Hello everyone, I am starting the cycling process of my saltwater tank and I have some questions regarding light and whether I should have my UV filter and sump running during this process? I have a 65 gallon tank with 75 pounds of dry live rock, 40 pounds of live crushed sand/coral, a 100 HOB sump, fluval 406 canister filter and a sunsun filtration UV filter. My salinity at 1.025. Also when should I start testing water? I have also added microbactor 7 as instructed on the bottle. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!
Cycling
- Thread starter Gavin1274
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Get some ace hardware pure ammonia, and dose enough to get it to read 1.5-2 ammonia, and let it ride.
Running lights, especially uv is a waste of electricity and bulbs at this point . Test ammonia every 7 days so, once that zeros out, hit it again to 1 ppm ammonia, and started testing for nitrite .
Once they both get to zero in under 24 hrs or so, should be good .
Should be about 4-5 weeks. I used bio spira and hit it done in 3.
Running lights, especially uv is a waste of electricity and bulbs at this point . Test ammonia every 7 days so, once that zeros out, hit it again to 1 ppm ammonia, and started testing for nitrite .
Once they both get to zero in under 24 hrs or so, should be good .
Should be about 4-5 weeks. I used bio spira and hit it done in 3.
Bropar_Marty
Community Member
sounds like your doing every thing right. I would run the filtration just to make sure everything is working and not leaking and well you are going to need water movement. So i suggest getting some circulation pumps in the tank also or at least before you get corals/or fish. You didn't say what you planned on doing with the tank. I wouldn't run the UV or lights at this time. If you really want to stare at any empty tank then maybe have the lights on 2-3 hours while you are home. Never used the bacteria bottles before and you should start testing in about 3 weeks. good luck.
Thank you for your reply! I'm running the fluval now of course and the movement from it is good for now. So you would run them for a little just to make sure they are good? I was planning on getting circulation pumps later on for the back but wasnt sure how necessary they are? Also I'm using the bacteria bottles because I've heard they are good for starting and speed up cycling. I was wanting to get 2 clownfish after the cycling process wait a week and add a "clean up crew"(cleaning shrimp, some hermits, and maybe a crab or two and snails). Then from there get corals, and after the tank has been okay for 6 months get some anemones and other fish between depending on my confidence with the tank. Again, thank you for the reply
The reason I say the ace ammonia is, when you add food, it’s a guess to how long it will break down, and ultimately how much ammonia you’re asking the bacteria in tank to hand at any one given moment.
Let’s say according to ammonia dosing calculator in your tank, it takes 6 ml ammonia to get 2 ppp reading, the second you add it to water, after it circulates a few minutes, the ammonia is 2ppm (assuming you havnt added any and are at 0)
Than you can track how much is in there, and how long it’s taken to process.
It’s also cleaner than adding a dead shrimp or food, the ammonia is liquid, you’ll
Never see it.
When it can get it down in a day or less, preferably hours, you will know that fish are safe, if it’s taken days, not fad or strong enough yet to handle fish, they would be dead
Let’s say according to ammonia dosing calculator in your tank, it takes 6 ml ammonia to get 2 ppp reading, the second you add it to water, after it circulates a few minutes, the ammonia is 2ppm (assuming you havnt added any and are at 0)
Than you can track how much is in there, and how long it’s taken to process.
It’s also cleaner than adding a dead shrimp or food, the ammonia is liquid, you’ll
Never see it.
When it can get it down in a day or less, preferably hours, you will know that fish are safe, if it’s taken days, not fad or strong enough yet to handle fish, they would be dead
Bropar_Marty
Community Member
Running the filtration won’t hurt anything and helps the water from becoming stagnant, so yes run the filtration HOB and canister. Circ pumps you will need as i said don’t need them right now, but you will need them. I would hold off on the clowns and add them last being alone in the tank will allow them to claim the whole tank. I’m going through this issue were my pair of clowns were alone for quite some time and added other fish and then the fish were dead. No signs of disease or anything. But my clowns have become aggressive even biting me whenever i try to do anything in the tank. Also be careful with adding anemones as they will “walk” and kill other corals while they try and find a spot they like. So the anemone might be your first coral you want to get so it can settle in then get other coral.
BeejReef
2500 Club Member
You have a ton of rock and sand, but yeah, probably want to run your filter so the bacteria can seed on the media inside there too.
I think lights are fine either way. You don't want to overdo it and crush yourself with algae and diatoms, but it's part of the process to get some, has to happen, and will give your CUC something to eat. CUC is a great way to build up your bio-load.
Sounds like you've got a good plan. Nice looking tank. Are those rocks at the top of your scape attached with glue or epoxy or cement? I get nervous seeing them up that high otherwise. You'll have great par for sps though.
I think lights are fine either way. You don't want to overdo it and crush yourself with algae and diatoms, but it's part of the process to get some, has to happen, and will give your CUC something to eat. CUC is a great way to build up your bio-load.
Sounds like you've got a good plan. Nice looking tank. Are those rocks at the top of your scape attached with glue or epoxy or cement? I get nervous seeing them up that high otherwise. You'll have great par for sps though.
UV bulbs are good for 12 months. Why use up bulb life while cycling the tank with nothing in it ?
As for tanknlights, I would never want to burn or run a good light, Radion, hydra, halides, t5 etc , cost to run plus on top of that using up the par
As for tanknlights, I would never want to burn or run a good light, Radion, hydra, halides, t5 etc , cost to run plus on top of that using up the par
Bropar_Marty
Community Member
I always forget about securing rock. But i looked at the photo of the rock work and its looks like it is secured with epoxy.
Thank you for your reply! Would you recommend running the skimmer and UV filter as well? Sorry what does CUC mean? I'm still very new to this and slowly learning it all! And thank you! Yes the rocks are held with epoxy and are very attached to eachother I made sure of it! What do you mean par for SPS? Thank you again for your reply! I appreciate all the advice!
Bropar_Marty
Community Member
No don’t run the skimmer or UV just wear an tear on equipment for no reason at this time. CUC=clean up crew snails hermit crabs emerald crabs. Par is the intensity of light in any part of the tank. So that means anything on the very upper part of the tank/rock would get very strong light exposure then it would get less intense the deeper into tank and on the edges of the tank. SPS= small stony polpy corals and they usually require more intense light and faster flow (circulation pumps).
Bropar_Marty
Community Member
I suppose you can. I personally would add them like maybe a few days to a week before you plan on introducing fish.
