Another cycle question

Lbannie · Mar 21, 2020

Hey guys! Finally getting my 90 gallon going. This is my fourth (and final) tank and I want to do it right! I’ve always rushed things in the past.
So here goes....
I bought the tank running so it was filled with live rock.....it was a 5 hour trip with the rock in dry buckets. I then put the rocks in fresh saltwater and let them sit there in my living room.....I thought I would get the tank right back together but then I decided to build a new cabinet.
so the rock started to stink and I really didn’t like the pieces anyway.
so I bought all new dry rock.. fast forward to now.
The tank has about 70 pounds of dry rock, but I did use a few pieces of the rock that came with it, still in water, but not stinky anymore. I used caribsea live Fiji pink sand.

I waited for 4 days, the water is nice and clear now. I checked the ammonia and it’s between.25 and .50
Would this be because of the rocks??
I bought a bottle of API quick start(only thing at lfs) Will that be enough bacteria?
Should I just continue to test the water till ammonia is zero?

Idoc · Mar 21, 2020

The 5 hour drive with the live rock in dry buckets basically killed off some of the life on the rocks....but good chance some of the life and bacteria in the rock probably survived. Live rock is usually shipped to people wrapped in wet newspaper to keep the rocks wet during shipment. If your rocks remained wet, there's still the possibility of life in the rock. It seems by the decay that quite a bit of the surface organics died, though.

As long as you are having ammonia readings, then you are still getting a decay present. But, it also depends which ammonia test kit you are using...API almost always reads 0.25ppm ammonia even when there isn't any in the system. I use the Red Sea ammonia test kit and it seems to be accurate for cycling. Have you tested to see if you are developing nitrates yet? You should see nitrates occurring if the bacteria are working.

I'm not familiar with API Quick Start but it is good for saltwater tanks...so, you have some nitrifying bacteria added to the system. Now just need to give it time. The best determination of a complete cycle is to add a specific ammonia source to around 1-2ppm and then seeing if your system can clear this to zero in 24hrs. If so, you're cycled.

lapin · Mar 21, 2020

see above
Yes keep testing until 0 . The issue you might have is not enough of a bacteria colony to support more than 1 fish at a time, unless you feed them something, so they multiply. Add a small fish once ammonia hits 0. Then add fish slowly over time. I find QT just 1 fish at a time is a lot of work so I QT 3 or 4. and ghost feed the bacteria for 4 to 6 weeks.

Lbannie · Mar 21, 2020

Idoc said:
The 5 hour drive with the live rock in dry buckets basically killed off some of the life on the rocks....but good chance some of the life and bacteria in the rock probably survived. Live rock is usually shipped to people wrapped in wet newspaper to keep the rocks wet during shipment. If your rocks remained wet, there's still the possibility of life in the rock. It seems by the decay that quite a bit of the surface organics died, though.

As long as you are having ammonia readings, then you are still getting a decay present. But, it also depends which ammonia test kit you are using...API almost always reads 0.25ppm ammonia even when there isn't any in the system. I use the Red Sea ammonia test kit and it seems to be accurate for cycling. Have you tested to see if you are developing nitrates yet? You should see nitrates occurring if the bacteria are working.

I'm not familiar with API Quick Start but it is good for saltwater tanks...so, you have some nitrifying bacteria added to the system. Now just need to give it time. The best determination of a complete cycle is to add a specific ammonia source to around 1-2ppm and then seeing if your system can clear this to zero in 24hrs. If so, you're cycled.

I just tested again....about 4 hours after adding the bacteria. I would say ammonia is .50,
nitrite and nitrate are at zero.
I’ll start feeding the tank....do you think I should buy more bacteria?

Lbannie · Mar 21, 2020

lapin said:
see above
Yes keep testing until 0 . The issue you might have is not enough of a bacteria colony to support more than 1 fish at a time, unless you feed them something, so they multiply. Add a small fish once ammonia hits 0. Then add fish slowly over time. I find QT just 1 fish at a time is a lot of work so I QT 3 or 4. and ghost feed the bacteria for 4 to 6 weeks.

Ok thanks! I’ll start feeding the tank. Do you think I should add more bacteria?