Do you need live nitryfying bacteria?

Sarah1990 · Nov 25, 2019

To do a fishless cycle do i need to add bacteria or will adding ammonia on it's own work anyway?
I'm in no rush as I dont plan to add fish until the end if jan/feb

Steven91 · Nov 25, 2019

Sarah1990 said:
To do a fishless cycle do i need to add bacteria or will adding ammonia on it's own work anyway?
I'm in no rush as I dont plan to add fish until the end if jan/feb

If using live rock or sand, you do not need to add bacteria, if not using live rock or sand add a bacteria.

LAReefer4Life · Nov 25, 2019

The cycling process can take 4-12 weeks depending on many variable factors. By adding the bacteria it kick starts the process but you don't need it. There are many alternatives that provide beneficial bacteria, examples are live sand, live rock, etc.

lapin · Nov 25, 2019

Bacteria is in the air. If you add rock, sand, water and some ammonia, bacteria will grow. Maybe not enough to support fish. You can try and find out. 10ml of salt water from one of your LFS coral tanks would help.

Malifry97 · Nov 25, 2019

I’d say add a small bottle of bacteria like biospira and use ammonia and you should be cycled in 3-6 weeks. If you wanna speed it up further (which you said you didn’t plan to) you could use turbo start.

raketemensch · Nov 25, 2019

Having just gone through this (i'm at 5 weeks, with live rock and still 0.25 ammonia), I wish I'd just added the Bio spira at the beginning.

I will add it to all new tanks going forward.

Sarah1990 · Nov 27, 2019

lapin said:
Bacteria is in the air. If you add rock, sand, water and some ammonia, bacteria will grow. Maybe not enough to support fish. You can try and find out. 10ml of salt water from one of your LFS coral tanks would help.

I have a tropical tank, would a very small amount of that water kick start it? I will be using RO to fill the tank so i dont imagine 10ml on non RO water will hurt will it?

LiveWire · Nov 27, 2019

There is not much bacteria in water at all. It lives and thrives on surfaces and eventually in the rock work. Keep in mind that Freshwater strains of bacteria are not the same as Saltwater. Add a saltwater strain of Dr Tim's or any other live nitrifying bacteria will speed the process up. There are other ways to speed it up as well like increasing the temp of the system. The video above from this years @MACNA of Dr Tim should help understand the process and how to get the best cycle process going.

siggy · Nov 27, 2019

Live Aquaria has a very cost effective product also check Chewy.com for Dr Tims one & only, they have it on sale periodically for a couple of bucks to keep stock fresh. I add different types in the first 6 months of any tank.

Sarah1990 · Nov 28, 2019

siggy said:
Live Aquaria has a very cost effective product also check Chewy.com for Dr Tims one & only, they have it on sale periodically for a couple of bucks to keep stock fresh. I add different types in the first 6 months of any tank.

Oh no way it is on sale but I'm in the UK so cant order from there

thank you anyway

homer1475 · Nov 28, 2019

bacteria are in the air and will populate your tank on their own. If your not in a hurry, add your sand, rock, and water, then add an ammonia source(ghost feeding, raw table shrimp, pure ammonia, etc). After a few weeks they will begin to grow on their own. It will take significantly more time then adding a bottle of bacteria, but that it totally up to you.

siggy · Nov 28, 2019

Sarah1990 said:
Oh no way it is on sale but I'm in the UK so cant order from there thank you anyway

@Sarah1990 Oh i see, well @najer is over in those parts and may be able to help

najer · Nov 28, 2019

Sarah1990 said:
Oh no way it is on sale but I'm in the UK so cant order from there thank you anyway

Sarah, give Southwest Marines a call, I can message you the number, they carry Dr Tims and other bacteria products and can talk you through it, they do post.

jeffchapok · Nov 28, 2019

raketemensch said:
Having just gone through this (i'm at 5 weeks, with live rock and still 0.25 ammonia), I wish I'd just added the Bio spira at the beginning.

I will add it to all new tanks going forward.

What test kit are you using? The API kits are known to give a false ammonia reading of up to .25. Once you see your nitrite spike and go back to zero and you have detectable nitrates, I'd consider your cycle complete. Just remember to add livestock slowly, as you'll need to give the bacteria a chance to ramp up to the new bioload.

raketemensch · Nov 28, 2019

jeffchapok said:
What test kit are you using? The API kits are known to give a false ammonia reading of up to .25. Once you see your nitrite spike and go back to zero and you have detectable nitrates, I'd consider your cycle complete. Just remember to add livestock slowly, as you'll need to give the bacteria a chance to ramp up to the new bioload.

It’s an API kit, but:

a) it will give me a zero reading on the qt tank and my tap water, and
b) it was hitting 4ppm yesterday