Cycle Almost Done ??

tpirovol · Feb 4, 2022

Hi Everyone,

Well after 2 weeks of battling my cycle after I either received a dud One and Only or did something wrong I am almost ready after going with Fritz 9000

I have some questions I am hoping someone can help me.
1) Should I do a water change before adding fish?
2) Should I add my filtration back before the fish or shortly after?

Thanks T

bnord · Feb 4, 2022

Sorry for the frustration, but…
What are the parameters that describe the battle you are having?

tpirovol · Feb 4, 2022

After putting in One and Only I dosed ammonia based on the bottle. After day 3 I had ammonia at 4+ and it didnt go down for almost 1 week (Didnt add anyone more ammonia). I decided to try Fritz 9000 after reading the reviews and within 24hrs it went to 1 and now 36hrs later its .5. Nitrites peaked at 4 yesterday and now down to 1.

I figured by tomorrow it should be 0 and I will do a 50% water change and add the filtration back and get a clown on Sunday.

Thoughts?

Little c big D · Feb 4, 2022

Usually after a cycle the converted ammonia becomes nitrate which is high. That's the purpose of the waterchange

bnord · Feb 4, 2022

a hardy clown should do alright, I for one like to test the system with a couple of over fed hermits and wait a week on the clown, but I prefer to be cautious.. and indeed do a water change

tpirovol · Feb 4, 2022

ok so I should do a water change once the levels go down. Is 50% enough or to much?

Garf · Feb 4, 2022

tpirovol said:
Hi Everyone,

Well after 2 weeks of battling my cycle after I either received a dud One and Only or did something wrong I am almost ready after going with Fritz 9000

I have some questions I am hoping someone can help me.
1) Should I do a water change before adding fish?
2) Should I add my filtration back before the fish or shortly after?

Thanks T

What’s the filtration, you speak of ?

tpirovol · Feb 4, 2022

I am ordering the below so I could wait a week

5 Dwarf Ceriths
2 Nassarius
2 Nerites
2 ssorted Hermits
2x Clowns

tpirovol · Feb 4, 2022

Garf said:
What’s the filtration, you speak of ?

Right now I only have filter floss and MarinePure Balls. I am going to add

New Filter Floss
Chemi-Pure Elite
Purigen

Thoughts?

Garf · Feb 4, 2022

tpirovol said:
Right now I only have filter floss and MarinePure Balls. I am going to add

New Filter Floss
Chemi-Pure Elite
Purigen

Thoughts?

I think chemi pure elite may have phosphate reducers in (maybe wrong). If so I wouldn’t use that yet, however the other stuff will be good.

tpirovol · Feb 4, 2022

Ok so maybe I will just add Carbon in a bag Rox 8, Floss and Purigen?

SlugSnorter · Feb 4, 2022

bnord said:
a hardy clown should do alright, I for one like to test the system with a couple of over fed hermits and wait a week on the clown, but I prefer to be cautious.. and indeed do a water change

no, if ammonia still is present OP shouldn't plop it in

muzikalmatt · Feb 4, 2022

So I just went through this with my 10 gallon build that recently cycled. After the cycle finished I tested nitrates and they were at about 30ish. While that's not so high that it will bother a fish, it makes more sense to try and drop that down to the levels you want to keep your tank running at. So I did a 50% water change to bring them back down to 15ish before adding any fish.

Regarding filter media, I wouldn't add anything until it looks like its necessary. I have some chemi-pure blue on hand for when nitrates/phosphates creep up but for now I'm just running filter floss and doing water changes when needed.

SlugSnorter · Feb 4, 2022

tpirovol said:
I am ordering the below so I could wait a week

5 Dwarf Ceriths
2 Nassarius
2 Nerites
2 ssorted Hermits
2x Clowns

wait, thats more CUC then you need, if ammonia is still present don't bother adding stuff. Wait till algae starts to grow before going full on with the cuc or your stuff will starve or eat each-other (lookin at the hermits)

MBruun · Feb 4, 2022

I would add some copepods and some phyto daily to feed the copepods, then wait a week with the fish

tpirovol · Feb 4, 2022

Sorry I should have been more clear I was not going to add anything until Ammonia and Nitrites are 0. I was just saying once it was should I do a water change and filtration

SlugSnorter · Feb 4, 2022

tpirovol said:
Hi Everyone,

Well after 2 weeks of battling my cycle after I either received a dud One and Only or did something wrong I am almost ready after going with Fritz 9000

I have some questions I am hoping someone can help me.
1) Should I do a water change before adding fish?
2) Should I add my filtration back before the fish or shortly after?

Thanks T

When cycle is done, if nitrates are high do a WC, otherwise it doesn't matter

Don't be too worried if the cycle takes a while, it seems you do not have live rock, which typically means the cycle will be somewhat slower.

use the filter floss, you can even add it in while cycling, it won't effect the process. I would wait on the chemi pure and purigen,

muzikalmatt · Feb 4, 2022

SlugSnorter said:
wait, thats more CUC then you need, if ammonia is still present don't bother adding stuff. Wait till algae starts to grow before going full on with the cuc or your stuff will starve or eat each-other (lookin at the hermits)

This is the way.

Similarly, I just added a single small astrea snail and a small nassarius snail in my 10 gallon build. The astrea is for the algae I'm seeing on the rocks and the nassarius is for sand stirring and to take care of uneaten food.

For clean-up crew, you need to make sure there is a sufficient food source for them to survive otherwise they'll starve and simply contribute to nutrient increase and therefore more algae, which basically defeats the purpose of having them.

You also want to learn about what each CUC member actually does. Try to pick clean-up members that will address the particular algae in the tank or the job you want them to do.