Great Ways to Cycle a Tank!!

maroonytunes · Jul 31, 2008

If your adding 50lbs of live rock to 60lbs already placed the tank will cycle absolutely, please don't cause stress on a fish, coral, invert, ect. by putting it in while the tank is cycling, wait 2 weeks minimum, test the water every 3-5 days, then go from their once the parameters are normal.

92GallonReefer · Jul 31, 2008

any idea on how long a cycle could take?
ive never done it before

maroonytunes · Jul 31, 2008

Anywhere from a week to a month and a half, I have always put on hardy fish (damsels and chromis) after a month even after checking the water plenty of times, after 2 months I begin to put cheap decent frags in then I keep moving up from there.

oceanparadise1 · Jul 31, 2008

any where from 2 weeks to 6-8 weeks

92GallonReefer · Jul 31, 2008

looks like there will be no fish in the tank untill after the honeymoon!

oceanparadise1 · Jul 31, 2008

hahah just test every couple days and when everything is down to zero ur good to go

maroonytunes · Jul 31, 2008

oceanparadise1 said:
hahah just test every couple days and when everything is down to zero ur good to go

Not trying to cause an argurement, but once it hits zero means nothing, tanks fluctuate dramatically, once the tank has parameters that are more than good for over 5 days it is IMO safe to add any fish, but thats my opinion and just the safe side.

92GallonReefer · Jul 31, 2008

true i would wait a couple days anyways

coral88 · Jul 31, 2008

maroonytunes said:
Not trying to cause an argurement, but once it hits zero means nothing, tanks fluctuate dramatically, once the tank has parameters that are more than good for over 5 days it is IMO safe to add any fish, but thats my opinion and just the safe side.

+1
A good reading one day does not mean the tank has cycled. If it looks god for 4-5 day then you're probable good to go but I wouldn't start with a show fish. Try a chromis if it looks ok after a day or two go from there

oceanparadise1 · Jul 31, 2008

well then that means my tank right now should not have anything in it? i dis agree once u see the spike and then it comes down no matter if it stays the exact same or not the acutual cycle would be done but thats just my .02

coral88 · Jul 31, 2008

Which spike are you referring to???

oceanparadise1 · Jul 31, 2008

the first spike that cause the cycle then it comes down after and it might go back a forth a lil but not to much i agree waiting a day or to but normally when the readings go from off the charts to near 0 the tank has cycled

paintballer768 · Jul 31, 2008

Test it every 2-3 days. The point of the cycle is to add a lot of ammonia to get the bacteria breeding and able to process waste to nitrates. Using the dead shrimp method, or even just adding a bunch of new live rock will trigger a cycle, and youll be good to go. Mine took a month, and it usually stays pretty consistent around that mark, but it varies by the tank.

coral88 · Jul 31, 2008

oceanparadise Do you have any idea what you are talking about????????????? What you said would lead me to believe you you don't know what the nitrogen cycle is

paintballer768 · Jul 31, 2008

oceanparadise1 said:
the first spike that cause the cycle then it comes down after and it might go back a forth a lil but not to much i agree waiting a day or to but normally when the readings go from off the charts to near 0 the tank has cycled

Ammonia first spikes. Then as that declines, nitrite increases. Nitrite peaks, and declines as nitrates increase. Once all the nitrite and ammonia are reading 0, you "ghost feed" for a few days. That means basically intentially feeding an empty tank, to see how it handles the ammonia decay and such. Then youre safe to add corals/fish at a slow pace.

oceanparadise1 · Jul 31, 2008

paintballer768 said:
Ammonia first spikes. Then as that declines, nitrite increases. Nitrite peaks, and declines as nitrates increase. Once all the nitrite and ammonia are reading 0, you "ghost feed" for a few days. That means basically intentially feeding an empty tank, to see how it handles the ammonia decay and such. Then youre safe to add corals/fish at a slow pace.

+1 i totally agree

coral88 · Jul 31, 2008

paintballer768 said:
Ammonia first spikes. Then as that declines, nitrite increases. Nitrite peaks, and declines as nitrates increase. Once all the nitrite and ammonia are reading 0, you "ghost feed" for a few days. That means basically intentially feeding an empty tank, to see how it handles the ammonia decay and such. Then youre safe to add corals/fish at a slow pace.

Agreed ghost feed or test fish

92GallonReefer · Jul 31, 2008

well i would guess every tank is differt and there could be different outcomes in the same situation. but everyones going to do what they want to do anyway