so i will start off saying i know im being impatient but with so many varying responses i thought i would just post a question and see what you guys say so i started my tank up a little over two weeks ago its around 400 gallons total capacity salt is at 35 alk is at 9.74 cal is 456 and mag at 1406 skimmer is off lights are off chaeto in sump fuge light runs at night for 10 hrsi added 300 lbs of live sand and all rock was dry and cured in my house for last 5 yearsin start up i added one bottle of bacteria 7 to seed the bio pellet reactor it is off as well after 3 days my amonia went to .5 ppm and i add 4 bottles of fritz turbo start which should of treated 400 gallons and i blended and added one blended shrimp. ammonia shot to 1 ppm for two days then droped to .5 then 0 ppm and has been at 0 for a week nitrites are off the chart as well as nitrates 5ppm and 20 ppm yesterday i added two more bottles of turbo start nothing has changed my freind and local lfs owner says i dont need to add any more shrimp even though my logic says you still need to feed the bacteria. so can you tell me if im missing something or just being impatient tank is fallow no fish no corals apex does a two gallon water change daily gyres and return pump running no skimmer no reactor socks and chaeto in sump heater on and temp at 78??? #reefsquad
cycle question
- Thread starter johnston
- Start date
- Tagged users None
You are cycled and done here’s why:
fritz adheres to surfaces and becomes immune to full water changes within a day or two, you’re at fourteen. In support of the event in your tank you’ve seen ammonia drop after adding known nitrifiers. The last factor to consider is adherence surface area, you’re at max needed. You can’t not be cycled under the current arrangement, it’s why they charge so darn much for the bac heh
you have met the submersion time on the left side of any cycle chart that shows ammonia going down due to active surface area controls.
regarding starving of bacteria, in a contaminated hydrated medium open top in a home, no concerns-the nitrifiers will simply attain feed as they do in a water puddle in nature when no humans are there to dose them feed. Dead gnats
skin cells wafting in
other bacteria that bloomed due water and then died bc they’re not reef bacteria, their rotting mass is trace ammonia
I bet there’s forty other feed pathways avail to open topped setups. If you added fish they’d live, final sign of cycle completion. that ruins fallow protocols however.
fritz adheres to surfaces and becomes immune to full water changes within a day or two, you’re at fourteen. In support of the event in your tank you’ve seen ammonia drop after adding known nitrifiers. The last factor to consider is adherence surface area, you’re at max needed. You can’t not be cycled under the current arrangement, it’s why they charge so darn much for the bac heh
you have met the submersion time on the left side of any cycle chart that shows ammonia going down due to active surface area controls.
regarding starving of bacteria, in a contaminated hydrated medium open top in a home, no concerns-the nitrifiers will simply attain feed as they do in a water puddle in nature when no humans are there to dose them feed. Dead gnats
skin cells wafting in
other bacteria that bloomed due water and then died bc they’re not reef bacteria, their rotting mass is trace ammonia
I bet there’s forty other feed pathways avail to open topped setups. If you added fish they’d live, final sign of cycle completion. that ruins fallow protocols however.
Last edited:
GoVols
Cobb / Webb - 1989
Reef Squad Leader
Excellence Award
Reef Tank 365
MTRCMember
Article Contributor
Hospitality Award
R2R Research
My Tank Thread
What made the initial ammonia rise above
also in play: how do reef conventions get four hundred tanks ready for start date, without variance
available: ready examples of dry start skip cycles.
they don’t even have two weeks to prep at Reefstock or Macna. Consider that large scope when troubleshooting your cycle, which cannot be troubled as it’s done and long past demonstrably locked in.
care to do us right in the chem forum? we need an actual proofing test. Score liquid cycling ammonia.
In all other forums we posit
here they’re empiricists I read
also in play: how do reef conventions get four hundred tanks ready for start date, without variance
available: ready examples of dry start skip cycles.
they don’t even have two weeks to prep at Reefstock or Macna. Consider that large scope when troubleshooting your cycle, which cannot be troubled as it’s done and long past demonstrably locked in.
care to do us right in the chem forum? we need an actual proofing test. Score liquid cycling ammonia.
In all other forums we posit
here they’re empiricists I read
Last edited:
GoVols
Cobb / Webb - 1989
Reef Squad Leader
Excellence Award
Reef Tank 365
MTRCMember
Article Contributor
Hospitality Award
R2R Research
My Tank Thread
Brew12
Electrical Gru
Thanks for the invite!
I would not add an ammonia source at this point but I would wait for nitrites to come down. The chlorides in salt water will protect fish from nitrites to a degree but yours are higher than I am comfortable with.
Unless you plan on loading up the tank with fish on day one, I would add a few fish as soon as nitrite drops below 1ppm. Feed them fairly lightly for a month before adding more. If you do plan on adding a bunch of fish at once, I would add another blended shrimp when nitrites drop below one, but I don't recommend adding a lot of livestock at once. Too many issues.
no i have a schedule for fish entry along with qt times so it will take a few months to put fish in maybe longer with fish sales being shut down for now i have two long fin clowns bought but they are holding them for me til cycle is complete
also if you wanted to look at my build thread and give me your opinion it would be appreciated i really tried to do this right its been several years since i left hobby and have forgot alot and alot has changed the rest i just did wrong in the past lol
Brew12
Electrical Gru
You could not add another ammonia source for 6 months and you would be fine to start adding fish at that point as long as you do it slowly. Nitrifying bacteria can go into a form of dormancy (don't remember the proper name) but they are very hard to kill.
I'll check out your build thread. Glad you are getting back in the hobby!
dbowman5
Valuable Member
so my understanding is that the ammonia eating bacteria poop nitrites which the nitrite eating bacteria, different guys, eat and poop out nitrates, the ammonia eating bacteria need to keep eating or will die off. the nitrite spike follows the ammonia spike the ammonia and nitrite detectable levels go to zero because the bacterias eat them as fast as they show up. you still need to feed the bacteria until your livestock starts pooping ammonia
dbowman5
Valuable Member
so i think of them starving but truly they hibernate till spring arrives with food
Brew12
Electrical Gru
That is a good way to think about it.
