Cycling tank tips

[Angel_V_the_reefer]

Hello guys. I know there’s a lot of answers and opinions on how to cycle a tank. In order to keep things short, I’m using Dr Tim’s ammonium chloride and bio spira to start the cycle. I will be dosing 2 ppm ammonia until I can complete a cycle in 24 hours. My question is, should I continue dosing until I can complete the cycle in 24 hours without a water change? Or should I perform a water change after every mini cycle until I hit the 24 hour mark? Or is there a certain level of nitrates i should keep under ? Thank you in advance !

 

[Ludders]

I would not continue dosing in my experience until the NOB has caught up with the AOB, otherwise you can cause a nitrite spike which seems to inhibit (basically slow down) the NOB growth.

Nitrite isn't critical, but you don't want high levels of nitrate at the end of the cycle, otherwise you'll either end up having to do mass water changes, or live with an ugly tank for months. So in summary don't go mad with the ammonia. As soon as ammonia detection drops off, you're tank is cycled.

 

[Screwgunner]

When your 2 ppm ammonia is gone in 24 hours it is time to stock take it slow not to many at a time.

 

[brandon429]

will be dosing 2 ppm ammonia until I can complete a cycle in 24 hours.


That plan above is going to take about three times as long to cycle than the directions say on the bottle bacteria due to the ammonia test about to be used. That and factoring nitrite with same brand of tester, could take eight weeks.
If it was a seneye ammonia test kit, the cycle would complete on day ten like the directions said.

It's no harm, to have to wait until February or March to begin, but you're paying for a start date of ~ January 10th and can have that, if you like. You'll need an opposite plan that takes into account non seneye testing. Waiting beyond January 10th does not add more bacteria to your tank; they're maxed out when the directions say they'll be ready, but your testers are incapable of showing the truth, and this is the basis of literally every stuck cycle claim on the internet. I think this marks the first stuck cycle we've seen and mapped out before the arrangements were in place

Better plan: set up tank with heat and circulating water, add bottle bac, add ammonia from the bottle Dr Tims it gives a drops per gallon, add from those directions not from your test kit. Add the number of drops per gallon off the cycling ammonia bottle. One dose only.

Then add a pinch of fish food into the mix

Then take one ammonia reading and post the color and the reference card clearly so we can watch for a drop January 10th-15th






if a second ammonia test pic shows lowered by then you can begin on time and you are just as cycled as if you waited until April to begin with six different ammonia doses. In the updated plan we ran only an ammonia test, twice, 10 or 15 days apart. Welcome to updated tank cycling lol or you'll be waiting until spring break to reef in a world that never fails to get 500 reefs all started on the same date for massive reef conventions.


We can use the method they use vs the three month why is my cycle stuck method. Keep this in mind:

Forum cyclers wait months for a varied start date.

Reef conventions with all reefs ready by Friday have more $ in rare animals to keep alive than we'll ever own in a lifetime, and nobody trusted 75$K in corals a fish to a weak or unready cycle. You have a way to cycle on time, exactly as the directions say if you want to.

If we knew a convention was coming in two weeks and you were bringing your reef to start on time, this is how they do it for dry start systems if not just skipping the wait altogether by adding fish and bacteria together.

 

[Screwgunner]

Instead of dosing ammonia i put a piece of store bought talopia about the size of a quarter. I am on day 14 ammonia made it to 2 it is now at1 and my nitrites are at .25 I am hoping it will be done end of next week. And if it is I don't have to worry about dosing to keep bacteria alive.

 

[brandon429]

Day 14

How long was the timeframe from your bottle bac am curious to know, they all give a number of days to completion different for each mix

What's your brand of bottle bac

 

[FindingPonyo]

Hello guys. I know there’s a lot of answers and opinions on how to cycle a tank. In order to keep things short, I’m using Dr Tim’s ammonium chloride and bio spira to start the cycle. I will be dosing 2 ppm ammonia until I can complete a cycle in 24 hours. My question is, should I continue dosing until I can complete the cycle in 24 hours without a water change? Or should I perform a water change after every mini cycle until I hit the 24 hour mark? Or is there a certain level of nitrates i should keep under ? Thank you in advance !

To make sure that the cycle will assure a bacterial ecosystem in your tank, you don't want 0 nitrates. Something a tiny bit above will show that you have bacterial cycling throughout the tank. The bacteria will break down the ammonia so you're on a good track. Just make sure your nitrates aren't completely 0 because you don't want a sterile tank. I'm new to reef2reef and I am starting up my tank for the first time in a while so inexperienced people like me need the most help so please follow me and answer my recent post I hope everything works out

 

[Josh@BVA]

I personally like going a bit overboard for cycling. I do the feeding an empty tank method or leave a raw shrimp in for ammonia. whatever preferred method is then I let the tank keep growing bacteria until i start seeing some algae grow. then add cleaners to take of algae then add fish.

 

[brandon429]

Josh that’s a neat way to cycle because benthic growth can only occur in cycled tanks, so the visual cues will always work. You wouldn’t even have to add bottled bacteria, or test a single parameter. willingness to wait until new growths like algae or cyano show up gives natural bacteria time to show up and feed, even if we aren’t adding any.


it doesnt matter one iota what the OP’s test kits read here. Degrading meat has been placed in water, bacteria never had it so good

wait two weeks, change rot, done. Cannot fail to be done unless we fail to change the rot, and keep testing rotting meat water, concerned over nitrite, past Easter lol. predicted coming up

 

[brandon429]

Since the title asks for a tip:

no arrangement you create is going to fail.

they all just have varying degrees of rot and metabolites to mess up your testing, so per the date on the bottle bac simply change out all the mess on that date, refill, and you are cycled. You paid to meet a certain date, if expediency wasn’t in mind, don’t buy the bacteria, they’re free from nature.

The filter bac are locked on surfaces, it’s why infinite full water changes can’t unstick a cycle, including the very first water change the tank will ever see, time it when the bottle bac says to

it didn’t say on the bottle bac to rot a piece of meat, thats been ad libbed lol



if no bottle bac was added, do Joshs way it is perfect and cannot fail via mis testing

 

[Arabyps]

There is always so much back and forth on this topic. I have followed the live bacteria in a bottle technique with a hardy fish. If you have not reviewed this series, please see the BRS video and more from Reefbuilders. In my case I used Fritz TurboStart 900 but MicroBacter XLM is also recommended. Augment with MicroBacter 7 when doing water changes

 

[brandon429]

I agree that’s a legit way too. Our starting dilutions and today’s bacteria in a bottle pull that off so commonly I cannot find one failed attempt on any forum.
If we search out literally any thread online today for fish-in cycles, they’re all complete, the fish feed and swim normally because it’s easy to control ammonia from the start.

a failed fish-in cycle in no way is decided by a non seneye test kit, it’s decided by the fish being alive past 48 hours or not.

and for the few times live fish in cycling was tracked on seneye machines after using bottle bac, no ammonia spikes were occurring. Meanwhile on api....


the risk with fish in cycling isn’t due to filter bacteria, its disease bacteria and crypto and velvet as I read the disease forum

-but if the fish are from quarantine then cheat away, it’s legal heh.

 

[Angel_V_the_reefer]

I would not continue dosing in my experience until the NOB has caught up with the AOB, otherwise you can cause a nitrite spike which seems to inhibit (basically slow down) the NOB growth.

Nitrite isn't critical, but you don't want high levels of nitrate at the end of the cycle, otherwise you'll either end up having to do mass water changes, or live with an ugly tank for months. So in summary don't go mad with the ammonia. As soon as ammonia detection drops off, you're tank is cycled.

Yeah that sounds so much easier and in fact that’s what some reefers do and always have a great start but through asking on this forum a lot of reefers always tell me “dose 2ppm in a 24 hour cycle,once your tank can do that and drop to 0 then your tank is ready” however, I don’t see why I can’t just do the cycle once like BRS and Marine Depot suggest.

 

[Angel_V_the_reefer]

will be dosing 2 ppm ammonia until I can complete a cycle in 24 hours.


That plan above is going to take about three times as long to cycle than the directions say on the bottle bacteria due to the ammonia test about to be used. That and factoring nitrite with same brand of tester, could take eight weeks.
If it was a seneye ammonia test kit, the cycle would complete on day ten like the directions said.

It's no harm, to have to wait until February or March to begin, but you're paying for a start date of ~ January 10th and can have that, if you like. You'll need an opposite plan that takes into account non seneye testing. Waiting beyond January 10th does not add more bacteria to your tank; they're maxed out when the directions say they'll be ready, but your testers are incapable of showing the truth, and this is the basis of literally every stuck cycle claim on the internet. I think this marks the first stuck cycle we've seen and mapped out before the arrangements were in place

Better plan: set up tank with heat and circulating water, add bottle bac, add ammonia from the bottle Dr Tims it gives a drops per gallon, add from those directions not from your test kit. Add the number of drops per gallon off the cycling ammonia bottle. One dose only.

Then add a pinch of fish food into the mix

Then take one ammonia reading and post the color and the reference card clearly so we can watch for a drop January 10th-15th






if a second ammonia test pic shows lowered by then you can begin on time and you are just as cycled as if you waited until April to begin with six different ammonia doses. In the updated plan we ran only an ammonia test, twice, 10 or 15 days apart. Welcome to updated tank cycling lol or you'll be waiting until spring break to reef in a world that never fails to get 500 reefs all started on the same date for massive reef conventions.


We can use the method they use vs the three month why is my cycle stuck method. Keep this in mind:

Forum cyclers wait months for a varied start date.

Reef conventions with all reefs ready by Friday have more $ in rare animals to keep alive than we'll ever own in a lifetime, and nobody trusted 75$K in corals a fish to a weak or unready cycle. You have a way to cycle on time, exactly as the directions say if you want to.

If we knew a convention was coming in two weeks and you were bringing your reef to start on time, this is how they do it for dry start systems if not just skipping the wait altogether by adding fish and bacteria together.

Okay so I dose to 2ppm and add a pinch of fish food? What’s the necessity for this brother.

 

[Angel_V_the_reefer]

Day 14

How long was the timeframe from your bottle bac am curious to know, they all give a number of days to completion different for each mix

What's your brand of bottle bac

It is bio spira and this is what the back says

 

[Screwgunner]

Day 14

How long was the timeframe from your bottle bac am curious to know, they all give a number of days to completion different for each mix

What's your brand of bottle bac

All natural no bottle bacteria

 

[brandon429]

That's among the best

The fish food comes from Dr Reefs bottle bac study thread, ninety pages. It carbon boosts. Ammonia alone is an incomplete nutrient although an important one in filtration. The reason cycles complete anyway is the same reason my blinds don't stay self cleaned

carbon wafts~ slowly but surely

You are already done lol I know how crazy that sounds. Great biospira proof below you are already cycled (in addition to Dr Reefs thread study)

Bio-spira works great

I just started a new tank a little over a week ago. I started with all dry rock and new sand. I added a bottle of Bio-Spira and put fish and coral the same day. Never saw any ammonia and fish and coral seem healthy.

www.reef2reef.com

You've already waited far longer than that reef, so you're able to change water and begin any time. Fish disease due to skipping fallow and quarantine, that's the real test.

 

[Ludders]

Yeah that sounds so much easier and in fact that’s what some reefers do and always have a great start but through asking on this forum a lot of reefers always tell me “dose 2ppm in a 24 hour cycle,once your tank can do that and drop to 0 then your tank is ready” however, I don’t see why I can’t just do the cycle once like BRS and Marine Depot suggest.

The only reason to keep feeding ammonia is if you are cycling rock in a brute bin for several months in advance of your aquarium arriving.

 

[Angel_V_the_reefer]

That's among the best

The fish food comes from Dr Reefs bottle bac study thread, ninety pages. It carbon boosts. Ammonia alone is an incomplete nutrient although an important one in filtration. The reason cycles complete anyway is the same reason my blinds don't stay self cleaned

carbon wafts~ slowly but surely

You are already done lol I know how crazy that sounds. Great biospira proof below you are already cycled (in addition to Dr Reefs thread study)

Bio-spira works great

I just started a new tank a little over a week ago. I started with all dry rock and new sand. I added a bottle of Bio-Spira and put fish and coral the same day. Never saw any ammonia and fish and coral seem healthy.

www.reef2reef.com

You've already waited far longer than that reef, so you're able to change water and begin any time. Fish disease due to skipping fallow and quarantine, that's the real test.

Thank you so much brother! I love your responses! I will add the bottle bacteria and go on and add some ammonia just to feed it and ensure all goes well although I know for a fact that this is a very great bottle bac. I really appreciate all the help to all you guys! God bless!

 

[brandon429]

@Screwgunner

Hey if you're saying you have a system cycling without adding any prior bottle bac or live rock, purely just what contaminates in, there are two cycling threads that want the data. Nobody does it that way, most dose multiple strains guaranteed to work.

But this could be a test for cycling chart verification

If you're mid cycle on this type of feed only, but no bottle bac in our cycling thread we claim on day 30 you can change the water out and begin just the same as if you'd added bacteria and did it on day ten.

No form of assisted cycle is supposed to take over 30 days, it'd be neat if you have a way to verify the claims and the charts.