So confused...

[WhatCouldGoWrong71]

I am confused by the many different ways to cycle, plus it looks like there has been some evolution that has taken place as well. I watched BSR videos where they would preach 4 months in the dark, then I just found a newer video where they suggest only 30 days, then turn the lights on and start to slowly ramp them up. Then, I read Dr. Tim's website to only find out that he over complicates it and there is some marketing in there too. Can some help me with my questions:

I am doing a IM 20G AOI.
1) What should be in my filter baskets when I do the cycle? I have Chemipure Blue and Purigen. No socks, just floss. I will have 2 pounds of Biohome in the back for extra help. I will be using Caribsea's live sand (special grade) and Life Rock, 18 pounds (dry but not exactly dead?).
2) I want to do a fishless cycle. I have Dr. Tim's One and Only and their Ammonia Chloride drops.
3) Question: Is there a day by day or a week by week play book I can follow. One that tells me when I can add fish and then slowly add to build up on the beneficial bacteria.

Sorry for the likely redundant question. I have looked and am not seeing something that I can follow along with. Thanks in advance for any potential help!

 

[Townes_Van_Camp]

It's because there are a million and one ways and preferences friend.

I'm not afraid of wild germs so I do this:

Start with dry sculpted rock glued together how I want it. Add ammonia and microbacter7. I let that ride for 3 weeks while feeding a hermit crab and testing. After three weeks I can promise you no nitrite or ammonia.

Then I add Tamba bay saltwater live sand.

One more week of testing to ensure nitrates are present and no nitrite or ammonia are measurable.

Then add fish in small batches while testing and ensuring nitrates exist and nitrite and ammonia are still 0.

That's my way. Some guys add fish right after microbacter7

Some do live sand and live rock. Some.do wild live sand and wild live rock. Each way has its pros and cons.

 

[blecki]

I think the cycle is completely overthought. Just stick in some live rock or some bottled bacteria, dose a little ammonia, and wait until it reads zero. The only thing is requires is patience.

What's the point of not having lights? Waiting four months? No. It shouldn't take that long. Starting with at least some seeder pieces of real old, mature live rock helps tremendously. Live rock isn't the sterile but wet stuff you see at the LFS - real mature live rock is covered in critters and algae and sponges and all sorts of beneficial things. It can take years to mature in a tank so it's understandably expensive.

 

[CoastalTownLayabout]

So the good news is that the initial cycle is very easy. Go fishless with Tim’s if you want or older school and chuck in a bit of raw prawn. Either way you’ll definitely be done in 2 - 3 weeks assuming you don’t completely balls up either method. Other option is to add some maricultured or traditional live rock or seeded bio media if you can get your hands on some.

The not so good news is that the learning curve gets steeper after the initial cycle. In this phase you will need to grasp the balance between nutrient input from fish and food, nutrient export via filtration and water changes, light energy driving photosynthetic algae growth and herbivorous clean up crew. Get it right and you’ll have minor, manageable issues, get it wrong and things can get messy.

Personally for dry rock starts, I prefer to begin with a very low bio load, very low light intensity and build up slowly over a 4 - 6 month period. You’ll receive a lot of different opinions on how to do it, your level of patience and willingness to research will dictate which way you choose.

Good luck, hope it goes well.

 

[archercorals]

Test your water. See where you ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, and phosphate are and act accordingly. Once things are stable in the right places, add a few fish, and continue to test and repeat

 

[Cichlid Dad]

I think the cycle is completely overthought. Just stick in some live rock or some bottled bacteria, dose a little ammonia, and wait until it reads zero. The only thing is requires is patience.

What's the point of not having lights? Waiting four months? No. It shouldn't take that long. Starting with at least some seeder pieces of real old, mature live rock helps tremendously. Live rock isn't the sterile but wet stuff you see at the LFS - real mature live rock is covered in critters and algae and sponges and all sorts of beneficial things. It can take years to mature in a tank so it's understandably expensive.

With the lights, you will go through an ugly stage no matter what. It will just be a matter of degree. I turned my light on Day one Marco rock live sand and did add 10 pounds of live rock to the 40 pounds of Marco. Went through the ugly stage came out the other end just fine

 

[blecki]

With the lights, you will go through an ugly stage no matter what. It will just be a matter of degree. I turned my light on Day one Marco rock live sand and did add 10 pounds of live rock to the 40 pounds of Marco. Went through the ugly stage came out the other end just fine

Even new rock in an old tank will go through an 'ugly' phase. It's really not avoidable.

 

[WestMI-Reefer]

Cycling early is a win. If you can get you rocks in a bucket to start the process, that helps.
I turned lights on after a couple weeks. I had dry rock start. Seeing the “ugly” come in was a welcome sight compared to the sterile white rock i had been staring at.

 

[paragrouper]

It's because there are a million and one ways and preferences friend.

I'm not afraid of wild germs so I do this:

Start with dry sculpted rock glued together how I want it. Add ammonia and microbacter7. I let that ride for 3 weeks while feeding a hermit crab and testing. After three weeks I can promise you no nitrite or ammonia.

Then I add Tamba bay saltwater live sand.

One more week of testing to ensure nitrates are present and no nitrite or ammonia are measurable.

Then add fish in small batches while testing and ensuring nitrates exist and nitrite and ammonia are still 0.

That's my way. Some guys add fish right after microbacter7

Some do live sand and live rock. Some.do wild live sand and wild live rock. Each way has its pros and cons.

as Townes states, there are many ways out there to cycle a tank. My advice: research your alternatives, pick a method and stick with it.

 

[Dan_P]

I am confused by the many different ways to cycle, plus it looks like there has been some evolution that has taken place as well. I watched BSR videos where they would preach 4 months in the dark, then I just found a newer video where they suggest only 30 days, then turn the lights on and start to slowly ramp them up. Then, I read Dr. Tim's website to only find out that he over complicates it and there is some marketing in there too. Can some help me with my questions:

I am doing a IM 20G AOI.
1) What should be in my filter baskets when I do the cycle? I have Chemipure Blue and Purigen. No socks, just floss. I will have 2 pounds of Biohome in the back for extra help. I will be using Caribsea's live sand (special grade) and Life Rock, 18 pounds (dry but not exactly dead?).
2) I want to do a fishless cycle. I have Dr. Tim's One and Only and their Ammonia Chloride drops.
3) Question: Is there a day by day or a week by week play book I can follow. One that tells me when I can add fish and then slowly add to build up on the beneficial bacteria.

Sorry for the likely redundant question. I have looked and am not seeing something that I can follow along with. Thanks in advance for any potential help!

The hobby is just like setting up a nitrogen cycle, confusing. Nobody likes to just follow the rules and move on. Everyone wants to be creative to no real purpose. There is really only one basic way to start a nitrifying biofilm. Add bacteria, feed bacteria, and monitor bacteria growth.

Before bottled nitrifying bacteria like Dr. Tim’s, Biospira and Turbostart, you would wait many weeks for nitrifying bacteria to find their way into the aquarium. You might also introduce nitrifying bacteria by adding live rock which contained. Now, you just pour in a bunch of bacteria from a bottle and on day one and watch them start growing within days. Feeding the bacteria is important to create a large enough population to deal with ammonia excreted by fish

Ammonium chloride is the simplest way to feed nitrifying bacteria, around 2 ppm is enough. When bacteria are sufficiently active, the ammonia will be gone in a 1-3 days. Rotting a shrimp in an aquarium to generate ammonia for the bacteria is one of those ”clever” ideas. How do you know the bacteria are growing? Monitor the disappearance of total ammonia. It iis generally recommended to add more ammonia when the first batch is consumed. This builds the population and gives the bacteria time to firmly attach to surfaces.

Most aquarists measure total ammonia with the cheapest test kit, the API ammonia test kit. It works fine except at low concentrations it is nearly impossible to distinguish 0.25 ppm and 0 ppm ammonia. Since 0 ppm ammonia is the goal, some aquarist let there aquarium cycle for many weeks (when 1-2 weeks should be sufficient) waiting for the test to indicate zero. A back up monitoring method is to measure the production of nitrite. If ammonia is being consumed, nitrite will be produced. Because the bacteria that convert nitrite to nitrate grow more slowly, measuring nitrite production can stand in for ammonia consumption for new aquaria.

So that’s really all there is. One system that has very few steps.

 

[Cichlid Dad]

Even new rock in an old tank will go through an 'ugly' phase. It's really not avoidable.

LOL! I know, I'm going through this right now. I pull rock from my two tanks for a frag tank setup and added new rock to replace it. Uglies all over again

 

[RocketEngineer]

Warning: hobby test kits are poor at reading small concentrations. Don’t get hung up on measurements, look at trends. Regarding the cycle, add bottle bacteria, add 1-2 ppm of ammonia ONCE, then wait 2 weeks. At that point measure nitrates and you should have some. If you do, you’re ready to SLOWLY add fish. All the other stuff is just fluff.

 

[WhatCouldGoWrong71]

Man, this has all been SOOOOOOOO helpful. Thank you all.

 

[C4ctus99]

If you like extra life and critters, get you some Tampa bay live rock to seed it too, it made a HUGE difference in my tank. All I did was get 10 of coralline base rock and got a free brittle star, snail, a surplus of amphipods, and a free crab!

When I’ve combined the base rock with bottled bacteria (I’ve used seachem stability without issue), I haven’t had any issues with the nitrogen cycle at all.

Also, in case no one else mentioned it, API ammonia test kits aren’t great at low range, like @RocketEngineer said, test for nitrates to make certain it has cycled if using API

 

[Max93]

My preferred method would be to cycle your tank with live rock, live sand, go completely fallow until your tank is fully stocked with all the inverts/corals you want. Once you have some good sized colonies going add your fish last.