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Hello I’m new to this forum I’m setting up a 40 gallon reef tank it’s an all in one system that is going to be ran with light filtration I have a question regarding rocks tho I had a previous tank with some rocks that got infested with GHA and so I’ve been researching a lot on how to clean that, I ended up just putting hydrogen peroxide on them and rinsing them a ton. they looked okay but after putting them into the tank I noticed some residue. Just wondering if that’s a big deal and any further precautions I may want to take I plan on cycling for 2 months before adding anything besides CUC. Any help is much appreciated
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A Guide to Cycling This topic is almost as old as reef keeping itself. But within the past decade, governments have placed restrictions on live rock collection, and there's been a shift to starting new reef tanks with dry rock. In this guide, I'll discuss the nitrogen cycle, as well as methods to cycle both live and dry rock (something which every new hobbyist should be aware of). I'll be using the following definitions: Bio-load noun - The wastes produced by the biological organisms in your tank Biofilter noun - The nitrifying bacteria which make up the nitrogen cycle Curing verb - The process of removing dead organics (an ammonia source) from your rock Cycle noun - The nitrogen cycle Cycle verb - To establish the nitrogen cycle And even if commonly used, I'll try to avoid using confusing terms like "cycle" to describe an ammonia spike. The Nitrogen Cycle The nitrogen cycle doesn't change, so I won't spend a lot of time on this well documented topic. When it comes to the cycle, we are primarily concerned about nitrifying bacteria and ammonia. However, nitrite and nitrate are also part of the nitrification process: Ammonia is produced by animals, including the breakdown of dead organic matter by heterotrophic bacteria. Nitrifying bacteria oxidizes the ammonia into nitrite (which isn't considered toxic in marine aquariums). Then nitrite is oxidized into nitrate (a critical nutrient for all photosynthetic life). Finally, excess nitrate can be exported via water changes. Nitrate can also be taken up by phytoplankton, macroalgae, seagrass, and animals with zooxanthellae (a symbiotic algae living within corals and other "photosynthetic" animals). More advanced methods of nitrate reduction include: supporting consumption by dosing liquid carbon, and by providing anaerobic zones for denitrifying bacteria. Notes: Nitrifying bacteria reside on the hard surfaces in your tank (like rocks, sand, equipment, and tank walls). Therefore, water changes will not remove this critical bacteria. In addition, you can transfer the biofilter from one tank to another tank by moving the rocks, filter media, etc. Cycling Live Rock Rock that has been taken from the ocean, or from another reef tank, is called live rock. When you purchase it, the nitrifying bacteria get transferred along with the rock. Plus, it usually contains more than just bacteria (including things like pods, worms, and coralline algae). This biodiversity can often help prevent pests like dinoflagellates from taking over without biological competition. For this type of rock, we should generally wait until total ammonia drops to a safe range (of 0.25 ppm or less) before adding livestock. Note: Fully cured live rock will produce less ammonia than it can process, so it won't elevate ammonia levels. Uncured Live Rock Since collection restrictions have made it harder to acquire uncured live rock from the ocean, you might find aquacultured and maricultured rock to be acceptable alternatives. To keep costs down, live rock is often shipped to you (or your local store) wet, but not submerged in water. This usually results in some die off, which will produce ammonia. As the name suggests, uncured live rock has not gone through the curing process (where heterotrophic bacteria breaks down the dead organic compounds). But generally, there's already enough nitrifying bacteria on these rocks, so it's just a matter of waiting until the dead organics are broken down and ammonia reaches safe levels (which could take a few weeks). During this time, there are usually temporary spikes in both ammonia and nitrite. The following graph represents a typical cycle when using uncured live rock: Figure 2: Nitrogen Cycle With Ammonia Spike[1] Note: Ammonia levels might remain slightly elevated following an ammonia spike. In addition (like in the ocean), tanks with livestock will always have some level of total ammonia, even if it's not detectable by our test kits. Cured Live Rock This rock has already been cured; so it has little to no die off, and is capable of processing more ammonia than it produces. On the other hand, rock which hasn't been fully cured, or has experienced die off during transport, can produce elevated ammonia levels. If it does, simply wait until total ammonia reaches a safe range (of 0.25 ppm or less) before slowly adding livestock. Cycling Dry Rock Dry rock is a term used for any reef rock which is currently dry. It doesn't contain any marine life (including nitrifying bacteria to process ammonia). This rock could have been manufactured or mined from the ground, or have come from someone else's tank or collected from the ocean (and then dried out). Because of this, it might or might not have dead organic matter on it. If you have any question about whether or not your rock might contain dead organics, I recommend testing it, and curing it if necessary. You can test it by soaking it in some water for a few days. If the water becomes discolored or starts to smell, the organics are probably starting to break down (and ammonia is being produced). You can test the water for ammonia to be certain. Curing Dry Rock If it turns out that your rock has dead organic matter on it, you should cure it like you would cycle uncured live rock. When you are done, and depending on how much ammonia was produced, it should have a working biofilter capable of handling a light bio-load. Adding Nitrifying Bacteria You can use a bottled bacteria culture (such as Instant Ocean BIO-Spira) to introduce or add nitrifying bacteria strains to your dry rock. The bacteria is immediately capable of processing ammonia, even when it's still free floating in the water column. And within 5 days, the bacteria should colonize onto the hard surfaces in your tank; after this, water changes will no longer remove the newly added bacteria. Uncured rock will produce ammonia; if it does, simply wait until the level of total ammonia reaches 0.25 ppm. If you stop there and slowly add livestock, your fish will usually be fine; although the ammonia levels could still become elevated until the the bacteria populations increase. This is sometimes referred to as cycling with fish (where the ammonia from fish is used to help build up the biofilter). However, if the ammonia level gets too high, it can be harmful to your fish. So prior to adding livestock, I typically suggest using the following fishless cycling method to build up the nitrifying bacteria on dry rock; although you might not always have time for this step when setting up something like an emergency quarantine tank. Fishless Cycling The idea behind fishless cycling is to use a clean source of ammonia to build up the biofilter on pre-cured dry rock prior to stocking your tank. This can be done in your display tank, or in a separate container with a powerhead for flow (a heater or light isn't required). While fishless cycling can be done without adding bottled bacteria, dosing nitrifying bacteria beforehand is recommended to speed up the process.[2] The ammonia source used, will feed the bacteria and promote its reproduction. Fishless cycling is a simple process of: dosing, waiting, and testing. The number of days that it takes isn't important; simply wait until your rocks are ready for the next step before proceeding: Dose ammonium chloride or another clean source of ammonia to elevate total ammonia up to 1 ppm (don't overdose). Wait for total ammonia to drop to 0.25 ppm (if the level of total ammonia continues to go up, your rocks weren't fully cured, which will add time to this step). Repeat until your rocks can process 1 ppm of total ammonia down to 0.25 ppm within 24 hours. When finished, your tank will have a working biofilter capable of handling a typical initial bio-load. Notes: Don't add ammonia or ammonium to rock containing non-bacterial life (like pods or other inverts). If using a pure ammonia cleaner as your ammonia source, make sure that it doesn't contain scents, surfactants, detergents, or dyes. Ghost Feeding Ghost feeding is an alternative method for adding an ammonia source to build up a biofilter. It involves adding fish food to a tank (without any fish in it) until the biofilter can process the ammonia being produced. And while effective, it's harder to control the level of ammonia, and the rotting food adds organics and phosphate, which could lead to future problems like cyanobacteria. Cycling a Combination of Dry and Live Rock We can add live rock to dry rock in order to introduce biodiversity. The longer that you keep the dry rock and live rock together, the more life (like pods, bacteria, and coralline) will spread to the dry rock. However, if the dry rock is uncured, you might choose to cure it separately, so as not to expose this beneficial life to the ammonia that is produced. Post Cycling After cycling your rocks (but before adding livestock), you can adjust the water's nutrient levels by: performing water changes to export excess nutrients, or by dosing nutrients if they are too low. If you won't be keeping corals, I'd change out enough water to reduce nitrate to less than 20 ppm. If you will be keeping coral and anemones, I recommend trying to maintain nitrate levels between 3 and 10 ppm (dosing up to 3 ppm, or exporting down to 10 ppm). Likewise, I recommend trying to keep phosphate levels between 0.03 to 0.10 ppm (dosing up to 0.03 ppm, or exporting down to 0.10 ppm). Once the cycle is established, and after you've adjusted the tank water's nutrient levels, I recommend adding livestock in smaller groups (waiting at least a week between additions). This will give the bacteria populations some time to adjust to the new bio-load before adding more livestock. Resources https://www.bulkreefsupply.com/content/post/md-2019-01-how-to-cycle-a-saltwater-tank-tips-to-help-you-succeed-with-your-new-aquarium https://www.drtimsaquatics.com/resources/library/quick-guide-to-fishless-cycling-with-one-and-only/ Also check out: A Look at Ammonia.
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hi. my new 20 gallon tank currently has 0.25 ppm ammonia( based on the api test kit) 0 ppm nitrite (based on the api test kit) and 2-5 ppm nitrate based on the salifert test kit. any idea how much more time i have to wait until i add hardy fish like clowns. thanks
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Startup cycle: ammonia not dropping, high nitrite&nitrate
Michiel.a posted a topic in Beginners Discussion
Hi everyone! I am starting up my first saltwater tank and i'm cycling it for 14 days now. I did a fishless cycle with dead rock (caribsea) and life sand(caribsea). I'm adding daily Microbe lift nite out II and weekly Microbe lift special care. 8 days ago I also added 12% pure ammonia to 'feed' the bacteria, I dosed the ammonia over 3 days until I had 1,5ppm. After 3 days is stopped adding the ammonia and started testing every day. Now 8 days later i still measure 1.5ppm ammonia but my nitrite went up to 4ppm and my nitrate to 100ppm. This confusses me a lot because first the ammonia should drop before the nitrite should increase right? What should I do at this point, wait a bit and hope the ammonia will drop? Looking forward to get some advise from some pros 🙂 (I use the Sallifert test kits for saltwater) -
Hello, I recently just set up a 55 gallon. I started cycling my tank a week ago, i’m using a mix of Seachem Stability, A live fish, and live rocks used from my buddies tank thats been established for years. As of now my ammonia is still reading safe. But i have ALOT of different algae, green but mainly nasty brown. Is this normal? I’m using fluval 407 canister, and a fluval 3.0 marine light.
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Hi all, first time posting so hopefully i've chosen the right discussion! Im currently cycling my 10g water box cube with Dr Tims ammonia/ one and only, 10 days in. I've followed the directions correctly and avoided dosing any more ammonia if the reading is above 2ppm in this case the only time i've dosed was day 1. Im currently using RedSea test kits and my results are as pictured. my question is my nitrite and nitrate have been climbing quite significantly over the last week as you can see, but my ammonia has dropped but then almost seem's stuck at 1.2ppm my understanding is that as nitrite climbs, ammonia drops and so on for nitrate. I know that it's early on i just imagined i would see a decrease in ammonia as there is an increase elsewhere... if anyone has any advice, should i do a water change or just leave it a little longer? and if you need any more info please feel free to ask 🙂 temp - 25.5/26 apex el salinity ( 1.025) i have heard the bacteria likes low salinity so i could drop that if people think its worth it. also Im using lfs ro/di water but have my own unit arriving tomorrow. i did not test the water before starting the cycle. thanks for the help in advance 🙂 Happy reefing, Jordan
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Hello, I am new to this forum, and new to nano reefing in general. I’ve just recently finished setting up a new tank that is still in the process of cycling. It’s been running for about four weeks, I have not put any fish or corals in it yet, the only thing I’ve put in it is live rock from my LFS. Yet somehow I am getting this odd brown growth (which I am guessing is some form of algae?), that is now covering a lot of the sand and rock (which started out totally white) See pictures. Any idea what that is?? Cant be ammonia related. Also, just found found the critter in the second pic, he must have hitch-hiked in the live rock. Looks like a tiny snail without a shell but dont really know. Ok to leave in, or should I get rid of it? Thank you in advance!
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Can't seem to find too many guides out there for keeping the display tank chugging-along full-speed while fish are in hospital tanks. I doubt ghost feeding would be sufficient in larger volumes and the only residents are a few hermits and a cleaner who I'll primarily be spot-feeding. Should I consider dosing ammonia to keep the bacteria colonies at full population size? If so about how much would be appropriate for a 35 gallon system with three or four juvenile fish? Odd questions I know, but I can't seem to track down much quality information.
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I am new to this group so I’m not sure if I’m doing this right for my journal but I am posting about my start on the saltwater journey! Day one of the start to my cycle with some fritz 9 bacteria and a shrimp from the sea food section at a local store. Using the reef salts from instant ocean as I plan to add coral in the future and didn’t want to get just the basic one and need to buy new salt in a couple months. I am starting with some dry rock I got from a fellow hobbiest for free and am waiting for my shipment from bulk reef supply to arrive in 6ish days. When I say dry rock I mean it was alive at one point but she let it sit in a shallow bucket for weeks in storage and then I let it dry out in the sun for a few days and scrubbed it. I assume nothing is alive on it. I didn’t want to risk any pests. I ordered 15 pounds of MarcoRocks REEFSAVER dry live rock from BRS. With some shelf varieties of this, BRS Rox 0.8 Carbon, mesh media bag for it and ammonia chloride for a fish less cycle though I may not need it due to the shrimp I added. I added the shrimp as I didn’t want to wait 6 days for it to arrive and figured i could at least start the cycle now,so some beneficial thing is happening in my tank. Not sure if it will be a pain adding in the new rock in 6 days but we will see. Also my tank is only filled half way because the water station broke after filling 2, 5 gallon jugs and my husband couldn’t find anymore water at the other stores as there water stations where broken. I plan to get a rodi system in a couple months when I can afford one. The water from the water station did read TDS 15 when I measured it. Hopfully that won’t be a issue.
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so i’m recycling my tank and well i don’t know where to start first i rehome the fish coral snails and crabs then should i do a water change after that do i add the bacteria or ammonia chloride and how much do i add per gallon?? so many questions that i should have gotten answered the first time around
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Hello all, new to this forum and the nano community. I currently have a 54 Gal Aqueon corner tank, which was my first saltwater tank. I have successfully had that tank running from July 2019 and in that time, I instantly fell in love with owning and maintaining ( weird, I know) a saltwater aquarium, its almost therapeutic. I find myself now always looking for places to put a tank in my small ish home and I decided to look for nano for my bedroom. Marineandreef had a sweet deal for the 16 biocube with stand for $269 (after discount and sale) and I decided it was time to expand ha. After convincing wifey (really just ordering and apologizing after), I found myself tracking and waiting. Fast fwd to today, I have the stand set up in the corner of our room with the nano boxed back up ( did not want the toddlers to move it around and possibly drop it empty). I am currently studying, reading the journals and ordering the necessary items needed to begin the tank and start the cycle (so much fun, bleh). Enough backstory, the following will be about the nano I decided to start a journal from the very beginning of this nano to notate what is planned and get advice. As far as Filtration, I have decided to use the included basket for now with the following in order: Poly Filter Floss SeaChem Purigen SeaChem Matrix bio-media in bag (obviously) I have contemplated so much on the filtration and am open to any suggestions. I do not think I will be doing a refug at this time, so that will not be currently considered. The Heater I have decided to go with is the Aqueon Pro 100W, which will be placed in the 1st chamber after false floor is removed. Rock & Substrate: Walt Smith Reef Rock 2.1 20lb dry purple rock Carribsea fiji pink live sand 20lb I do plan on taking some of the smaller pieces of live rock from my current 54 gal to assist in seeding nano. Wavemaker will be the Jebao SW2. This is the brand I currently use on my 54 Gal, and have had no issues and love the controllers for them. I do not plan on modifying the led lighting just yet. Also, I will NOT be running a skimmer on this nano at this time, as I don't mind maintenance and will be planning on weekly 5 gal water changes. Now, Salt.. When I started my 54 gal, I initially went with IO salt as I was not planning on having coral, but of course I was seduced by the beauty.. now I am wanting to switch to some type of high quality reef salt for both tanks. I am leaning more towards Red Sea Coral Pro Salt, I would love any input on this! As far as livestock, I am planning on having 2 designer clownfish (havent really decided on type yet) and maybe a firefish or goby, also undecided lol I will have a clean up crew consisting of a couple trochus, cerrith and maybe astrea snails as well as a couple hermits and debating on a fighting conch. I am undecided on which corals I will be adding just yet, as I want to aquascape first and see where I can place them, which will better determine what I decide on. I will be posting on this journal for anyone who would like to keep up with the nano build. Let me know if anyone has any advice or critique! Thank you! 505nano
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Hi everyone, My name is Baptiste, i’ve been in freshwater aquarium since a while now and wanting to start a pico reef, i heard this is not ideal to start with a pico but as i had a Dymax iq5 i wanted to give a try :). Before that i’ve been researching a lot, watching videos, reading books and forum ... I bought a RODI filter set it up and tried it, all good. Come the time to buy sand, live rocks and salt. So i went to the nearest store (30mins drive) and bought all. When i came back home, i realised i forgot to buy salt so i decided to go back quickly but took time. My live rocks were in a bag closed at home without water. When back home, i started setup everything but took me at least 2h. So basically the live rocks were sitting during 3-3.5h in bag without water. I setup the aquarium, water at 1.025 ppm salinity, temperature 26degrees and i have a small protein skimmer wich i start it. 2 Days after, the water got very cloudy and the aquarium was smelling really bad like rotten eggs . A lot of worms and little shrimps died from the rocks. i’ve searched online to fix it and saw i needed to cure the live rocks to eliminate the died and start again the cycle. I cured it in a bucket closed with a pump during one week and after one week rocks were not smelling anymore and water was pretty clear. I’ve decided then to start again the cycle and put everything back in the aquarium. So here we are, it’s been 4 days since i’ve started again and my live rocks doesn’t look normal ... Again i’m a beginner so maybe everything is ok but i haven’t seen anything like that on internet ... i’ve done 1 water test and got : 1.0 ppm Ammonia 0.25 ppm Nitrite 0 ppm Nitrate 8.2 PH I haven’t done any other test as i don’t think it matters now ... Do you think my live rocks are dead and will never cycle ? Should i buy new one or wait and see ? Thanks for your advices :) Baptiste Ps: Sorry for the picture not the right side :/
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I'm new to the hobby but have been following for a while, and am in the process of setting up a 1.4 gallon pico tank. As far as equipment goes, there's a sort of built in Sump in the back with a sponge and extra compartment - I just put some extra live rubble in there from what didn't fit in the display. There's also a 25w heater and mini wavemaker on its way, along with a bulb (specs below). My plan is to get Dr. Tim's live culture and then wait a week or two before adding GSP - after that I'm not sure (probably frogspawn and CUC as needed). Is there anything I'm missing?  (I'm planning on eighty percent water changes a week just because of the small size)
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So I’ve just set up my tank, and added live rock, there’s this thing sticking out of the live rock? It looks like it’s growing out of it.. what is this? Should I be worried?
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I used to have a 150 G Fresh water aquarium back home and that one is now my mom's. Since I moved I've always wanted to start a new one and was a little scared about the salt water aquariums. After a couple of months researching, reading and watching a lot of videos I decided to start a Fluval 13.5 Evo Nano Reef Aquarium and I'm really excited to make it grow. I started my Aquarium just 5 days ago and I have done 3 testings so far. I have dry rock and Arag-alive Pink Fiji Sand. I used Dr Timm's Chloride Ammonia as indicated in the product and Fluval's Biological Enhancer to start the cycle. I've been reading online and Dr Timm's Cycle guide and it says that you shouldn't let the Ammonia levels go higher than 5.0 so I did a partial water change on my 3rd day of the cycle. These are my current testing readings I did them with the API Test Kit: I'm just wondering if the process is going right or If I should do something. I'm in no rush to finish the cycle but wanted to know if I should keep the lights on or off and if I should add more Bio enhancer or not. Thanks a lot! ---------- This is my setup so far:
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Hey guys, I’m new to the “nano reef forum” community but not new to nano reef keeping. Follow me and the progression of my Innovative Marine NUVO 10 build. My goal with this tank is to ultimately keep a thriving “sps and zoa” dominate tank “most likely” (more on that as time goes on). Last night I spent a couple hours aquascpaing my tank and here the end result. I fixed all the rock work together with some putty. Let me know what you think! I kept the aquascape “low” to allow the sps to grow upward and fill in the empty space beautifully. I also left a lot of empty space on the bare bottom to allow corals to fill it. Thank you you for tuning in! I’ll keep updating the tanks progress as time goes on! Tips and tricks are always helpful! Enjoy the rest of your day!
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Do I need to run the pump constantly during cycling?
darndamsel posted a topic in Beginners Discussion
HI there, I just add the water to my live sand and rock in my IM fusion 20 tank and turned on the pump and heater to begin cycling. However, (as you might have heard) the stock pump is really loud and headache inducing. I've ordered another one but do I have to keep the stock on for the few days before the new one arrives, or will the cycling process be fine if I turn it off (at least while we're in the living room with it)? THanks -
Hi there fellow nano reefers! 😜 I'm back at the aquarium game! In the past i had many aquaria, amazon biotoop, malawi cyclids, freshwater european etc. Only once had a go on the saltwater thing once, a 450 liter tank with everything going but time and place. So i had to abandon that... But after a few years, we're back! Now with a nice little 36 liter nano reef! Actually a Aqualantis Nano Marin 40, but i found out it holds 36 liters. So without further notice, here's the startup and a bunch of photo's! I hope you guys like it, have some tips and share your thoughts! The (mini) history: Montego Nano Bay 06-01-2019 Got the tank! Got the tank in! Second hand and…. back glass broken on transport. So, first job, fix the tank! After fixing of course water test. Everything’s okay, let’s start! 1 aqualantis Nano Marin 40 1 Tunze Comline DOC Skimmer 9001 1 600 l/h surface pump 1 300 l/h current pump 10-01-2019 start 2kg Colombo Marine Sand 36l RO water 1200gr Colombo Pro Reef Salt (KH9, Ca420 ppmMg1370) 11-01-2019 28ppt salinity (morning) 8kg cured live rock 18L seeded water in 15L made water out added 4 Colombo Bacto Balls 12-01-2019 found +/- 25 feather dusters 4/5 sponges 15-01-2019 feather dusters are +/- 35 Reef-Pi controller up and running! day night schedule sun up 12 -> 14, sun down 22 -> 0 | moon up 16 - 18, moon down 2 -> 4 top up with salt water 19-01-2019 found 2 new sponges found 3 spaghetti worms 2 feather dusters migrated to other stone 1 baby feather duster on other stone copepods on the stones top up with salt water 20-01-2019 test day 33ppt salt, KH14, CA350, MG1230, No3 1.5mg/l, Po4 0.03mg/l algae start to grow on top stone found 1 new sponge on other stone found 1 brittle starfish copepods swimming free and in the sand baby soft coral spotted?? 22-01-2019 First animals No3 < 1mg/l, Po4 = 0, NH3 = 0,25mg/l 1 finger coral 1 mushroom leather coral 1 button polyp coral 2 blue legged hermit crabs (3 legged and 4 legged) 1 fight between the crabs resulting in one losing one leg and a claw…. 24-01-2019 NH3 = 0 water change 6 liter finger coral replaced on big rock Reef-Pi placed and working: Controlling day/night light, pumps, skimmer and heater Day Night schedule is now following sun and moon of Montego Bay, Jamaica. Cloud, storm and thunder still undergoing work! 25-01-2019 33ppt 1 Lysmata amboinensis / Pacific Cleaner Shrimp - Ed/Eddie 1 Amblyeleotris guttata / Spotted prawn goby - Ocho 4 empty shells. 3 legged got a new one within ten seconds! 26-01-2019 All looks quite happy!! Ocho the goby is just hiding a bit... But eats and comes out!:D
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I have had my first saltwater tank, a Biocube 32, running for two and a half weeks, and it seems like my cycle may be coming to an end. Today my ammonia was 0.0, nitrite was 0.3, nitrate was very high, at least 50, and pH was 8.2. As soon as my nitrite goes down to zero I will do a water change, and I have a few questions about how to proceed. -How extensive should the post cycle water change be? 30% or 50%? Or should it be even more? -How tolerant are clean up crew members, such as snails, hermits, and emerald crabs to moderate to high nitrates? I was planning on adding my first clean up crew this week, but I fear that even after a water change the nitrates may still be somewhat high. Do you think it will be safe to add them?
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Cycle Question in 2.5g Pico with LR and LS from established aquarium.
neowind712 posted a topic in General Discussion
So I have been doing reef aquariums for 10-15 years. This go around I want to try something new and I was hoping you guys could give me a little guidance on what to expect. Here is the scenario. 2.5 Gallon Pico Aquarium All in One Live Sand purchased from PetSmart in a bag Scoop of sand out of LFS established aquarium Fully Established Live Rock from LFS Salt Water from LFS So my question is based on the live sand and the established LR that I have purchased and had in the water in less than 30 minutes during transport, what type of cycle should I expect? Will I see a full cycle of 4-6 weeks? Will I see any cycle at all? Will I see a quick cycle of 1-3 weeks? I know its impossible to say for sure, but just looking for opinions. Thanks, Neowind712 -
Hey! First I just want to say thanks for a very informative and helpful forum! There is alot to keep in mind when doing this hobby and even more when you are just starting out. This is my first attemt at a saltwater aquarium and I bought a 13g tank with all the basic necessities to plug-and-play. The tank have been cycling with live rock and live sand for 2 and 1/2 week, and I have gotten some brown diatoms on sand and on some rock. Also I have gotten a very small amount of green leaf-like algae on top of one rock despite having the lights off and two very small featherduster looking things, witch I think is a good thing as it means that something is happening. Despite reading and preparing I realized last night that I made one mistake. My refractometer was delayed and I was so eager to start with the aquarium that I just weighted the salt and added it to the water when mixing, thinking that the measurements should get me within the recommended salinity, I was wrong. Last night I finally got to measure my salinity and I was above 1.030. In a panic of hurting or in any way hindering the progress of the cycle I did a 5% waterchange and added freshwater to get the salinity down. My last reading last night was about 1.020 witch should be fine? My question is, could my waterchange have hurt the cycle or bacteria in any way and could I have stalled or delayed my cycle? Thanks!
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Hello guys, So late last night, as so many bad stories, I started my tank cycle. I want to do what I can to prevent fish or inverts from getting hurt so I opted for a fishless cycle with bio-spira and ammonia. I purchased Ace's janitor ammoni. No surfactants and did the bubble test, looks good. I was having trouble finding the conversion online for ML of ammonia to gallons of water. I found a conversion of 15ML for a 30 gallon. So I figured I'd start at a third of that 5ml, test levels and titrate to get up to 4ppm. Well right from the start I was off the charts. My gut told me to just start with 1ml of ammonia and titrate to get to 4ppm but of course I didn't listen and here I am. So last night Ammonia: of the charts >8 ppm Nitrite: .25 ppm this morning, about 10 hours later (attached img) Ammonia: of the charts >8 ppm Nitrite: ~1-2 ppm Nitrate: 20 ppm I'll check the 3 levels again in 12 hours. Prepping freshwater to make more salteater. I imagine I'll need to do a huge water change, maybe 50% or more to get ammonia down to a measurable level? It looks like the bacteria is doing their thing I just don't know if those numbers of ammonia will end up stalling cycle (read differing opinions) and even if not, concerned about the potential side effects of so much ammonia in tank. Anyone been through this? I'm so annoyed, with myself. I've been pretty deliberate in my approach to this and usually err on the side of caution. But last night was stupid and I should've listen to that voice telling me what I should've done. But of course hindsight is 20/20 so I have to deal with the reality. I have a Biocube 32, ~30lbs of reefcleaners dryrock, 20lbs of caribsea arg-alive, RO/DI water from my brand new filter and Instan-Ocean salt (non-reef). Since I'm just cycling I'm only running heater, pump, powerhead and lights (I know there's different schools of thoughts on lights vs no-lights during cycle - I was leaning towards lights on but with all this ammonia maybe I should got back to dark). Any other info useful? I feel like I'm missing something here. Thanks so much in advance.
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Hi everyone! My cycle completed last weekend - ammonia and nitrites routinely getting processed fully in 24 hours after dosing to 2-3ppm. I started to get some cyanobacteria, and added a couple of hermit crabs to help. I also plan to do a 50% water change this weekend to help get the nitrates down. Had some questions about the filter media - I've read that a significant amount of the bio filter forms in the filter floss (in addition to the rock and sand in the tank - I also have some bio media, the highly porous stuff that most people put in their sumps - I added some of the balls to the middle chamber of my Fluval EVO XII)...so not sure when to start messing with the media rack. A) Is it okay to change the filter floss? Or should I wait for the bacteria to become more established within the liverock/biomedia? B ) Is it okay to add purigen to the media rack? C) As far as additional livestock go, I was planning to pick up a small fish this weekend to get things started and keep the bacteria fed (I'm concerned that without an ammonia source, the bio filter will shrink back to the tank's current capacity which is 3 small hermits, so not a lot of bioload) - maybe a yellow goby - and then add a pair of clownfish after a few weeks. Is this a good plan? Thanks in advance!
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Hello NR community, I am reaching the end of my dry-rock cycle and starting to put thought on how I introduce livestock into my tank. My goal is a low-maintenance reef tank as far as algae and other unwanted growth. I have a 16gallon biocube. As my rock is not fully mature yet, how have you all been successful introducing livestock into your tanks that maintained biological filtration, and not to overwhelm the system. I know fish will introduce the most consistent ammonia source, but also want to consider a slower approach to introduce livestock. I am thinking 1-2 snails that can find some glass algae that has been accumulating on my tank. My gut is telling me I will end up adding a snail, or snail + hermit to get something live started. At the same time, there is not too much algae growth, so considering a hermit crab that I can spot feed more easily. - Fish first? - Snails first? - Hermits first ? - Spot feeding pellets? Any thoughts?
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Hey everyone! So our nano IM fusion 10 that has been up and running for about 2 months now is going through a huge algae bloom. Water parameters are good as far as ph, salinity, nitrate, nitrite, and ammonia. We have added a few snails but didn’t want to go crazy if for some reason the water isn’t right. Is there something else I should be testing the water for now? A lot of people say this is a normal part of the process but I am wondering should we be turning the light down or off and adding more cleanup crew? What are so recommendations for the sand bed and keeping it clear? It is okay to now add filter media to the tank, just planning on filter floss and chemipure blue in the upgraded media caddy basket. Also what are thoughts on the ghost protein slimmer? We have it in the tank but it’s not on right now...
