Cycling an Aquarium
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You do not need to run your skimmer because there is nothing to skim out.
You so not need to run the wavemaker 24/7 . 12 hours a day will be fine if you are looking to save money or something. 24/7 would be best.
And yes do run your sponge filter to get it loaded with bacteria.
You so not need to run the wavemaker 24/7 . 12 hours a day will be fine if you are looking to save money or something. 24/7 would be best.
And yes do run your sponge filter to get it loaded with bacteria.
Zink
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Literally just made this account, first tank since I was in middle school and I knew nothing back then and my mother ran it. Now I just know a little and understand, well somewhat... FISHLESS CYCLE!!!!! 55 gallon tank. 40 pounds of nature's ocean dry rock, 30 pounds nature's ocean live sand, one bottle of Tim's 1 and only, and Tim's ammonia. Got salt at 1.025, pH around 8. Temps at 80. Tanks filled to below my overflow box, got my return pump in there for now giving it really good circulation and oxygen. No sump plumbed and connected at the moment, just purely water in the tank heated and circulating. Day 1 got it up to around 4 ppm ammonia. Day 3 started to barely see nitrites and nitrates, and I mean itty bitty barely. Day 5 ammonia dropped to .3 ish probably, nitrites were almost unreadable still, nitrates rose to around 30 probably. So I feel like it is working just fine. Added more ammonia on same day (5). Now it's day 7 going on 8 and nitrites are like off the chart pink/purple, guestimate 6 or 7ppm. and nitrates are at an ungodly deep red, 160 or more. Ammonia is down to below .4 went ahead and added some more ammonia today. Is my tank cycling really fast and well? Am I an idiot? Do I need to change out most the water to get rid of the enormous amount of nitrates? PS I use RODI water mixed with Instant Ocean salt. My goal is for FOWLR with capabilities of adding coral with minimal work. Just want it fish safe for now till I know I can keep them alive. Let me know if I'm doing this right or if this thing is cycling out of control. Haha. I feel like it's working but almost working WAYY faster than others are making it seem like it should be
OP
OP
Brew12
Electrical Gru
I don't disagree with any of this, you can do it and be just fine.
I do feel that if you are new to the hobby you should try to run your tank while it is cycling the same as you plan on running it when you add fish. Running the skimmer won't do much for improving the water quality unless you had dirty rock, but it does give you a chance to learn how to make adjustments.
OP
OP
Brew12
Electrical Gru
Welcome to Reef2Reef! Glad to have you here!
Yup, it is cycling fast, but not crazy fast. That is the entire reason to add Dr Tims. You can pretty much skip the cycle completely.
Nope, but I do feel you are adding way more ammonia than you should!
Stop adding ammonia, you are good there. Wait for your nitrites to go away and then test your nitrates. Nitrate tests work by breaking down nitrates into nitrites and measuring them. They are only accurate in a system with no nitrites. Give that part of it time. Since you have added so much ammonia, a water change wouldn't hurt, but it doesn't have to be a massive one.
dimidragos
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good and easy to understand article, i didn't see it until now. thanks @lapin
Eugene
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Hello Reefkeepers,
May I ask your advice regarding cycling my first saltwater tank?
I've started a nano-tank (20gal) with a setup described below on July 13. On August 8 I see strange tests readings (ammonia 2ppm, nitrite 0.2 (never spiked), nitrate 10-20 ppm (grew fast over the night) - see a tab below with historical data). This is not a reason to panic, but I would like to understand the cycle better. I used a fishless method by adding ammonia up to 2ppm (Q: how long shall I keep this level?).
The thing is nitrite never showed up above 0.2 ppm or spiked and I kept maintaining the level of 2ppm for ammonia and somehow nitrate appeared at the level of 10-20ppm. Based on the theory, nitrite must show up in higher levels, I need to reduce ammonia before nitrates appear, is it correct?
Historical readings (see Stats.png)
Setup:
1. 20gal (glass)
2. Dry Atlantic coral rocks with pores for bacteria and polished pebbles, no sand (30-40% of tank's volume)
3. Canister filter - SunSun 4-Stage External Canister Filter with 9-Watt UV Sterilizer for Aquarium, 370 GPH
4. Lights 30W LED (7500 kelvin) - turned off
5. Skimmer Hydor Slim Skim Nano Internal Skimmer for Mini Aquariums and Reefs 23-35 gal
6. Powerhead - Hydor Koralia Nano 565 GPH
7. Heater Cobalt Aquatics Neo-Therm Heater, 150 watt
Pump, skimmer, heater, powerhead are always ON
UV, Lights are OFF
Canister media (from bottom to the top):
1. Ceramic rings (put them to the floor, I heard it works great to crush stuff before mesh/pads)
2. Mech Media - Cotton Mesh / Canister White and Coarse Filter Pads
3. Bio Media - Bioballs, Ceramic rings, Pebbles (if I have rocks in the tank 30-40% of the volume, do I need this media in the canister filter?)
4. Chem Media - not using (after the cycle I plan to add a little bit of activated carbon)
Algae is absent, water is crystal clear
Known mistakes / issues:
75gal is better than 20gal, but I can't afford it in a rented appartment
During first 2 weeks I used lights, then discovered that Nitrosomonas is a photophobic microbe, so I turned it off and cycled the tank without lights. Maybe that's why it took longer to cycle the tank.
UV and lights are off
I use a water conditioner to remove chlorine and chloramine, no RO/DI filter
Using Fluval Sea Marine Salt for Aquarium, salinity may jump due to water evaporation, small tank evaporates faster.
Increased the temperature from 80 to 83 to accelerate the process, I heard it helps
Please share your best guess what's happening in my tank and what will be next. Thank you!
May I ask your advice regarding cycling my first saltwater tank?
I've started a nano-tank (20gal) with a setup described below on July 13. On August 8 I see strange tests readings (ammonia 2ppm, nitrite 0.2 (never spiked), nitrate 10-20 ppm (grew fast over the night) - see a tab below with historical data). This is not a reason to panic, but I would like to understand the cycle better. I used a fishless method by adding ammonia up to 2ppm (Q: how long shall I keep this level?).
The thing is nitrite never showed up above 0.2 ppm or spiked and I kept maintaining the level of 2ppm for ammonia and somehow nitrate appeared at the level of 10-20ppm. Based on the theory, nitrite must show up in higher levels, I need to reduce ammonia before nitrates appear, is it correct?
Historical readings (see Stats.png)
Setup:
1. 20gal (glass)
2. Dry Atlantic coral rocks with pores for bacteria and polished pebbles, no sand (30-40% of tank's volume)
3. Canister filter - SunSun 4-Stage External Canister Filter with 9-Watt UV Sterilizer for Aquarium, 370 GPH
4. Lights 30W LED (7500 kelvin) - turned off
5. Skimmer Hydor Slim Skim Nano Internal Skimmer for Mini Aquariums and Reefs 23-35 gal
6. Powerhead - Hydor Koralia Nano 565 GPH
7. Heater Cobalt Aquatics Neo-Therm Heater, 150 watt
Pump, skimmer, heater, powerhead are always ON
UV, Lights are OFF
Canister media (from bottom to the top):
1. Ceramic rings (put them to the floor, I heard it works great to crush stuff before mesh/pads)
2. Mech Media - Cotton Mesh / Canister White and Coarse Filter Pads
3. Bio Media - Bioballs, Ceramic rings, Pebbles (if I have rocks in the tank 30-40% of the volume, do I need this media in the canister filter?)
4. Chem Media - not using (after the cycle I plan to add a little bit of activated carbon)
Algae is absent, water is crystal clear
Known mistakes / issues:
75gal is better than 20gal, but I can't afford it in a rented appartment
During first 2 weeks I used lights, then discovered that Nitrosomonas is a photophobic microbe, so I turned it off and cycled the tank without lights. Maybe that's why it took longer to cycle the tank.
UV and lights are off
I use a water conditioner to remove chlorine and chloramine, no RO/DI filter
Using Fluval Sea Marine Salt for Aquarium, salinity may jump due to water evaporation, small tank evaporates faster.
Increased the temperature from 80 to 83 to accelerate the process, I heard it helps
Please share your best guess what's happening in my tank and what will be next. Thank you!
Last edited:
As long as you have nitrite your nitrate readings will not be correct. Stop dosing ammonia. When it hits 0 test for nitrite. When it hits 0. Add some ammonia and see how long it takes to get to 0. Your tank is prob cycled but only testing will tell for sure as to when you can add livestock.
OP
OP
Brew12
Electrical Gru
If I had to guess, you are only needing to add a very small amount of ammonia to maintain 2ppm. Personally, I would stop trying to maintain it.Hello Reefkeepers,
May I ask your advice regarding cycling my first saltwater tank?
I've started a nano-tank (20gal) with a setup described below on July 13. On August 8 I see strange tests readings (ammonia 2ppm, nitrite 0.2 (never spiked), nitrate 10-20 ppm (grew fast over the night) - see a tab below with historical data). This is not a reason to panic, but I would like to understand the cycle better. I used a fishless method by adding ammonia up to 2ppm (Q: how long shall I keep this level?).
The thing is nitrite never showed up above 0.2 ppm or spiked and I kept maintaining the level of 2ppm for ammonia and somehow nitrate appeared at the level of 10-20ppm. Based on the theory, nitrite must show up in higher levels, I need to reduce ammonia before nitrates appear, is it correct?
Historical readings (see Stats.png)
Setup:
1. 20gal (glass)
2. Dry Atlantic coral rocks with pores for bacteria and polished pebbles, no sand (30-40% of tank's volume)
3. Canister filter - SunSun 4-Stage External Canister Filter with 9-Watt UV Sterilizer for Aquarium, 370 GPH
4. Lights 30W LED (7500 kelvin) - turned off
5. Skimmer Hydor Slim Skim Nano Internal Skimmer for Mini Aquariums and Reefs 23-35 gal
6. Powerhead - Hydor Koralia Nano 565 GPH
7. Heater Cobalt Aquatics Neo-Therm Heater, 150 watt
Pump, skimmer, heater, powerhead are always ON
UV, Lights are OFF
Canister media (from bottom to the top):
1. Ceramic rings (put them to the floor, I heard it works great to crush stuff before mesh/pads)
2. Mech Media - Cotton Mesh / Canister White and Coarse Filter Pads
3. Bio Media - Bioballs, Ceramic rings, Pebbles (if I have rocks, do I need this in the canister filter?)
4. Chem Media - not using (after the cycle I plan to add a little bit of activated carbon)
Algae is absent, water is crystal clear
Known mistakes / issues:
75gal is better than 20gal, but I can't afford it in a rented appartment
During first 2 weeks I used lights, then discovered that Nitrosomonas is a photophobic microbe, so I turned it off and cycled the tank without lights. Maybe that's why it took longer to cycle the tank.
UV and lights are off
I use a water conditioner to remove chlorine and chloramine, no RO/DI filter
Using Fluval Sea Marine Salt for Aquarium, salinity may jump due to water evaporation, small tanks evaporates faster.
Increased the temperature from 80 to 83 to accelerate the process, I heard it helps
Please share your best guess what's happening in my tank and what will be next. Thank you!
You have a small amount of ammonia being converted to nitrite. Since the nitrite production is slow you aren't seeing a build up. The nitrite processing bacteria are converting it to nitrate almost as fast as it is produced. It does look like things are finally starting to speed up.
Personally, I would turn the lights back on. The bacteria hiding in the rock won't be bothered by it. You may grow some algae which will help process ammonia. You do not need bio media in the canister. I would recommend removing it sooner rather than later.
If you really want to speed it up, dump in a bottle of your preferred bacteria product. Otherwise just have patience, your cycle seems to be going fine!
Oh, and Welcome to Reef2Reef!
OP
OP
Brew12
Electrical Gru
The big concern is ammonia. If the ammonia in the water is too high it can cause damage the gills and prevent them from obtaining oxygen properly.
1810
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First time here but been lurking for a bit. Been cycling for awhile now and wondering if I should be concerned with faint little green algae spots starting to appear. Never had an issue before.
OP
OP
Brew12
Electrical Gru
Is it fuzzy or stringy? They way you describe it, it almost sounds like green coraline algae.
Green algae _should_ show up. Some is annoying, some is frustrating, but all of it is pulling nutrient from your water into a form from which it can be recycled.
~Bruce
~Bruce
1810
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Neither fuzzy or stringy. Spotty?? If that makes any sense. I had all kinds of algae experiences before, except this. But maybe like you mention could be green coraline algae. Like Maritimer said looks eh.
OP
OP
Brew12
Electrical Gru
In my opinion, it is only cycled if you have visible algae. Otherwise you should have nitrates. It looks like you didn't add a large enough ammonia source.
But again, if you have algae, it will consume the nitrates so you may be ok.
