How do you maintain a cycled tank without adding ammonia?

[EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal]

Yes I can wait, my plan was to add fish in a month or so but I was told not to be that patient. So I ordered some pre quarantined fish. I should have them in a week or two and then add the three fishes that are in quarantine in few weeks after that if they are fine. Just curious, Any insight on why Nitrites were 0 with adding ammonia vs now with fish?

I don't understand your question. Don't overthink things though... Monitor ammonia closely in your quarantine tank, and don't really worry about anything else.

 

[Nemoreef]

I don't understand your question. Don't overthink things though... Monitor ammonia closely in your quarantine tank, and don't really worry about anything else.

Not overthinking but just curious. I cycled with adding brightwell ammonia and microbacter XLM. Once it was cycled, I tested the cycle a few times by adding 2PPM ammonia and it was able to get ammonia to 0 in just over 24hours. This made the nitrates go up but nitrites remained 0. Now that I have added fish, the nitrites are not 0 anymore and ammonia is 0. How is this even possible? What changed?

 

[EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal]

Not overthinking but just curious. I cycled with adding brightwell ammonia and microbacter XLM. Once it was cycled, I tested the cycle a few times by adding 2PPM ammonia and it was able to get ammonia to 0 in just over 24hours. This made the nitrates go up but nitrites remained 0. Now that I have added fish, the nitrites are not 0 anymore and ammonia is 0. How is this even possible? What changed?

It just means that at the time you tested, the bacteria that converts nitrite to nitrate hadn't finished. It could be that you fed the fish just before, someone pooped, etc. As long as ammonia is quickly turning into nitrate, it is a moot point.

 

[EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal]

And since most people don't bother to test ammonia once a tank has cycled, let alone nitrites, there's not a lot of info available anyway.

 

[Gretchacha]

This is the goal without the pests or parasites. So far I added microbacter XLM, clean and 7. Going to add Arc Reef purple helix coraline algae. Then some pods.

How is this tank start up method going for you? I am doing something similar right now. I started Fritz turbo start 900 with Brightwell Quick Cycl nutrients, then PNS Substrate Sauce and Coralline Pink bottle. I have 2 QTs cycling, one for fish and one fir coral, and 3 buckets of marco rock and filter media. I am still resetting the DT, but once done, I still want to wait 8 weeks before lights on to allow the aufwuchs on the surfaces to outcompete dinos, diatoms and algae. I plan to add fish, pods and phytoplankton sometime before the 8 weeks are done and then ramp the lights up over 3 weeks or so. The tanks all get ample ambient and sometimes direct sunlight, as they are in my sunroom. Since our approach is similar, I wonder how yours went and when/if/what went wrong?

 

[Nemoreef]

How is this tank start up method going for you? I am doing something similar right now. I started Fritz turbo start 900 with Brightwell Quick Cycl nutrients, then PNS Substrate Sauce and Coralline Pink bottle. I have 2 QTs cycling, one for fish and one fir coral, and 3 buckets of marco rock and filter media. I am still resetting the DT, but once done, I still want to wait 8 weeks before lights on to allow the aufwuchs on the surfaces to outcompete dinos, diatoms and algae. I plan to add fish, pods and phytoplankton sometime before the 8 weeks are done and then ramp the lights up over 3 weeks or so. The tanks all get ample ambient and sometimes direct sunlight, as they are in my sunroom. Since our approach is similar, I wonder how yours went and when/if/what went wrong?

I started with inverts and fed them daily for two weeks and then I came across Dr Reef quarantined fishes. It took another 4 weeks for the delivery due to cold weather. So in the 6 weeks of wait, I had some brown diatoms which is supposed to be common and pods took care of all of it within few days. Out of the inverts, 2 were Turbo snail and its shell had some GHA. This spread all over my tank and it took almost a month to bring it under control. Now I have a small patch of GHA and other than that I do not have any issues. But adding pods and phyto speeds up your ugly stage. One unusual thing is, my refugium is so effective that I have 0 Nitrate and Phosphate. So I have done maybe 3 water changes in 3 months.

Edit : I did think about leaving lights off and decided against it. I figured since I already have some algae, it's better to tune the schedule now and power through the ugly stage than wait and deal with it later again.

 

[Gretchacha]

I started with inverts and fed them daily for two weeks and then I came across Dr Reef quarantined fishes. It took another 4 weeks for the delivery due to cold weather. So in the 6 weeks of wait, I had some brown diatoms which is supposed to be common and pods took care of all of it within few days. Out of the inverts, 2 were Turbo snail and its shell had some GHA. This spread all over my tank and it took almost a month to bring it under control. Now I have a small patch of GHA and other than that I do not have any issues. But adding pods and phyto speeds up your ugly stage. One unusual thing is, my refugium is so effective that I have 0 Nitrate and Phosphate. So I have done maybe 3 water changes in 3 months.

Edit : I did think about leaving lights off and decided against it. I figured since I already have some algae, it's better to tune the schedule now and power through the ugly stage than wait and deal with it later again.

Thanks for sharing your experiences and how you dealt with the challenges. It sounds like it was a pretty smooth transition and quicker than expected. I will have to think about those snail shells with algae a bit. Maybe a blackout bucket for a while. I kept thorn nerites in my previous aquascapes and the thirns would attract staghorn algae. The blackout worked well for them.

 

[Nemoreef]

Thanks for sharing your experiences and how you dealt with the challenges. It sounds like it was a pretty smooth transition and quicker than expected. I will have to think about those snail shells with algae a bit. Maybe a blackout bucket for a while. I kept thorn nerites in my previous aquascapes and the thirns would attract staghorn algae. The blackout worked well for them.

First saltwater tank so I did not expect that tiny bit of GHA from the shell to spread like that. Luckily the turbos took care of the algae. I also did some microbacter clean dosing for a week. I think this is what is stopping new growth. Another thing I noticed is that, after the fish were added, I see a lot less pods although I do not have any fish that eat pods.

 

[Gretchacha]

First saltwater tank so I did not expect that tiny bit of GHA from the shell to spread like that. Luckily the turbos took care of the algae. I also did some microbacter clean dosing for a week. I think this is what is stopping new growth. Another thing I noticed is that, after the fish were added, I see a lot less pods although I do not have any fish that eat pods.

Thanks for the tips. I was eyeing up the microbacter clean. Maybe i’ll get some to keep on hand.

 

[EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal]

to outcompete dinos, diatoms and algae

Not going to happen. Sorry.