Cycle question

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Rxb09a

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So I just setup my biocube 32 yesterday with roughly 30 pounds of live rock and 30 pounds of live sand. I just tested my water and it is showing 0ppm on ammonia and nitrite and 160ppm on nitrate.

Either I’m not fully understanding the cycle process but I thought nitrates were the last to spike in the cycle. Is this normal or did I do something wrong?
 
Yes I purchased the saltwater pre mixed by my lfs where they use RODI.
 
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/the-microbiology-of-reef-tank-cycling.214618/

That's seven pages on your exact type of cycle. What your test kits show match the ideal cycle measures from that thread, it's spot on.


You set up group B rock, it needs no cycling.


What you were expecting was a group A cycle, those are the two major divisions in reef cycling and as you can tell, what ammonia does is opposite between the two within 30 days of tank setup.
 
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/the-microbiology-of-reef-tank-cycling.214618/

That's seven pages on your exact type of cycle. What your test kits show match the ideal cycle measures from that thread, it's spot on.


You set up group B rock, it needs no cycling.


What you were expecting was a group A cycle, those are the two major divisions in reef cycling and as you can tell, what ammonia does is opposite between the two within 30 days of tank setup.
Okay thanks for the link to the article I’m going to check it out.
 
The quick summary is that if you can see coloration on your live rocks, and find some confirming animals like pods, sponges or worms, or algae, any anchored being, then by rule of biology your filtration bacteria are there and we don't need to see spikes in ammonia or nitrite.


But for barren group A rocks, we dose the ammonia and bottled bac and wait and test, and see those ups and downs you were expecting.


Since group B rocks are able to move tanks without losing bacteria, that means people at giant marine aquarium shows can set up instant reefs the day before the show begins.

It means I can clean my reef free of algae as deep as I want to clean, because we aren't going to kill off bacteria unless we dose and sustain a medication. Cleaning is no medication.

That group B rocks continually keep their bacteria means we can do very very handy things and our tanks never recycle, given good command over the process. You can do back to back full water changes for ten months every day as a test for example, and not kill your filtration bacteria. Set means set, you just measured that in your opening post.

I know skip cycling doesn't sound like a big deal but it is. The entire science of pico reefing is built on skip cycle procedures, and if you can control a cycle you can simply make your reef do what you want it to do without loss.
 
The quick summary is that if you can see coloration on your live rocks, and find some confirming animals like pods, sponges or worms, or algae, any anchored being, then by rule of biology your filtration bacteria are there and we don't need to see spikes in ammonia or nitrite.


But for barren group A rocks, we dose the ammonia and bottled bac and wait and test, and see those ups and downs you were expecting.


Since group B rocks are able to move tanks without losing bacteria, that means people at giant marine aquarium shows can set up instant reefs the day before the show begins.

It means I can clean my reef free of algae as deep as I want to clean, because we aren't going to kill off bacteria unless we dose and sustain a medication. Cleaning is no medication.

That group B rocks continually keep their bacteria means we can do very very handy things and our tanks never recycle, given good command over the process. You can do back to back full water changes for ten months every day as a test for example, and not kill your filtration bacteria. Set means set, you just measured that in your opening post.

I know skip cycling doesn't sound like a big deal but it is. The entire science of pico reefing is built on skip cycle procedures, and if you can control a cycle you can simply make your reef do what you want it to do without loss.
Well after reading that article I would say my “live” rock would be in between the A rock and B rock. It’s not purple but does appear as if it had life on it at one time. I’m not certain on how long my lfs had it submerged in store.
 
Makes sense. Once I set up my first tank I was able to transfer tanks right away without a cycle because my rock was live. So the rock you got from your local fish store had enough beneficial bacteria to not have to cycle.
 
Update: So I’m on day 5 of the cycle. I dosed the tank with bottled bacteria on day 3. My ammonia and nitrite have stayed at 0ppm my nitrate was at 160ppm from day 2-4 and dropped to 80ppm today. Am I still on track of where I need to be in the cycle. I thought I would have had ammonia or nitrite show up by now.
 
If you’re showing nitrate there has to be beneficial bacteria already established somewhere I would wait a week and test again.
 
If you’re showing nitrate there has to be beneficial bacteria already established somewhere I would wait a week and test again.
So if that’s the case when my nitrates show 0ppm would that be considered cycled at that time?
 
Your nitrates won’t go away once they are there you should be cycled.
 

IF YOU HAD TO TAKE A REEFING EXAM, WOULD YOU PASS?

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