kinda seems like you get a kick back peddling Dr Tim's. Lol

[Nano Nano Boo Boo]

I’ve never understood the ammonia route if you use live rock and sand. It works usually just as fast and natural.  

[seabass]

37 minutes ago, MrObscura said:

At this point it kinda seems like you get a kick back peddling Dr Tim's

$5 each time I mention DrTim's.  Oops, another finsky for me. 

 

Sometimes all of the ingredients aren't listed.  For example, you don't see any stabilizers listed on a bottle of hydrogen peroxide; however, they usually contain them (unless it is food grade).  But like I said repeatedly, it's probably fine.

 

16 minutes ago, Nano Nano Boo Boo said:

I’ve never understood the ammonia route if you use live rock and sand. It works usually just as fast and natural.  

It's only for dry rock.  Without it, you might not develop a biofilter.

 

 

[Nano Nano Boo Boo]

17 minutes ago, seabass said:

$5 each time I mention DrTim's.  Oops, another finsky for me. 

 

Sometimes all of the ingredients aren't listed.  For example, you don't see any stabilizers listed on a bottle of hydrogen peroxide; however, they usually contain them (unless it is food grade).  But like I said repeatedly, it's probably fine.

 

It's only for dry rock.  Without it, you might not develop a biofilter.

 

 

Gotcha. I think I’m going to ha a him seed his tank with 5-6 lbs if LR and dry the rest. Still messing around with details. Going to the LFS tomorrow to get things squared away. 

[MrObscura]

1 hour ago, seabass said:

$5 each time I mention DrTim's.  Oops, another finsky for me. 

 

 

 

Can you get me in on that action?