TheSaint216
Active Member
Whats a cycle?
Could It Have Cycled & I Missed It????
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Lemony Lemons
Active Member
On my first tank it lasted almost 6 months. I was using my LFS water and once I bought my RODI they went away. Not sure if it was their water or just time for the diatoms to die off.. but it took me 6 months on my first. That was a 30g with all kinds of learning curve opportunities for me so it's probably a bad example.
My 90 had them for a week and my fighting conch and diamond watchman took care of that. Haven't seen em in a few days so either they're gone or they are getting eaten before I notice them.
Either way, they aren't bad - just ugly. But are delish for your inhabitants
Ive seen tanks spike after a month after they have fully stocked the tank. Also determined by tank size also. Idk every tank is different. I would hold off on corals though for a month and just stock with fish. Just my .02
Ive seen tanks spike after a month after they have fully stocked the tank. Also determined by tank size also. Idk every tank is different. I would hold off on corals though for a month and just stock with fish. Just my .02
Could that have been due to adding to many fish to soon and the system not being able to handle the added bio load? Thus creating another cycle?
I'm am totally new so I just want to see if im on the right track in that statement?
Lemony Lemons
Active Member
That makes sense to me.. anytime you add more than your system can handle, even if it's a small amount, it can trigger a mini cycle or a full one... I'd go slow, I wouldn't add a bunch of stuff at once because of this reason.
Lemony Lemons
Active Member
My first tank was a 30g. My LFS helped me switch from fresh water to saltwater, sold me all the 'stuff' I'd need etc. Instructed me on what to do and tested my water for me. I cycled it for 2 weeks and my LFS told me "everything's great, ammonia and nitrates are 0, you can add fish today!".
I bought around 6 fish within a 2 week period and woke up a day or two after the last fish was added and they were all dead. I cried... it was very stressful and discouraging - i wanted to take down the tank.
I decided to forget my LFS, found a new non - corporate one and they referred me to R2R for some new hobby research. I started over. The original LFS went out of business a month ago too - bye bye corporate salesmen!
So many people told me I should wait, patience is key etc. etc. etc.
I learn new stuff every day but my #1 thing is don't add more than 1 fish at a time and test frequently for the week after just to be safe (call me paranoid), just let your system adjust.
Some people may do it differently, that's just my take on it. No mini cycles, and the little guy can find his home and get comfy before someone new moves in. I'm a veryyyy slow 'fish adder' now. I have my 90g up for 5 weeks and besides my snails I have 1 diamond watchman. I want a mandarin but I'm waiting for my refugium to be more established and I'm also growing worms in a box in my closet (let me tell you how much my boyfriend loves that). I want to make sure he's nice and fat!
Anyway moral of this novel, it's super exciting and very hard to wait - i understand, but learn from my mistakes ... go slow, don't let my 6 dead fish die in vain!
Six dead fish!!! Ya I would cry as well. Thanks for taking the time to tell me your story I read the whole thing and appreciate it. Thank you. I can see that being a hard lesson to learn and ya... Note to self... do not add six fish at once.
I have read that one is good and two at the absolute most pending on tank size. As you said key is patience and take it slow.
Lemony Lemons
Active Member
Six dead fish!!! Ya I would cry as well. Thanks for taking the time to tell me your story I read the whole thing and appreciate it. Thank you. I can see that being a hard lesson to learn and ya... Note to self... do not add six fish at once.
I have read that one is good and two at the absolute most pending on tank size. As you said key is patience and take it slow.
Yeah sorry it was so long.. I was a goldfish in a 10 gallon person before that mishap! Make sure you post some pics on R2R once you get it going!
Fish drive me crazy
Community Member
I have used a bateria additive when I set up my 58g tank and the tank never cycled I checked the amonia and other levels every day then again I did have some mature live rock from my 29g and I added 80 or 100 pounds of live sand but I added the bacteria just to help strengthen the bacteria because I was worried about all the die off from the swap of tanks
