Cycling Help

[Captain Quint]

Thanks for all of the insight guys. I will start a build thread over the weekend and show progress. This has been very helpful. Here are some pictures of the tank so far!

Pics are not showing for some reason. Hey, please do post the pic in the 'Tank Build Thread' so you can pick up a cool Build Thread Contributor ribbon.

 

[ReeferReefer]

I'm sure there is some truth there, and I usually really like and agree w/ most BRS vids, this one I have not seen yet.(will watch later)

It does seem people usually just do not have patience and the quick cycle solutions only feed that, and I totally agree going slow is best, but personally I would have a hard time myself waiting 4 months for coral, at least softies would be in way before.

It's bad enough we wait so long for anemone's, but in riding w/ that statement and the benefit that comes w/ time and param stability I'm sure it could help, not so sure it's a must.

As I mentioned, I am much more inexperienced than many people here (only about 4 years of reef keeping) so take what I have to say with a grain of salt.

Adding in some softies seems reasonable before 4 months, I think the primary concern is with SPS.

Like you said, the additional time might help with stability but I am sure there are tons of skilled reefers who have had success adding stuff sooner. I just like the more slow and methodical approach as it gives me more room for user error.

 

[davocean]

As I mentioned, I am much more inexperienced than many people here (only about 4 years of reef keeping) so take what I have to say with a grain of salt.

Adding in some softies seems reasonable before 4 months, I think the primary concern is with SPS.

Like you said, the additional time might help with stability but I am sure there are tons of skilled reefers who have had success adding stuff sooner. I just like the more slow and methodical approach as it gives me more room for user error.

All good, and while you may be on lighter end exp wise, I certainly don't discredit your comment, and certainly w/ a BRS vid behind it!
In any case it's probably worth checking out, and I will never argue against patience being a great benefit in this hobby.

 

[lapin]

Im another one that says wait as long as you can before adding the coral. I did not wait. (do as I say not as I do) Just happened that someone was shutting down a 280g tank and dumping corals cheap. So I hopped on board and got 12 big'uns. My rock had cycled for 2 months in tubs and my tank was running for a month after that.

 

[Brew12]

As I mentioned, I am much more inexperienced than many people here (only about 4 years of reef keeping) so take what I have to say with a grain of salt.

For the record, 4 years of experience probably puts you in the top 25% of reefers when it comes to experience. I've seen some tracking data that showed over 50% of people who start salt water aquariums give up in the first 2 years. Pretty sad.

 

[ReeferReefer]

For the record, 4 years of experience probably puts you in the top 25% of reefers when it comes to experience. I've seen some tracking data that showed over 50% of people who start salt water aquariums give up in the first 2 years. Pretty sad.

I had no idea the drop put rate was so high. I wonder what the stats are for fresh water.

 

[lapin]

I had no idea the drop put rate was so high. I wonder what the stats are for fresh water.

I would guess 10x higher. Go to garage sales, look on craigslist or faceplant sale pages. You see tons of fish bowls to 20 gallon tanks. When the goldfish or molly has been replaced 3 or 4 times, mom and dad realize that because jr wants fish does not means jr will put down the phone or video game to change water ect......

 

[davocean]

For the record, 4 years of experience probably puts you in the top 25% of reefers when it comes to experience. I've seen some tracking data that showed over 50% of people who start salt water aquariums give up in the first 2 years. Pretty sad.

Yep, the last aquarium company I did some work with said they expect the average hobbiest to only last a year or 2.
We are actually a fairly small percentage of people that will spend time learning the hobby on sites like this compared to the general population of fish tank keepers