Randy is it ok to Cycle tanks testing only for Ammonia?

[LRT]

The question has come up in a different thread.
More specifically if we set up a tank using small measured feedings with cured rock and rubble and a few cuc and Nitrates only register at 2ppm at highest through the entire process of Cycling ammonia back to 0 readings with Api and ammonia is processing efficiently at 0 with fish in tank.
Should we put any real signifance in The 2ppm Nitrates readings and furthermore is there any real signifance in testing for Nitrites in that kind of application?

 

[brandon429]

I found a direct answer to the question here, and some other nice answers too

hth

B

Please help me solve my nitrite mystery!

OK, this is my first saltwater aquarium. I migrated over from 8 years or so of freshwater and I've never encountered this issue before. I'm going to give a timeline so it's easier to follow: Mar 9th: Cycle started with dead grocery store shrimp. Mar 9th - 20th: Ammonia spiked and went to...

www.reef2reef.com

re: post #19

 

[LRT]

Brandon thank you! So I literally just went through 50 pages or so of head bashing in for absoloutely nothing!
I still would like to know Randys thoughts on if it could even be remotely possibly harmful to fish swimming in 2ppm nitrates with minimal feeds staying 0 processed ammonia?
We are talking super controlled minimal feeds building ammonia processing precisely!

 

[LRT]

Randy I just realized that I should have clarified that the cured rubble is being taken out of tank full of healthy thriving fish and corals and already carrying bioloads.
Placed in a ten gallon with a few cuc and feed a few mysis shrimp periodically to get ammonia processing and tracked back to minimal or 0 levels.
Im getting ready to set this tank up and do some experiments and I cannot find anything in the literature that says a fish swimming in 1-2 nitrates is harmful with ammonia processing at 0 to minimal levels during feeding.
Before I do the tank I want to make sure my thinking is responsible here.

 

[Dbichler]

I’m no Randy by any means but I’ve transferred 4 tanks this exact way and have had zero loses. I would bet it depends on how much bioload you add right off the bat. When I transferred to my 210 I added 7 fish and none showed any stress.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

If I were starting a tank, I'd just monitor ammonia to determine safety for livestock additions. I might possibly monitor nitrite just for fun. I'd also be monitoring other things such as pH and alkalinity.

 

[LRT]

I’m no Randy by any means but I’ve transferred 4 tanks this exact way and have had zero loses. I would bet it depends on how much bioload you add right off the bat. When I transferred to my 210 I added 7 fish and none showed any stress.

Absoloutely. When done right transfer tanks can go off flawlessly and without a hitch. I think the key to every successful transfer is matching water params as close as humanly possible from old system to new. And keeping params dialed to keep minimal disruptions across the board. Tanks already processing bioloads its stocked with. As long as we scale that down or up to new system I dont see how it could be a problem.

 

[LRT]

If I were starting a tank, I'd just monitor ammonia to determine safety for livestock additions. I might possibly monitor nitrite just for fun. I'd also be monitoring other things such as pH and alkalinity.

Thanks Randy. Do you know if studies have been done to find average bioloads for specific fish?
I've seen your posts around on higher doses of ammonia being used to kick start tanks. Im curious why the reccomended would be 2ppm of ammonia. At the end of the day that seems excessive and maybe even counter productive for the average reefer thats only looking to start a new tank with 1 or 2 small fish like clowns or mollies.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Thanks Randy. Do you know if studies have been done to find average bioloads for specific fish?
I've seen your posts around on higher doses of ammonia being used to kick start tanks. Im curious why the reccomended would be 2ppm of ammonia. At the end of the day that seems excessive and maybe even counter productive for the average reefer thats only looking to start a new tank with 1 or 2 small fish like clowns or mollies.

Concentrations attained obviously depend on the water volume, but here's some data on amounts excreted of a typical marine fish:

Ammonia excretion and total N budget for gilthead seabream (Sparus aurata) and its effect on water quality conditions

Diurnal ammonia excretion rate was measured for 3-, 40- and 90-g gilthead seabream at 24°C at 4-hourly intervals in experimental tanks. The excretion …

www.sciencedirect.com

"The total daily ammonia production for 3-, 40- and 90-g fish was 1032, 365 and 353 mg N kg−1 day−1, respectively."