Brent27 Posted November 6, 2018 Share Posted November 6, 2018 I'm starting a 25 gallon reef tank after being out of the hobby for a while. After doing a significant amount of research this is how I plan on cycling my tank, combing ideas from a bunch of different sources. Products/materials/equipment being used for cycle: - Aquaclear 110 with DIY refugium mod (using an LED grow light ordered from Amazon) - The ultimate refugium starter pack (small size) from Algae Barn (includes nitrifying bacteria, pods, phytoplankton, chaeto, and Marine Pure cubes) - Dr. Tim's ammonium chloride - Frozen mysis shrimp - Assorted types of dry rock (20-30 lbs? I didn't weigh it) - 15lbs Fiji pink dry sand Cycle timeline: Week 1 - Tank full with water, rock, and sand. Add nitrifying bacteria and ammonium chloride following recommended doses. Filter holding a sponge, heater, and marine pure. No lights on. Week 2 - Add pods, phytoplankton, and chaeto. Turn on refugium light for 8 hours at night. Ghost feed 1/2 a cube of blended mysis (for faster decay). Week 3 and 4 - Continue ghost feeding. Display lights still off. After week 4 - Test for ammonia, nitrate, and phosphate. I'm assuming ammonia will be 0, just testing for certainty. If there's higher than desirable nitrate and phosphate I'll do a large water change. Cycle should be complete. At this point I plan on turning the lights on and adding fish and a clean up crew. The chaeto should be established and able to handle a decent bioload from the daily ghost feeding. The beneficial bacteria and micro fauna should also be pretty established by this point. With the clean up crew (planning on just adding a few trochus and nassarius snails), established bacteria/micro fauna, and chaeto, I think I have a good chance of avoiding any crazy algae problems that most tanks face in the beginning. By month 2 if I don't have any algae or nutrient problems I plan on adding more fish gradually and the first corals. What are your thoughts on cycling a tank like this? Is there anything that could be improved or removed? 1 Quote Link to comment
WV Reefer Posted November 6, 2018 Share Posted November 6, 2018 2 minutes ago, Brent27 said: I'm starting a 25 gallon reef tank after being out of the hobby for a while. After doing a significant amount of research this is how I plan on cycling my tank, combing ideas from a bunch of different sources. Products/materials/equipment being used for cycle: - Aquaclear 110 with DIY refugium mod (using an LED grow light ordered from Amazon) - The ultimate refugium starter pack (small size) from Algae Barn (includes nitrifying bacteria, pods, phytoplankton, chaeto, and Marine Pure cubes) - Dr. Tim's ammonium chloride - Frozen mysis shrimp - Assorted types of dry rock (20-30 lbs? I didn't weigh it) - 15lbs Fiji pink dry sand Cycle timeline: Week 1 - Tank full with water, rock, and sand. Add nitrifying bacteria and ammonium chloride following recommended doses. Filter holding a sponge, heater, and marine pure. No lights on. Week 2 - Add pods, phytoplankton, and chaeto. Turn on refugium light for 8 hours at night. Ghost feed 1/2 a cube of blended mysis (for faster decay). Week 3 and 4 - Continue ghost feeding. Display lights still off. After week 4 - Test for ammonia, nitrate, and phosphate. I'm assuming ammonia will be 0, just testing for certainty. If there's higher than desirable nitrate and phosphate I'll do a large water change. Cycle should be complete. At this point I plan on turning the lights on and adding fish and a clean up crew. The chaeto should be established and able to handle a decent bioload from the daily ghost feeding. The beneficial bacteria and micro fauna should also be pretty established by this point. With the clean up crew (planning on just adding a few trochus and nassarius snails), established bacteria/micro fauna, and chaeto, I think I have a good chance of avoiding any crazy algae problems that most tanks face in the beginning. By month 2 if I don't have any algae or nutrient problems I plan on adding more fish gradually and the first corals. What are your thoughts on cycling a tank like this? Is there anything that could be improved or removed? Cut the ghost feeding out and you’ve got a plan. It’s just not necessary and can only cause problems. 🙂 Quote Link to comment
Brent27 Posted November 6, 2018 Author Share Posted November 6, 2018 Just now, WV Reefer said: Cut the ghost feeding out and you’ve got a plan. It’s just not necessary and can only cause problems. 🙂 Cool, thank you for the reply 🙂 would the chaeto survive without the ghost feeding? 1 Quote Link to comment
Clown79 Posted November 6, 2018 Share Posted November 6, 2018 If you are dosing ammonia then there is no need for ghost feeding all it will do is add waste leading to algae. Follow Dr tim's dosing instructions. Sponges aren't advised to be used in reefs 1 Quote Link to comment
WV Reefer Posted November 6, 2018 Share Posted November 6, 2018 1 minute ago, Brent27 said: Cool, thank you for the reply 🙂 would the chaeto survive without the ghost feeding? Cheato doesn’t eat mysis so you’ll be good. Quote Link to comment
Brent27 Posted November 6, 2018 Author Share Posted November 6, 2018 3 minutes ago, Clown79 said: If you are dosing ammonia then there is no need for ghost feeding all it will do is add waste leading to algae. Follow Dr tim's dosing instructions. Sponges aren't advised to be used in reefs Ok I'll take out the sponge. Is any mechanical filter media necessary? Quote Link to comment
HarryPotter Posted November 6, 2018 Share Posted November 6, 2018 6 minutes ago, WV Reefer said: Cut the ghost feeding out and you’ve got a plan. It’s just not necessary and can only cause problems. 🙂 I "only" disagree. I think ghost feeding is absolutely necessary towards the end of week 3/4, to ensure that the tank can handle a small bioload. 2 Quote Link to comment
Brent27 Posted November 6, 2018 Author Share Posted November 6, 2018 4 minutes ago, WV Reefer said: Cheato doesn’t eat mysis so you’ll be good. Makes sense lol. The thinking behind it was the food would break down and lead to excess nitrate and phosphate which the chaeto would uptake. It was more a test to see if I could maintain low nutrients with the chaeto before adding fish. 1 Quote Link to comment
Clown79 Posted November 6, 2018 Share Posted November 6, 2018 21 minutes ago, Brent27 said: Ok I'll take out the sponge. Is any mechanical filter media necessary? Filter floss is used to trap particles. Its changed out twice a week 1 Quote Link to comment
WV Reefer Posted November 6, 2018 Share Posted November 6, 2018 23 minutes ago, Brent27 said: It was more a test to see if I could maintain low nutrients with the chaeto before adding fish. You have more experience than a beginner so go for it....... if it’s in the name of science. 😄 Quote Link to comment
Brent27 Posted November 6, 2018 Author Share Posted November 6, 2018 7 minutes ago, WV Reefer said: You have more experience than a beginner so go for it....... if it’s in the name of science. 😄 Haha well this will be my first "real" reef tank I just did tons of research before starting anything. I will probably go through with ghost feeding after the first week of using the ammonium chloride and leave updates of how the process works out. Let the science begin!! 1 Quote Link to comment
SaltyBuddha Posted November 7, 2018 Share Posted November 7, 2018 I used ammonia and tims to start my 10 gallon tank up. Took about 4 weeks before it could reduce 2ppm of ammonia to nitrates in 12 hours. For my 20 I just threw rocks in, added some ammonia and let it do its thing. Took 6 weeks with this method. Here is my 10 gallons cycle. Graphing the cycle gave me something to do with the tank while it was cycling. Fun project for sure. Quote Link to comment
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