Dr. Tims experiment question.

kyleshaw81503 · Feb 16, 2023

I am starting a new tank with dry rock, live sand. I want to do the fishless cycle with the one and only by Dr.Tim. My end goal is to get the tank cycled and then add pods from Algae Barn. I want the pods to become well established before I add any live stock. I have a few questions though.
do you have to add fish using the Dr. Tim’s method?

I will obviously have to feed the pods with some kind of phyto plankton.
will the phyto plankton cause algae outbreak in a newly established tank?
Is this even a good idea?

Jedi Knghit · Feb 16, 2023

You do not need to have fish with Dr. Tims, but you do need an ammonia source. I can not speak to the pods/phyto causing algae.

Timfish · Feb 16, 2023

I wouldn't. Less than 2% of the microbial stuff on reefs can be cultured and less can be stuck in a bottle and set on a shelf. I wouldn"t think of setting up a system without using a premium live rock (wild or maricultured) to get sponges and microbial stuff you can't get anywhere else. See these links:

Establishing a Healthy Microbiome in a New Aquarium Using Live Rock

Studying the effects of live rock in a newly established aquarium shows that high-quality live rock promotes the rapid establishment of an effective biological filter and a microbial community similar to those found in mature reef tanks.

www.reef2reef.com

"Coral Reefs in the Microbial Seas" This video compliments Rohwer's book of the same title (Paper back is ~$20, Kindle is ~$10), both deal with the conflicting roles of the different types of DOC in reef ecosystems. While there is overlap bewteen his book and the video both have information not covered by the other and together give a broader view of the complex relationships found in reef ecosystems

Changing Seas - Mysterious Microbes

Microbial view of Coral Decline

Nitrogen cycling in hte coral holobiont

BActeria and Sponges

Maintenance of Coral Reef Health (refferences at the end)

Optical Feedback Loop in Colorful Coral Bleaching

DNA Sequencing and the Reef Tank Microbiome

Richard Ross What's up with phosphate"

15 Answers

Spare time · Feb 16, 2023

Just dump the whole bottle and some ammonium chloride (no surfactants). Give it like a week or 2, do a water change and go from there. You don't need to add anything else. Corals, fish, crabs, snails, and what not will bring in more microbes over time and eventually you will have a full reef tank

PS please QT or buy from a place that does that for you

kyleshaw81503 · Feb 17, 2023

Dang thank you for the feed back! Going to take me some time to watch the videos haha. Much appreciated

kyleshaw81503 · Feb 17, 2023

Dang thank you for the feed back! Going to take me some time to watch the videos haha. Much appreciated!

gbroadbridge · Feb 17, 2023

Timfish said:
I wouldn't. Less than 2% of the microbial stuff on reefs can be cultured and less can be stuck in a bottle and set on a shelf. I wouldn"t think of setting up a system without using a premium live rock (wild or maricultured) to get sponges and microbial stuff you can't get anywhere else.

You get all the sponges and bacteria you need every time you add a coral.
To initially nitrogen cycle a tank, Dr Tims, and Ammonium Chloride works fine.

There are plenty of very successful reef tanks started with Dead Rock and Sand.

Timfish · Feb 17, 2023

gbroadbridge said:
You get all the sponges and bacteria you need every time you add a coral.
To initially nitrogen cycle a tank, Dr Tims, and Ammonium Chloride works fine.

AquaBiomics article demostrates the advantages of using maricultured liverock to establish healthy microbiomes. As pointed out by Delbeck and Sprung in "The Reef Aquarium" Vol 1 using a quality live rock enables the addition of fish and corals within a day. (Something I've been doing for 4 decades.) Since we do know microbial stuff is lost when corals are kept in aquaria I certainly question the notion that aquarium grown corals have all the necessary sponges and microbial stuff needed for a helathy ecosystem. The probelms the Steinhart Aquarium had restocking after remodeling indicates the potential issues with aquarium grown corals - The wild corals they collected had a near 100% survival while the coral colonies donated by aquarist had a near 100% dieoff (Delbeck, Next Wave 2011).