Am I ready to add fish?

[Mop]

Hey all,

Completely new to all of this, but a bit further along than my last post so hopefully I make a bit more sense with my question.
I'm reading/hearing what looks like conflicting messages...

so bit of context:
I have a red sea reefer 750XXL. got it all set up and running a week ago with the help of a fish dude.
Used dry rock n sand and then ocean water to fill the tank...
then he added dr tims ammonia as well as some other bottle of stuff that i dont remember the name of and kicked off the cycle.

Now the conundrum
- he is suggesting its been a week and I can start putting fish in; maybe 2 clowns as they seem to handle it well
- reading around some places say with dr tims it can be accelerated to a week
- some places say keep waiting you are just starting the cycle and wait for stuff to grow on rocks and start with a clean up crew

I got a test kit a couple of days ago and did a test then and another test today and the results look pretty much the same:
3 April: Ammonia 0.7, Nitrite 0, Nitrate 0, Ph 8.1
5 April: Ammonia 0.6, Nitrite 0, Nitrate 0, Ph 8.1

so looking for suggestions on what I do next: get fish? add ammonia or something? do nothing?

TIA!

 

[MischiefReef]

Suggestion of adding two clowns seems reasonable, but I would personally wait another week to play it safe since you’re still getting ammonia readings. Basically, your biological filtration capacity started building up the moment you started cycling. Clowns don’t have the heaviest bio loads especially when young. So you can likely get away with adding them now and feeding in relative moderation for another week or two. Definitely do not add other fish at the same time.

 

[Tamberav]

Don’t add fish with ammonia in there. It is very toxic even in small amounts. Who wants to breathe in and burn themselves doing so?

It would be helpful to know what bottle bacteria you used. Some are fast and some are not. I like biospira for a jump start.

Regardless you want the ammonia to process into nitrate before adding life.

Another thing is fish disease is a big problem in this hobby and any stressor like ammonia can amplify that problem.

 

[MischiefReef]

Don’t add fish with ammonia in there. It is very toxic even in small amounts. Who wants to breathe in and burn themselves doing so?

It would be helpful to know what bottle bacteria you used. Some are fast and some are not. I like biospira for a jump start.

Regardless you want the ammonia to process into nitrate before adding life.

Another thing is fish disease is a big problem in this hobby and any stressor like ammonia can amplify that problem.

Perfectly put. I also failed to register OPs statement of dry rock/sand. That tends to make your cycle slower, even when using water right from the ocean, as most of the nitrifying bacteria resides in the rock/sand not the water column. As Tamberav said would help to know what the starter bacteria was used.

 

[Mop]

thanks that makes sense...

i found the invoice the 2 bottles were:
- DR TIMS AQUATICS AMMONIUM CHLORIDE SOLUTION
- DR TIMS AQUATICS ONE & ONLY REEF-PURE

 

[dangles]

Dr. Tim’s has pretty clear instructions on his website. I just used his products to cycle my tank.

https://www.drtimsaquatics.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/FishlessCycling_prescription_recipe.pdf

If that wasn’t the bacteria you used, find out what bacteria product you did use and look on their website. Follow their instructions. Each product will be a little bit different but pick one and stick with it. Don’t jump between methods.

Short answer: Assuming you have an ammonia source, you should see an ammonia spike that then falls, followed by a nitrite spike that later falls (this one took a while longer for me), and then finally a nitrate spike as each of the bacterial populations that consumes those gets to a sufficient size. When ammonia and nitrite read zeros you’re ready. Nitrite isn’t bad for marine fish though so as long as your ammonia is gone you’re good to go.

*edit - I just saw your last post. Follow his instructions. You should be testing pretty frequently at first so you can identify the trends. I had to re-dose my ammonia a couple of times early on to keep the levels up so the bacteria had “food” as they were getting established. His method has you keep the ammonia levels around 2 ppm initially. Check out that link above for specifics.

 

[Bonsai reef]

I would wait till your ammonia reads zero and you get some nitrate reading. I have used Dr Tims one and only in my first build and it takes around 3 weeks to show result.

 

[stretchnuts]

Hey all,

Completely new to all of this, but a bit further along than my last post so hopefully I make a bit more sense with my question.
I'm reading/hearing what looks like conflicting messages...

so bit of context:
I have a red sea reefer 750XXL. got it all set up and running a week ago with the help of a fish dude.
Used dry rock n sand and then ocean water to fill the tank...
then he added dr tims ammonia as well as some other bottle of stuff that i dont remember the name of and kicked off the cycle.

Now the conundrum
- he is suggesting its been a week and I can start putting fish in; maybe 2 clowns as they seem to handle it well
- reading around some places say with dr tims it can be accelerated to a week
- some places say keep waiting you are just starting the cycle and wait for stuff to grow on rocks and start with a clean up crew

I got a test kit a couple of days ago and did a test then and another test today and the results look pretty much the same:
3 April: Ammonia 0.7, Nitrite 0, Nitrate 0, Ph 8.1
5 April: Ammonia 0.6, Nitrite 0, Nitrate 0, Ph 8.1

so looking for suggestions on what I do next: get fish? add ammonia or something? do nothing?

TIA!

You can add a couple clowns. They can handle it… I put three clowns in mine 48 hours after setup and the have survived my whole cycling process, that’s been over a year ago. Feed fish once a day ( small amount ) ( Marine pellets ) You used dry rock instead of live rock from a mature tank. So you will get algae. Couple snails once you reach algae stage.

 

[Mop]

hey all,

bit of an update.. thanks to the advice here I did wait a little bit and then added a couple of clowns... both seem to be doing fine for the last couple of weeks... and don't seem to have really changed much in terms of test readings, these are the readings after adding the clowns on the 12th of Apr:

date	ammonia	nitrite	nitrate
13 Apr 23	0.5	1	10
15 Apr 23	0.3	2	20
18 Apr 23	0.5	1	20
20 Apr 23	0.6	0.7	20
24 Apr 23	0.4	0.5	10

I haven't done any water changes yet not sure if i'm at a point where i need to... also not sure if 2 clowns in a 160 gallon tank make much of a dent to bioload, doesn't look like there is much if any algae growing but there is quite a collection of left over food building on the sand bed.

so should i be adding more fish? corals? clean up crew? do nothing for a bit longer? or am i overthinking it and just add whatever I feel like?

 

[zheka757]

hey all,

bit of an update.. thanks to the advice here I did wait a little bit and then added a couple of clowns... both seem to be doing fine for the last couple of weeks... and don't seem to have really changed much in terms of test readings, these are the readings after adding the clowns on the 12th of Apr:

date	ammonia	nitrite	nitrate
13 Apr 23	0.5	1	10
15 Apr 23	0.3	2	20
18 Apr 23	0.5	1	20
20 Apr 23	0.6	0.7	20
24 Apr 23	0.4	0.5	10

I haven't done any water changes yet not sure if i'm at a point where i need to... also not sure if 2 clowns in a 160 gallon tank make much of a dent to bioload, doesn't look like there is much if any algae growing but there is quite a collection of left over food building on the sand bed.

so should i be adding more fish? corals? clean up crew? do nothing for a bit longer? or am i overthinking it and just add whatever I feel like?

id wait till i dont see nitrite any more, and then once nitrite is not reading on your test, then add slowly more fish, honesly, you jump the gun by adding clowns to early. dont add anything else to tank for like a month, but as of right now, dont add anything else, not ready.

 

[To(meany)Tang]

Detectable nitrates with 0 ammonia 0 nitrites indicates a full cycle. It can take 3 weeks to months depending what you add. I've always had great success with fritz zyme turbo start. I've never had to worry about ammonia and all my tanks and ponds were cycled in 4 days or less. Ammonia is abuse to the fish imo I'd wait to buy more fish but from the looks of your readings on the chart it looks pretty close to cycled

 

[gbroadbridge]

hey all,

bit of an update.. thanks to the advice here I did wait a little bit and then added a couple of clowns... both seem to be doing fine for the last couple of weeks... and don't seem to have really changed much in terms of test readings, these are the readings after adding the clowns on the 12th of Apr:

date	ammonia	nitrite	nitrate
13 Apr 23	0.5	1	10
15 Apr 23	0.3	2	20
18 Apr 23	0.5	1	20
20 Apr 23	0.6	0.7	20
24 Apr 23	0.4	0.5	10

I haven't done any water changes yet not sure if i'm at a point where i need to... also not sure if 2 clowns in a 160 gallon tank make much of a dent to bioload, doesn't look like there is much if any algae growing but there is quite a collection of left over food building on the sand bed.

so should i be adding more fish? corals? clean up crew? do nothing for a bit longer? or am i overthinking it and just add whatever I feel like?

If you're starting to see algae on glass/rocks or diatoms (brown dusty stuff) on the substrate start adding CUC.
A couple of strombus snails for the gravel, and maybe 5 Trochus snails for the rocks.

You don't want algae to get away from you.

I'm not sure which ammonia test you are using, but by this point ammonia will be zero.
You can ignore nitrite.

If your nitrates start to get above 20 start doing 10% weekly water changes.

 

[BeanAnimal]

You can add a couple clowns. They can handle it… I put three clowns in mine 48 hours after setup and the have survived my whole cycling process, that’s been over a year ago. Feed fish once a day ( small amount ) ( Marine pellets ) You used dry rock instead of live rock from a mature tank. So you will get algae. Couple snails once you reach algae stage.

"they can handle it"

I can pour mild acid down your throat and make you breath small amounts of chlorine gas... you may be uncomfortable for a few days, but you can handle it. The lung burns will heal as will the stomach lining... but you can handle it, you look like a hearty enough fellow.