Cycling a tank

[Sandyego reeyfur]

Hello! Ima make this quick so here goes nothing. Do you guys think bacteria in a bottle is an adequate method of cycling a tank? Is waiting weeks for a tank to cycle on its own a dated method? I have heard stories of people who have used both methods and successfully cycled their tanks.

 

[Billldg]

Welcome to R2R!!!. I use Bio-Spira all the time and have had great success with it. I used it to start my DT, and I added a little ammonia to help build the bacteria. I do the same for my QT as well.

 

[Cell]

You can use bacteria in a bottle and still need weeks to cycle. Lots of other factors involved.

 

[Sandyego reeyfur]

Dt? Qt? Srry im new

 

[Sandyego reeyfur]

Can you explain further. What if you put water live rock and sand in let it run for a couple days then add bacteria, tgeb let that sit for another couple of days?

 

[brandon429]

Here is that method
With live rock, you don’t add bacteria or ammonia, it’s ready when you bring it home wet from bags of water. Make the lfs pack it your way. Thread has pics and examples plenty.

The microbiology of reef tank cycling.

You can skip your cycle. Ive been reefing online for twenty years and have never waited one second for a tank to cycle, because I buy rocks that are already cycled and move them home. Here's two: https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/octo-high-end-sps-skip-cycle-build.713256/...

www.reef2reef.com

 

[Billldg]

Dt? Qt? Srry im new

Display tank, I added 80 lbs of CaribSea live sand and 90 pounds of CaribSea live rock to my tank, added saltwater and 2 big bottles of Bio-Spira to my 120 gal tank. I then added enough Dr. Tims ammonia concentrate to the tank to raise ammonia level for the bacteria to feed and grow. You still have to take ammonia readings before adding fish to make sure its at 0 ppm.

QT= Quarantine Tank

 

[Billldg]

The best advice I can give you though is that even after adding bacteria to the tank and ammonia concentrate to help it grow is to make sure your ammonia is at 0 ppm before adding fish and don't add to many to quickly as that can overwhelm the bacteria population and cause a ammonia spike.

 

[Sandyego reeyfur]

Pls dont tell me im stoopid but here is what i did. I added dry sand and live rock however the live rock was in the air for 15 mins during the drive home. It was damp when we got it in the tank and appears to have some critters and coraline algae in it. Then i added the water and let it run for a few days. Then i added the recommended amount of dr tims into the tank with the assumption that some critters on the rock died while being trabsported thus providing food for the bacteria i added. I added fish and coral the day before my api test kit arrived in the mail. Everything is currently happy but ammonia reads .25 ppm which is one step away from zero on that test kit. Nitrites and nitrates both read zero. Does all this sound reasonable?

 

[brandon429]

Literally all that is page one of the link, and then the next sixteen pages too, works great

 

[Sandyego reeyfur]

Literally all that is page one of the link, and then the next sixteen pages too, works great

Soooooo much reeding tho
Lol

 

[Sandyego reeyfur]

Soooooo much reeding tho
Lol

I kinda did a mix of all of them

 

[IslandLifeReef]

Pls dont tell me im stoopid but here is what i did. I added dry sand and live rock however the live rock was in the air for 15 mins during the drive home. It was damp when we got it in the tank and appears to have some critters and coraline algae in it. Then i added the water and let it run for a few days. Then i added the recommended amount of dr tims into the tank with the assumption that some critters on the rock died while being trabsported thus providing food for the bacteria i added. I added fish and coral the day before my api test kit arrived in the mail. Everything is currently happy but ammonia reads .25 ppm which is one step away from zero on that test kit. Nitrites and nitrates both read zero. Does all this sound reasonable?

Sounds like it should be ok. .25 ppm ammonia on the API test kit could actually be 0 ppm. It is notorious for that.

I would check out threads by @Lasse. He cycles with fish and would be a great resource for you.

Hey @Lasse, do you have any suggestions?

 

[Lasse]

0.25 is a common "miss"readings of NH3/NH4 tests. Even if it is a true reading - It will not give any high figures of the toxic NH3 - see figure. Figure from here. I would not be worried of a reading like that - it is probably a false reading.

​

My method to cycle

Sincerely Lasse

 

[Sandyego reeyfur]

Thanks

 

[NPRW]

Just keep dosing bacteria you'll be fine itll offset the difference in Ammonia from the added fish.

 

[Lasse]

Just feed very sparely,( very, very sparely) the coming weeks an gradually rise the amount of food. I prefer frozen natural food as adult artemia or mysis shrimp. Per weight - it contain around 75 % lesser N compared with most dry foods

Sincerely Lasse