Cycling My Tank

Fafaflunky · Jan 6, 2016

I just set up my 120g tank and bought Bio-Spira to assist with the cycling process. I used 120lbs dry rock and 70lbs live sand. I'm curious, am I supposed to add a fish immediately? Seems contrary to what I've read about cycling,

Bensadork · Jan 6, 2016

No, I would definitely not add any fish immediately. I had my 46g set up for a couple of months before I added my first fish. Before that, all I had in there was some hermits and some snails. I would definitely keep an eye on your parameters and make sure the tank is fully cycled before adding any fish. I would maybe get a few pieces of live rock to seed your dry rock and get that process going good. But, with that being said, I'm no expert so im just throwing my 2 cents into the wind with this one lol.

Fafaflunky · Jan 6, 2016

Thanks. I'm curious because the Bio-Spira said it was safe to add livestock after using in the tank.

beaslbob · Jan 6, 2016

you can always use a molly to test the tank and see if it can support fish.

saltyfilmfolks · Jan 6, 2016

great info here.
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/k...piece-of-shrimp-now-what.228947/#post-2661872

tankstudy · Jan 6, 2016

-Use an ammonia source to test if your tank can cycle atleast 1 ppm ammonia and no more then 2 ppm, within 24 hours to Nitrate. If it can do that, your tank is cycled.
-Do water changes if your nitrates are above 5 ppm after NH3 and Nitrites are 0
-At this point you can now add fish, start with something small IMO.
-If you haven't already done so, it would be a good idea at this time to figure out what method you would like to use to remove nitrates from your system.