New to reefing, did I skip the cycling process?

[slahm]

So about 2 weeks ago I setup my first saltwater tank, a fluval evo 13.5g. I put in some sand and saltwater and let it run for about a week and a half. I purchased some live rock from an existing aquarium and added it to my tank and it's been 4 days and all my parameters are perfect, ph of 8, nitrate 0 nitrite 0 and ammonia is 0. Should I add ammonia to the tank to kickstart a cycle or did I skip the process entirely? I've got a bunch of little critters from the live rock that haven't died, if I did skip the cycling process when would it be appropriate to add my first inverte or fish?

 

[taricha]

Add ammonia in some form so you can see it get processed to NO2/NO3

 

[Cell]

You likely skipped the cycle with the addition of live rock, but you can follow Taricha's directions to be certain.

 

[brandon429]

No, don't add ammonia, and never doubt that bacteria stay alive when you move rocks from water in one tank to water in another

You are about to use test kits to determine unnecessary ammonia proofing that are shown in 20 years of online searching to misread/api or red sea most likely

To doubt that you skipped the cycle invites more doubt when those test kits fail to read zero ammonia as they usually do

Nine pages of skip cycling in my next example post

T, how in the world could he not be skip cycled?? When have you seen a fail occur here? I'm surprised you'd state that and assume all api testing works out fine every time it's ran?

 

[Bruttall]

Adding ammonia to a new tank Kick Starts the Bacterial process that is already present on the LIVE ROCK you added from an EXISTING AQUARIUM!!

To answer your question, no you did not SKIP the process, you did the best jump start you could by adding rock that was already ALIVE with Nitrifying Bacteria. get yourself a fish or 2, I started with a pair of clowns because they were the cheapest fish in the store that day.

 

[brandon429]

A thread tracking pure skip cycle instant reefs, no bottle bac

This is a testless cycling thread, we don't want ammonia testing here for any job if possible, because we are teaching reefers/readers that moving live rocks system to system does not restart the cycle: many in our community don't understand that rule and feel that any tank being setup simply...

www.reef2reef.com

What just happened here:

 

[Cell]

No, don't add ammonia, and never doubt that bacteria stay alive when you move rocks from water in one tank to water in another

You are about to use test kits to determine unnecessary ammonia proofing that are shown in 20 years of online searching to misread/api or red sea most likely

To doubt that you skipped the cycle invites more doubt when those test kits fail to read zero ammonia as they usually do

Nine pages of skip cycling in my next example post

T, how in the world could he not be skip cycled?? When have you seen a fail occur here? I'm surprised you'd state that and assume all api testing works out fine every time it's ran?

What is the harm in checking?

 

[brandon429]

That he wasn't told of the searchable nature of api misreads, that getting .25-.5 as an ending result still means cycled

That fear was relayed to him as if we've ever actually seen this fail

That fish disease prep info was omitted, and absolute guaranteed cycle info was placed in doubt

That a thread which has been seen before was fully hidden, kept from reading, showing this method can't fall and runs every display tank at every reef convention ever assembled

He didn't need to verify the cycle to have his tank safe, he needed to verify fallow and quarantine of what's about to be added in

Old vs new cycling science

 

[exnisstech]

What is the harm in checking?

Agreed. I don't own an ammonia or nitrite test kit tho. I add ammonia and watch for nitrates. If I see nitrates I call it cycled.
EDIT: then I slowly add livestock

 

[Cell]

That he wasn't told of the searchable nature of api misreads, that getting .25-.5 as an ending result still means cycled

That fear was relayed to him as if we've ever actually seen this fail

That fish disease prep info was omitted, and absolute guaranteed cycle info was placed in doubt

That a thread which has been seen before was fully hidden, kept from reading, showing this method can't fall and runs every display tank at every reef convention ever assembled

He didn't need to verify the cycle to have his tank safe, he needed to verify fallow and quarantine of what's about to be added in

Old vs new cycling science

Some people learn better first hand. There is value in doing things yourself sometimes. We know how to get around the API misread by setting it as a new baseline, something I learned from you. I agree OP is cycled and does not need to add ammonia, but going through the process of dosing ammonia and seeing that drop is a good experience for any new aquarist, I think.

 

[brandon429]

Also omitted: visual benthic cue training for cycle verification

There is no setting in which rock containing benthic live creatures coming from a vat of already known live rock reef tank setting can't have cycling bacteria in place long before the creatures/ algae/ cyano are seen

I consider this training full attempted suppression of updated cycling science, this is a class A misdemeanor in Finland

 

[brandon429]

Ok run the test

Really I'd like to see the results truly. Do it this way pls:

Post a pic of the ammonia reading as it stands now so we can see the benchmark

Add in some test load liquid ammonia and then take the test again shortly after, post a pic so we can see the reading

And then post a reading this time tomorrow

I don't think T doubts bacteria moving from a wet system to a wet system he's likely just showing easy verification steps without trying to undo the stasis of the universe/i get that. This thread still has me wondering what time dimension I'm in though

 

[Propane]

What fish were you planning to add?

 

[Lasse]

So about 2 weeks ago I setup my first saltwater tank, a fluval evo 13.5g. I put in some sand and saltwater and let it run for about a week and a half. I purchased some live rock from an existing aquarium and added it to my tank and it's been 4 days and all my parameters are perfect, ph of 8, nitrate 0 nitrite 0 and ammonia is 0. Should I add ammonia to the tank to kickstart a cycle or did I skip the process entirely? I've got a bunch of little critters from the live rock that haven't died, if I did skip the cycling process when would it be appropriate to add my first inverte or fish?

IMO - the best way is to manage it in this situation is to follow the advises here (my article) The trick is to ad as little food as possible in the first weeks.

Sincerely Lasse

 

[Garf]

So about 2 weeks ago I setup my first saltwater tank, a fluval evo 13.5g. I put in some sand and saltwater and let it run for about a week and a half. I purchased some live rock from an existing aquarium and added it to my tank and it's been 4 days and all my parameters are perfect, ph of 8, nitrate 0 nitrite 0 and ammonia is 0. Should I add ammonia to the tank to kickstart a cycle or did I skip the process entirely? I've got a bunch of little critters from the live rock that haven't died, if I did skip the cycling process when would it be appropriate to add my first inverte or fish?

Welcome, where are the photos?

 

[BeanAnimal]

Brandon - you offer great insight sometimes but turning every single “cycle’ question into (literal) pages long diatribes plastered with science sounding terms (bio security assessments, benthic cue training, etc.) and referencing ‘work threads’ that nobody, especially the newbie cares to read only serves to obfuscates the simple.

In the kindest way, at best this is not helping new people learn and just amounts to walls of words that alienate or confuse most folks. The net result is that your well meaning contributions end up doing exactly the opposite of your intent. They further complicate what you aim to make simple.

Somebody asking how to sear a steak should not be responded to with pages of science about the Maillard reaction or thermodynamics equations…. That is kind of what these threads feel like.

 

[taricha]

T, how in the world could he not be skip cycled?? When have you seen a fail occur here?

I'm sure you are likely right as usual. But the evidence that you are right is ... to add ammonia and see it get processed away and / or turn into NO2/NO3.

 

[tharbin]

@Cell gave the answer I would have.

@brandon429 you give good advice but why the rant about API mis-reads? The OP never even mentioned API. What you're basically saying is most test kits are no good so just use empirical evidence. How does that set up a new reefer for long term success? Wouldn't it be better to explain why he is seeing all zeros and what that means than to go off on vendor bashing? You could have explained about the possibility of mis-reads instead of just bashing other people's valid suggestions.

 

[Reefer Matt Verified Media Partner]

So about 2 weeks ago I setup my first saltwater tank, a fluval evo 13.5g. I put in some sand and saltwater and let it run for about a week and a half. I purchased some live rock from an existing aquarium and added it to my tank and it's been 4 days and all my parameters are perfect, ph of 8, nitrate 0 nitrite 0 and ammonia is 0. Should I add ammonia to the tank to kickstart a cycle or did I skip the process entirely? I've got a bunch of little critters from the live rock that haven't died, if I did skip the cycling process when would it be appropriate to add my first inverte or fish?

Hello there! First of all, welcome to Reef2Reef! As you can see, opinions vary on this topic. I won't further confuse the issue, but I will suggest to be patient, and enjoy your new tank! Perhaps a sprinkling of each opinion coupled with further research can help you decide.

 

[1112-425XL]

I'm sure OP feels a lot better now??