7 Days into the Cycle

member 99594 · Oct 24, 2018

Hey all,

I am currently building an 80 Gallon Reef and I am 7 days into the cycle. I added a shrimp and have been ghost feeding pretty liberally daily. (Shrimp has been removed)

My No3/No4 is at 1.00ppm, Nitrite and Nitrate are both 0ppm.

I also have been using Seachem Stability. Day one was a larger dose and the following 7 days is a lesser dose.

Directions: Shake well before use. Turn off UV/ozone. Use 1 capful (5 mL) for each 40 L (10 US gallons) on the first day with a new aquarium. Then use 1 capful for each 80 L (20 US gallons) daily for 7 days. Fish and other aquatic species may be introduced at any time as long as dosage is maintained for 7 days

Question!! Do I keep using the Stability while cycling or should I stop at the recommended 8 total days?

Cheers!!

Rover · Oct 24, 2018

You don't need to use stability at all! It helps, but its certainly not required. Your tank will need to develop its own bacteria for the long term anyway.

It is just a waiting game! Once the ammonia starts to go down your nitrite will go up. Once the nitrite goes down, your nitrate will go up. Since you already see ammonia you know the process is starting. Just let the tank do its thing and you'll know its 'done' when your ammonia and nitrite are zero, and your nitrate is elevated.

Just remember that every time you add a new fish, or group of fish, you are introducing another ammonia producing source. You may see a mini-cycle when you add your first fish where the bacteria plays catchup to them, but as your tank grows and gets more established these little bumps may not even be noticeable... unless you drastically spike the bioload all at once!

You can keep up the ghost feeding or stop, what you want to avoid is introducing so much ammonia source that your nitrates spike really high when its done, cause then you'll need to do water changes to get it down.

pdxmonkeyboy · Oct 24, 2018

I would stop the feeding and wait till ammonia is undetectable, then add your first fish.

use the stability until it's gone, you dont need any more once it is gone.

member 99594 · Oct 24, 2018

Sounds good. I was planning on two clowns to start. Is there a recipe for how many to add at once and how long to wait till the next add?

Also, can I add zoas with the clowns and an anemone?

Rover · Oct 24, 2018

Calli said:
Sounds good. I was planning on two clowns to start. Is there a recipe for how many to add at once and how long to wait till the next add?

Also, can I add zoas with the clowns and an anemone?

There really isn't much of a recipe. The adage I've heard tossed around is 'nothing good happens fast in a reef tank'. In my 75 gallon tank, my two clowns were the first thing I added. I know in a smaller tank that may be a bad idea if they get territorial?

But plan to add your most aggressive fish last, and build up to it. I added fish over a year.

member 99594 · Oct 25, 2018

Rover said:
There really isn't much of a recipe. The adage I've heard tossed around is 'nothing good happens fast in a reef tank'. In my 75 gallon tank, my two clowns were the first thing I added. I know in a smaller tank that may be a bad idea if they get territorial?

But plan to add your most aggressive fish last, and build up to it. I added fish over a year.

Is there any issues with adding something like Zoas with Fish? and a Limit to Zoa's, say three variations?

Rover · Oct 25, 2018

I added zoanthids when I added my first few fish, and they are doing just fine. I don't know of any reason you couldn't other then the corals might not thrive in a young tank that still hasn't finished its cycle. But zoanthids are hardy and most spread like weeds from my experience!

Calli said:
Is there any issues with adding something like Zoas with Fish? and a Limit to Zoa's, say three variations?

member 99594 · Oct 25, 2018

Yes, I would only add zoa's nothing too hard to keep.

IslandLifeReef · Oct 25, 2018

You are just beginning your cycle based on the numbers you gave. Ammonia at 1 ppm and nitrite and nitrate at 0 ppm means that the tank has just started consuming the shrimp and food you added. You should continue to see ammonia rise and then fall. Once ammonia starts to fall, start measuring nitrite. It should peak and fall after the ammonia. Once nitrite is at 0 ppm, measure nitrate.

Measuring nitrate when there is nitrite in the tank is a wasted test because most nitrate test will give a false high reading if there is nitrite present. This is because these tests first convert nitrate to nitrite, and then measure total nitrite to tell you how much nitrate you had. If you already had nitrite, it will be added to the total, and therefor the false high reading.

member 99594 · Oct 25, 2018

IslandLifeReef said:
You are just beginning your cycle based on the numbers you gave. Ammonia at 1 ppm and nitrite and nitrate at 0 ppm means that the tank has just started consuming the shrimp and food you added. You should continue to see ammonia rise and then fall. Once ammonia starts to fall, start measuring nitrite. It should peak and fall after the ammonia. Once nitrite is at 0 ppm, measure nitrate.

Measuring nitrate when there is nitrite in the tank is a wasted test because most nitrate test will give a false high reading if there is nitrite present. This is because these tests first convert nitrate to nitrite, and then measure total nitrite to tell you how much nitrate you had. If you already had nitrite, it will be added to the total, and therefor the false high reading.

I am going to keep ghost feeding. From what I have read the NO3/NO4 should get to about 2ppm then start to drop.

Two questions, should I be running the skimmer while cycling?

Second, after the NO3/NO4 go back to zero and Nitrates are up and I do my first water change, should I dose some NO3/NO4 into the tank to test that it is converting to Nitrates?

Randy Holmes-Farley · Oct 27, 2018

Calli said:
Two questions, should I be running the skimmer while cycling?

I would. I don't see any downside.

Calli said:
Second, after the NO3/NO4 go back to zero and Nitrates are up and I do my first water change, should I dose some NO3/NO4 into the tank to test that it is converting to Nitrates?

perhaps you are confusing chemicals. NO3- is nitrate. NO2- is nitrite. NH3 is ammonia. NH4+ is ammonium.

member 99594 · Oct 27, 2018

Yes sorry. I was.

Ammonia is 1ppm
Nitrite is .50ppm
Nitrate is 4ppm

member 99594 · Oct 29, 2018

I have a feeling my tank may have cycled. Is it okay to test the cycle and add 2ppm of ammonia and wait 24 hours?

I am about 2 weeks in and I have seen my ammonia go to 1ppm and come back to .25 (API test hard to read) could be zero.

Nitrite is back to 0 after being at about .50

Nitrate is at about 4ppm max out. (Ignore the chart I fixed it from 5 to 4 after closer look)

All tests were API the nitrate was tested with both API and RedSea.

For the first 7 days I used Seachem Stability and ghost fed for about 13 or so days heavy. I have diatoms and green hair starting. I am thinking the stability processed the ammonia and the only reason I saw a small spike was I was feeding really heavy. Thoughts?

NY_Caveman · Oct 29, 2018

Do your Ammonia test as you mention. I would bet you are cycled.

member 99594 · Oct 30, 2018

NY_Caveman said:
Do your Ammonia test as you mention. I would bet you are cycled.

Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: 4

I will add the ammonia tomorrow then test in 2 hours. Then test in 24.

Fingers crossed for 0 after 24hrs.

member 99594 · Nov 1, 2018

NY_Caveman said:
Do your Ammonia test as you mention. I would bet you are cycled.

I have added the Ammonia. Tested 2 hours later. 2ppm!! Now, quick question, if I test again at 24hrs and it has not come down would it be okay to add a dose of ATM Colony?