Cycle thoughts...

[bulzeye]

I've attached my current cycle, just wanted some thoughts on it. From all the reading I did, it seems I should just wait until the nitrites go down to 0 and then test nitrates. At that time, should I do a WC and then add ammonium to make sure it goes to 0 in 24hr?
Thanks everyone.

 

[Azedenkae]

I've attached my current cycle, just wanted some thoughts on it. From all the reading I did, it seems I should just wait until the nitrites go down to 0 and then test nitrates. At that time, should I do a WC and then add ammonium to make sure it goes to 0 in 24hr?
Thanks everyone.

Traditionally, this is correct. It is still what I would recommend.

Nitrite is actually non-lethal to marine fish unless it reaches very high concentrations (like, 100+ ppm at least), though a study have suggested keeping it less than 25ppm. As you can imagine, so long as you do the cycle correctly, then reaching 25ppm is probably not gonna happen anyways, so a lot of aquarists will recommend not needing to worry about nitrite at all.

You can totally ignore nitrite, or to be safe, make sure both ammonia and nitrite can be fully handled just to make sure nitrite does not have a chance of reaching 25ppm. The choice is yours. My personal preference is the latter, since to me it does not really add that much more time to the cycling process anyways, and you just have peace of mind that your aquarium's nitrification capacity is as expected.

 

[bulzeye]

Traditionally, this is correct. It is still what I would recommend.

Nitrite is actually non-lethal to marine fish unless it reaches very high concentrations (like, 100+ ppm at least), though a study have suggested keeping it less than 25ppm. As you can imagine, so long as you do the cycle correctly, then reaching 25ppm is probably not gonna happen anyways, so a lot of aquarists will recommend not needing to worry about nitrite at all.

You can totally ignore nitrite, or to be safe, make sure both ammonia and nitrite can be fully handled just to make sure nitrite does not have a chance of reaching 25ppm. The choice is yours. My personal preference is the latter, since to me it does not really add that much more time to the cycling process anyways, and you just have peace of mind that your aquarium's nitrification capacity is as expected.

okay thanks, I will post my test results with pics when I get home from work. Just want some reassurances that I'm doing this correctly since its my first tank.

 

[Azedenkae]

okay thanks, I will post my test results with pics when I get home from work. Just want some reassurances that I'm doing this correctly since its my first tank.

Coolio!

On an unrelated note - you might want to see if you can keep your temperature around 78. I presume it's coz it's summer and hard to keep the temperature down, but yeah 81 is a bit high.

You are probably fishless cycling, so not like it is harming anything (and in fact probably helping nitrifiers reproduce faster), but it's good to get it sorted sooner rather than later.

 

[brandon429]

its done, because apparently the bottle bac used controlled ammonia within the exact timeframe from its labels.

that, or you used live rock/already cycled and that was a lag time report for the ammonia oxidation, but its as good as done.


meaning if you wait three more months, the same degree of ammonia control will exist as it does now, this is why we pay for bottle bac.

you dont get further benefit by waiting longer, past the dates on the label from the bottle bac.

of all params reported, only that ammonia line approximation mattered, not the others. this is why when we see fish + bottle bac going in on day one, with zero wait time, the turnout is still healthy happy fish. the ability to carry ammonia comes right out of the bottle- unless that's a digital ammonia kit you're using above the ability to control ammonia happened faster than shown above/ the non digital kits take a long time to register when ammonia comes back down and they often stick at .2 or .25, the vast majority never show anything lower even after the cycle. the motion change relative to your dates was the tell

 

[Snoopy 67]

If you are planning a reef you need to up the salinity to1.025.

 

[bulzeye]

its done, because apparently the bottle bac used controlled ammonia within the exact timeframe from its labels.

that, or you used live rock/already cycled and that was a lag time report for the ammonia oxidation, but its as good as done.


meaning if you wait three more months, the same degree of ammonia control will exist as it does now, this is why we pay for bottle bac.

you dont get further benefit by waiting longer, past the dates on the label from the bottle bac.

of all params reported, only that ammonia line approximation mattered, not the others. this is why when we see fish + bottle bac going in on day one, with zero wait time, the turnout is still healthy happy fish. the ability to carry ammonia comes right out of the bottle- unless that's a digital ammonia kit you're using above the ability to control ammonia happened faster than shown above/ the non digital kits take a long time to register when ammonia comes back down and they often stick at .2 or .25, the vast majority never show anything lower even after the cycle. the motion change relative to your dates was the tell

I used dry rock with live sand and dr. tims, no fish. I added the biospira on day 5. I'm using Red Sea test kit. I was thinking it was cycled but just wanted to make sure. On to a different note, if nitrites don't really matter but I can't measure nitrates until they get down, what do you suggest? I just want to make sure it's safe for fish.
I also will adjust the temp down to about 78.
Thanks!

 

[Azedenkae]

I used dry rock with live sand and dr. tims, no fish. I added the biospira on day 5. I'm using Red Sea test kit. I was thinking it was cycled but just wanted to make sure. On to a different note, if nitrites don't really matter but I can't measure nitrates until they get down, what do you suggest? I just want to make sure it's safe for fish.
I also will adjust the temp down to about 78.
Thanks!

Nitrates also tend to not really affect fish, so there's also that.

But yes, you are right, and one of the reasons to measure nitrite even though it does not matter, is to track where nitrate is actually at. ^_^

 

[brandon429]

measuring nitrate is only handy for long term tuning, it has no bearing on cycle start date assessment. even if you test it three months from now the tester you use can't be relied on, we can see among titration kits for nitrate the reports range back wildly many times on the same sample... across name brands. with nitrate testing even in the ideal all you'd get is an approximation

Bio-spira works great

I just started a new tank a little over a week ago. I started with all dry rock and new sand. I added a bottle of Bio-Spira and put fish and coral the same day. Never saw any ammonia and fish and coral seem healthy.

www.reef2reef.com

thats how strong biospira is...eight fish and a $300 anemone on day 1

you were extra nice...waited five days and dosed waaay more ammonia than the multi fish one did/they're not making 2ppm a day.

 

[Cell]

Not to track where nitrate is at, but to validate a nitrate measurement.

 

[Cell]

It's really starting to bug me how many people continue to be duped into buying multiple bottles of starter bac. This hobby is expensive enough already.

I've said before and I'll say it again, I swear by Bio-Spira. I don't understand why Dr. Tim's protocol has to be so confusing, meanwhile Bio-Spira's is perfectly straightforward and cheaper to boot.

 

[brandon429]

I love crunching start dates for cycles, its terrible fun Bulzeye.

*fish disease is your hidden killer

just because you can carry eight fish doesnt mean they'll last without preps. check out the arc of Ike's tank there in post #9, message him

fish disease got em months later, not cycling.

 

[brandon429]

agreed here's what I want biospira to update as their procedure and wait time on the label, based on forum patterning:


instructions

open bottle, dump in aquarium, your cycle is now complete.

we sold you water bac, in water, and didnt have to overpromise anything.

 

[bulzeye]

I love crunching start dates for cycles, its terrible fun Bulzeye.

*fish disease is your hidden killer

just because you can carry eight fish doesnt mean they'll last without preps. check out the arc of Ike's tank there in post #9, message him

fish disease got em months later, not cycling.

I'm in no rush to add fish, I just want to make sure it's safe. I will check it out. Thanks.