Cycling, starting a reef tank

[Steve S]

I’ve been doing marine tanks for years, fish mostly, star polyps, anemones but need some advice on cycling in the 21st century. I read up on ghost feeding, ammonium chloride, etc.
Any thoughts on what works for everyone?

Thx

 

[djray77]

Im no expert but I'm currently cycling a 75g with dr tims and ammonium, I cant believe how fast this stuff works. I put it in the tank June 9th and I'm on the home stretch already.

 

[LiveWire]

Fish less tank cycling is what most of us are doing now. You can put a shrimp from the super market in your system for 3 days and then take it out and let the cycle begin. You can also dose ammonia in conjunction with Dr Tim's, Bio-spira or another nitrifying bacteria to speed up the process but as we all know nothing good happens fast in a reef tank. And there is also the 4 month cycle method which I am trying out currently.

I myself like a good old fashion cycle and I am eager to see how this 4 month one works out and how many algae blooms or lack there of I will get once I start adding livestock to the system. Below are some links to some very good information. Check them out when you get a chance.

https://reefhacks.com/how-to-cycle-a-tank/

 

[brandon429]

That's mighty up to date cycling science.
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/the-microbiology-of-reef-tank-cycling.214618/

-skip cycles, instant set ups (see before hating lol its legit and used by marine convention attendees for example)
-single point testing in cycling. zero use for nitrite, nitrate info. only ammonia counts, if you must test.
-zero test cycles. we can cycle dry rocks without ever owning test kits, 100% of the time, off submersion timing.
-all cycles complying, none are 'stuck' here-ever.
-when you use ammonia and when you do not (compared to all cycling articles that use ammonia on all rocks regardless of origin)
-how to make any ammonia tester work by changing how you take readings from it
-cycling has absolutely nothing to do with cyanobacteria or algae or diatoms takeover. cycling is for bacteria, and the ability to process ammonia. we show there how you clean a new tank vs let it become filthy per most other cycling sources.

updated science breaks every rule ever made for cycling lol is the new title of the thread.

that's a work thread. its not me only rambling about microbiology, its other peoples $ on the line with their cycles and all this no test business. Death of fish and loss of the whole system results from bad cycling calls, as we amass pages of patterns for you to dissect that's where the gold nuggets are