Instant cycle?

[131696]

Cycle a tank instantly with dosing nitrate and phosphate? Will it work ? Gonna find out because I just did it..lol Thoughts please..I'm very patent been in hobby for 20 years and always wondered about this .what I did is I have a small AIO 10 gallon tank just sitting there Had some old live rock laying around so I boiled them for 3 hrs put in tank made saltwater , put tank together then added sodium nitrate and Trisodium phosphate in tank ,Question is : tank shows nitrates and phosphates in tank so is tank instant cycled?

 

[Tamberav]

Cycle a tank instantly with dosing nitrate and phosphate? Will it work ? Gonna find out because I just did it..lol Thoughts please..I'm very patent been in hobby for 20 years and always wondered about this .what I did is I have a small AIO 10 gallon tank just sitting there Had some old live rock laying around so I boiled them for 3 hrs put in tank made saltwater , put tank together then added sodium nitrate and Trisodium phosphate in tank ,Question is : tank shows nitrates and phosphates in tank so is tank instant cycled?

No? The cycle is about bacteria which uses ammonia. Adding po4 and nitrate doesn’t create those bacteria instantly.

You can instant cycle a tank with live rock, seeded media, or insta cycle with good bacterial additives like biospira or fritz.

 

[131696]

I'm skipping ammonia step .ammonia turns into nitrites then turns into nitrates

 

[Tamberav]

I'm skipping ammonia step .ammonia turns into nitrites then turns into nitrates

Ok but how does that give you the bacteria that convert ammonia? Aka fish pee and poo.

A cycled tank is one that can process ammonia.

 

[131696]

Add fish now ,dosing nitrate has the elements to get rid of ammonia,fish safe in tank as long as theres nitrates.. not going to add fish but just saying instant cycle? Theres tanks out there never seen a fish before just dosed nitrate and phosphates from start and never see a ammonia cycle.

 

[Garf]

Add fish now ,dosing nitrate has the elements to get rid of ammonia,fish safe in tank as long as theres nitrates

I don’t think you quite understand. The nitrates are evidence that the ammonia has been oxidized. Adding nitrate is just adding nitrate.

 

[131696]

What's the difference in my nitrates and yours nothing still nitrates same nitrates but you don't have to add any. They do the same thing a chemical reaction

 

[Tamberav]

What's the difference in my nitrates and yours nothing still nitrates same nitrates but you don't have to add any. They do the same thing a chemical reaction

The nitrates don’t remove the ammonia… you said it has the elements to remove ammonia but no it doesn’t. It’s just the end product of the BACTERIA that converts ammonia into less toxic forms of nitrite and nitrate.

This is why instant cycle products contain specific strains of bacteria.

We test for nitrate in a cycle as proof that the bacteria are in large enough numbers and converting the initial ammonia.

 

[attiland]

Cycle a tank instantly with dosing nitrate and phosphate? Will it work ? Gonna find out because I just did it..lol Thoughts please..I'm very patent been in hobby for 20 years and always wondered about this .what I did is I have a small AIO 10 gallon tank just sitting there Had some old live rock laying around so I boiled them for 3 hrs put in tank made saltwater , put tank together then added sodium nitrate and Trisodium phosphate in tank ,Question is : tank shows nitrates and phosphates in tank so is tank instant cycled?

I don’t think you quite understand. The nitrates are evidence that the ammonia has been oxidized. Adding nitrate is just adding nitrate.

No he doesn’t understand


You have a bit to learn. Cycle the tank means to get bacteria converting ammonia to nitrite than nitrate. It is all about ammonia not nitrate. Nitrate is only the end product.
just a note; fish don’t need nitrate at all but poisoned by ammonia.

 

[homer1475]

Ok lets get to the basics......

Bacteria process ammonia into nitrite, then another form of bacteria process nitrites into nitrates.

Without the bacteria present to process ammonia, your not cycling anything. Your just adding the end product of the nitrogen cycle.

Google nitrogen cycle.

 

[attiland]

It is like adding co2 and expecting the engine to run.

 

[homer1475]

It is like adding co2 and expecting the engine to run.

Great analogy!

Op think of it this way.......

You own a car, that car runs on petroleum, after the gas is burned, it turns into Co2(among other things). If you tried to run your car on CO2, what would happen?

Same as your tank..... Your fish and other biological processes produce ammonia(gas for your car), then that ammonia is processed into nitrates(CO2 out the tailpipe, once it's been burned), your not running the engine on nitrates(CO2). You need ammonia(petroleum) to run the engine.

 

[Aqua Man]

very patent been in hobby for 20 years and always wondered about this

Which hobby are you referring too?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Cycle a tank instantly with dosing nitrate and phosphate? Will it work ? Gonna find out because I just did it..lol Thoughts please..I'm very patent been in hobby for 20 years and always wondered about this .what I did is I have a small AIO 10 gallon tank just sitting there Had some old live rock laying around so I boiled them for 3 hrs put in tank made saltwater , put tank together then added sodium nitrate and Trisodium phosphate in tank ,Question is : tank shows nitrates and phosphates in tank so is tank instant cycled?

That doesn't really make sense, sorry.

Cycling is all about being able to keep ammonia low, not about having nitrate and phosphate present.