Cycle question

[op6rigo]

Just a quick cycle question. Im new to reefing about 6 months now. I set up a 30 gallon jbj rimless yesterday

My salinity is 1.025
26 lbs of purple live rock
2.5 inch deep fiji pink sand bed

Other than that right now do i need to be doing water tests right now such as PH? Bio spira? Any suggestions would be great thank you.

Anthony

 

[HiddenUser]

Throw in a piece of raw shrimp and let it rot or do some ghost feeding...then just keep an eye on Ammonia, Nitrite, and Nitrate. Wait for the first 2 to be 0, then do a water change and you can slowly start adding fish. You can do biospira or DrTims, but I'd do some research first so that you better understand the cycling process.

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

IMO
no. Let it be. The rock and sand are live so you have bacteria. maybe ghost feed.
learn to check the params but dont mess with it yet.
watch them and youll know when the tank is ready.

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

Throw in a piece of raw shrimp and let it rot or do some ghost feeding...then just keep an eye on Ammonia, Nitrite, and Nitrate. Wait for the first 2 to be 0, then do a water change and you can slowly start adding fish. You can do biospira or DrTims, but I'd do some research first so that you better understand the cycling process.

Solid advice.
the sand and rock are in fact already cycling. feeding that cycle is key to build the Cycle/bio filter to a point where it will sustain the next inhabitants.
the bio spira and dr tims are bacteria similar to the ones in Live sand. but if you rock is seeded alreasy (REal reef rock) you have enough. Ive seen a lot of this rock on the boards wind up with blooms as folks added bacteria and ammonia on top of the huge seed already on the rock.

 

[brandon429]

I would counter just for thought review that you don't have to feed, add, or support your bacteria in any way for months, and they'll still be there just the same. the mechanisms behind that are astounding. the filtration capacity of your LR and sand is the same at this moment as it would be after 15 months of ghost feeding, discuss!

-if your live rock was a flat plate of plastic that had been cured, but had low surface area, then the outcome would be very different vs the above which has X number of football fields of active surface area, this is why changes in bac populations which occur even in ghost fed tanks wont matter. The bioload we expect it to manage is 1/20th of its ability, even after mos of no ghost feeding.

 

[op6rigo]

Also how does the aquascape look in my tank

 

[brandon429]

it looks great. as long as that's real live rock and not painted, its about nine times better than my own live rock which has been conditioned for ten years lol. you should blast rinse out all that sand before filling, save you mos of headaches.

 

[op6rigo]

Already added the live sand it was wet in bag said not to rinse. And thank ya i paid 12.40 a pound for that rock was over 300$

 

[brandon429]

okey doke. did you get pods, stars and worms in it? since it didn't come with those, that's why the rinse is wise. its very common not to rinse. I was mentioning this from the perspective of working on wrecked tanks x1000 two years after setup, where non rinsing played a massive role. all helpful predictions for ya that's all

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

I would counter just for thought review that you don't have to feed, add, or support your bacteria in any way for months, and they'll still be there just the same. the mechanisms behind that are astounding. the filtration capacity of your LR and sand is the same at this moment as it would be after 15 months of ghost feeding, discuss!

-if your live rock was a flat plate of plastic that had been cured, but had low surface area, then the outcome would be very different vs the above which has X number of football fields of active surface area, this is why changes in bac populations which occur even in ghost fed tanks wont matter. The bioload we expect it to manage is 1/20th of its ability, even after mos of no ghost feeding.

solid advice again. A little advanced for the kids, but they should read up on it.
Morning B!
(i have a bucket in the basement with perfect params, needs only flow, discuss)

 

[op6rigo]

Im not sure, but i plan to dose with this product

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

IMO avoid them at this point.
all you have to do is wait. the only reason to add food is to bring up the ammonia and see how the tank is processing it. That food is fish n coral food.
its hard to belive. but in two weeks youll probably be able to add fish, if you do NOTHING. you should/will spend the third week testing that conclusion.

congratulations, you stumbled on the fastest way to cycle a tank.
prepair to be flamed and encouraged to put something in a bottle that will do nothing or ruin everything.
IMO
IME

I only used Fiji Mud as it seemed to be a great source for a natural benign and diverse bacteral population and I got soooo many different colors corraline.
and its 10 buck and youll never use it all.

 

[brandon429]

those Doc's additives are ok to add or not add, your reef and coral and filtration will not change having used them or not. They are among the list of optional retail additives that do not change the outcome of a reef at all.

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

I've seen a lotta folks/threads recently using the "Real Reef Rock tm" that have had probs (cloudy bactera blooms) when they added ammonia or drt's etc.
of course not sure what else they were really doing.

 

[brandon429]

That rock above was so nice looking I was suspect of it being basic cured lfs rock, with no catch.

So, did we cover you need to rinse your sand lol, that rising doesn't remove bacteria just silt that causes massive problems as the tank ages

not rinsing is ok, the masses don't. It becomes a problem as tank access is required as it ages, such that not ever going there and rinsing as step 1, to the point you cant cause any clouding by working the sandbed, gives you a pre advantage for next years issues. if your sandbed came with pods, stars and worms, then we wouldn't rinse, but it didn't. It came with bacteria that are still there, after a rinse.

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

So, did we cover you need to rinse your sand lol, that rising doesn't remove bacteria just silt that causes massive problems as the tank ages

Man I think Im going reverse UG next build. You ever play with that?

 

[brandon429]

No but I support it a thousand percent. I support anything that is opposite of current sandbed use from 1998

down with detritus. if something is shoving it from under your bed out the top, and you can thereby attack the detritus, curse it, then siphon it out, then im for it.
RUGF validations:
being in the oldest reef on the forum.


Bed pre rinsing validations:
being in the oldest nano reef on the forum