Ammonia and nitrate levels

[Cigarman]

Question. I just set up biocube 32 4 days ago, substrate was Carib sea Agra with live bacteria. Added marco rock and water from LFS and a bottle of dr. Tims one and only live bacteria. started testing 24 hrs later for ammonia tested at zero. Yesterday i added 2 small false clowns and a peppermint shrimp. all ate after about 2 hrs. They all ate like pigs again today. Just tested for ammonia agaIn reading 0Then tested for nitrite reading 0 tested for nitrates reading was 0.1-0.2. Is it possible tank has already cycled?

 

[Specific Ocean]

Was the rock live rock? Or dry?

 

[Reefnewb]

the clowns might make it, but doubt the shrimp will. Your tank is nowhere ready for inhabitants if you started with dry rock.

 

[Cigarman]

Was the rock live rock? Or dry?

Dry

 

[Cigarman]

Dry

I also forgot to mention on original post. After initial setup i added a bottle of dr. Tims one and only

 

[Cigarman]

the clowns might make it, but doubt the shrimp will. Your tank is nowhere ready for inhabitants if you started with dry rock.

I forgot to mention in original post that i added dr. Tims one and only after setup

 

[Arabyps]

You should dose LIVE bacteria with MicroBacter XLM or Fritz TurboStart 900. They will jump start the cycle, protect the livestock and populate the rock surfaces. Follow instructions on the bottle. Check out the BRS video.

Cycle your saltwater aquarium. Step 1: A new reefer's guide to ammonia and the nitrogen cycle

This is the first of our two episodes created to show you how to successfully cycle your new reef aquarium. You will not only learn how to make the water safe for fish but also get valuable advice to avoid a slew of challenges new aquarists often run into. We split this up because there are two

www.bulkreefsupply.com

 

[Jedi1199]

Question. I just set up biocube 32 4 days ago, substrate was Carib sea Agra with live bacteria. Added marco rock and water from LFS started testing for ammonia yesterday after tank cleared. Added 2 clownfish and 1 peppermint shrimp yesterday. They all ate yesterday and today. Just tested again today ammonia is 0 nitrite is 0 and nitrate is between .1 and .2. Is it possible tank has already cycled?

You have touched on a subject as old as aquarium keeping itself. The short answer is no. However. bottled bacta, (Assuming of course it is a quality product) will allow you to add fish to your tank right away. Keep an eye on your parameters, don't panic over a small jump in ammonia or nitrate. This is simply the system accommodating the increased bio load.

Good luck,
Steve

 

[Cigarman]

You have touched on a subject as old as aquarium keeping itself. The short answer is no. However. bottled bacta, (Assuming of course it is a quality product) will allow you to add fish to your tank right away. Keep an eye on your parameters, don't panic over a small jump in ammonia or nitrate. This is simply the system accommodating the increased bio load.

Good luck,
Steve

I did add dr. Tims one and only bacteria, which i neglected to mention in original post

 

[vetteguy53081]

You are using API test kit I assume?
Also, you would have wanted to wait at least 3-4 weeks before introducing anything alive into tank. There is a cycling period with various steps you needed to take and this may be a road to disaster (I hate to say). Add nothing for a month and be prepared for a series of water changes should spikes and elevated reading occur.
The nitrogen cycle is constantly changing daily in a newly set up reef aquarium while baceria buiding blocks are at work.

 

[Jedi1199]

This debate could go on for 100 pages...

Vetteguy is right. and yet he is not right.. Confused yet? Heh welcome to aquaria..

Vetteguy is advising a well established, and successful platform for success. It has been done, repeatedly by an overwhelming majority of aquarium owners and it works.

I have been keeping aquariums (mostly freshwater, but I did have a fish only salt tank for a few years long ago) for over 30 years. My personal experience has been: As long as you introduce hardy species first, and add slowly, you can add fish to the tank from day one. Bottled bacta, such as Dr. Tim's, as you mentioned, will provide the base network of the ammonia nitrifying bacterial colonies you need to sustain life in your tank.

Wait a month before adding any "clean up crew" to your tank.. It is brand new, what do they have to clean? Would you bring in a maid to scour your brand new home?

In a tank as small as yours, I would advise that after it has stabilized from the initial setup, you add livestock slowly, no more that 2 fish or corrals at a time. Keep a close eye on your parameters after each addition until you reach your final goal.

Good luck,
Steve

 

[brandon429]

Any form of cycle question challenge needs markers that run independent from a test kit, to rule out testing errors always possible

and those would be: water clouding and aerotaxis from injured fish


those two things will happen if ammonia isn’t controlled. If a kit says it, without those two happening as well, then the kit is wrong.

burned fish will never feed and act normal, and no animal in kidney distress acts normal across the kingdom. It’s universally painful to be burnt by your cell‘s primary excretion as backup... plus we’ve got initial dilution in favor, not a huge bioload. My bet is it works. With nitrite booted out due to total neutrality in cycling and nitrate is for algae tuning primarily and dinos prevention, the real focus is whether or not ammonia rises with that bioload in place along with water clouding and hovering for air would be true confirmation of burn. Absent those, it’s working as fish-in cycles do.

I was told once that bagged sand cant have bacteria, but bottle bac can, never could figure out the distinction of the holding container. clearly the bottle bac are concentrated those are well covered in threads and comparison posts

 

[Cigarman]

This debate could go on for 100 pages...

Vetteguy is right. and yet he is not right.. Confused yet? Heh welcome to aquaria..

Vetteguy is advising a well established, and successful platform for success. It has been done, repeatedly by an overwhelming majority of aquarium owners and it works.

I have been keeping aquariums (mostly freshwater, but I did have a fish only salt tank for a few years long ago) for over 30 years. My personal experience has been: As long as you introduce hardy species first, and add slowly, you can add fish to the tank from day one. Bottled bacta, such as Dr. Tim's, as you mentioned, will provide the base network of the ammonia nitrifying bacterial colonies you need to sustain life in your tank.

Wait a month before adding any "clean up crew" to your tank.. It is brand new, what do they have to clean? Would you bring in a maid to scour your brand new home?

In a tank as small as yours, I would advise that after it has stabilized from the initial setup, you add livestock slowly, no more that 2 fish or corrals at a time. Keep a close eye on your parameters after each addition until you reach your final goal.

Good luck,
Steve

I’m gonna go slow. I kept 2 90 gal cichlid tanks for yrs.(yrs ago) i also did try saltwater for a short time in the 70’s. The hobby has come a long way since then. And technology is a lot better. Used to use black molly’s to help with cycling back then. But the dr. Tims type stuff was not around then. You just let the tank run its course.

 

[blasterman]

I have been keeping aquariums (mostly freshwater, but I did have a fish only salt tank for a few years long ago) for over 30 years. My personal experience has been: As long as you introduce hardy species first, and add slowly, you can add fish to the tank from day one. Bottled bacta, such as Dr. Tim's, as you mentioned, will provide the base network of the ammonia nitrifying bacterial colonies you need to sustain life in your tank.

Wait a month before adding any "clean up crew" to your tank.. It is brand new, what do they have to clean? Would you bring in a maid to scour your brand new home?

Agree with all of this.

Adding fish too fast during a cycle is what causes an ammonia spike that causes damage. I've never had issues with even angles in new tanks provided you go slow.

Also, I would rather have a few pieces of LR from an established tank than bottle bacteria. While I'm not disputing that the new bottle based bacteria is workable dumping bacteria in a tank cannot be as effective as allowing those biologies to grow on their own on ideal surfaces. Pouring a bunch of bacteria in a tank is not as efficient as letting them populate naturally. This is why we get a 1000 posts a week with weird cycling problems. If you can't wait a couple weeks for more stable cycling you are in the wrong hobby. /rant

 

[Clownfish_Boy]

Fritz Turbo Start 900 made my 60g instantly ready for the addition of fish; added two fish with no problems after establishing the bacteria.