Starting a new tank

Lilmatty5dimes · Jul 22, 2016

Hello, I was wondering I'm in the process of starting up my tank and bought AF reef salt and was wondering if I could buy the AF bio s to jump start the cycle. wondering if it does cut down on the wait of the cycle and if the np pro and pro bio s is necessary for it as well. And if so do I continue dosing all three after the initial cycle? Thanks in advance.

Perry · Jul 22, 2016

Matt,
Yes Bio S is for the intial cycle, you can go longer if you want, but not necessary. If you are wanting to use the Probiotic aspects of AF, then yes, the bacteria and carbon source are necessary for this application(Pro Bio S, NP Pro). If running AF Reef Salt, it is not probiotic, so you do not have to use NP Pro and Pro Bio S, they are just tools to help you run your tank very low in nutrients, but if you have another method, it is possible to use some of the AF supplements, minerals, and trace without running the system ULNS. Some utilize a big skimmer and based on the bio-load do not even need to run the Probiotics, but others such as myself do, mainly because of a heavy bio-load. Hope that helps man! Cheers!

Lilmatty5dimes · Jul 22, 2016

Perry said:
Matt,
Yes Bio S is for the intial cycle, you can go longer if you want, but not necessary. If you are wanting to use the Probiotic aspects of AF, then yes, the bacteria and carbon source are necessary for this application(Pro Bio S, NP Pro). If running AF Reef Salt, it is not probiotic, so you do not have to use NP Pro and Pro Bio S, they are just tools to help you run your tank very low in nutrients, but if you have another method, it is possible to use some of the AF supplements, minerals, and trace without running the system ULNS. Some utilize a big skimmer and based on the bio-load do not even need to run the Probiotics, but others such as myself do, mainly because of a heavy bio-load. Hope that helps man! Cheers!

Awesome. I'll just get the bio s then tomorrow or Sunday. After watching your thread on the other site(didn't know it was you. Lol) I'm planning on going more and more with AF as the tank matures and I add more sps to the tank. I've got a few nice pieces brewing in a friends tank I traded for. Beach bum and pikachu. Definitely waiting a few months for those so I don't kill them.

Cblair · Jul 22, 2016

I just set up a new tank using aquaforest with real reef rock. I never noticed a cycle at all, i tested ammonia, nitrite and nitrate daily for a week and never noticed a spike in ammonia or nitrite. The tank is two weeks old and all remain zero with nitrates at 1. The tank is a red sea reefer 170 and i added two drops of bio s daily. Today i just started pro bio s and np pro, also using the probiotice reef salt. Quickest cycle ive seen on a tank in the 15+ years ive been in the hobby.

Lilmatty5dimes · Jul 22, 2016

Cblair said:
I just set up a new tank using aquaforest with real reef rock. I never noticed a cycle at all, i tested ammonia, nitrite and nitrate daily for a week and never noticed a spike in ammonia or nitrite. The tank is two weeks old and all remain zero with nitrates at 1. The tank is a red sea reefer 170 and i added two drops of bio s daily. Today i just started pro bio s and np pro, also using the probiotice reef salt. Quickest cycle ive seen on a tank in the 15+ years ive been in the hobby.

Thanks. Awesome news. Can't wait to get it going. Lol it's been a lil over a year since I had to sell my last reef. I think I'll dose 2 drops for the first few days then drop down to a single drop after that. The tank is only a 30g cube.

Lilmatty5dimes · Jul 23, 2016

Another question for the AF bio s. Will I see an ammonia or nitrites on a test? If not when will I know the tank is cycled? When I see an increase of nitrates? Thanks again.

With the tank only being 30g should I dose 2 drops the first couple of days and then go to a single drop?

Perry · Jul 23, 2016

Same way you have always cycled Matt, test ammonia, then nitrites, and nitrates, they will determine the cycle. AF recommends the dosing for 14 days of setup, but to slowly add livestock, and not while ammonia is present. Cheers!

domination2580 · Jul 23, 2016

Cblair said:
I just set up a new tank using aquaforest with real reef rock. I never noticed a cycle at all, i tested ammonia, nitrite and nitrate daily for a week and never noticed a spike in ammonia or nitrite. The tank is two weeks old and all remain zero with nitrates at 1. The tank is a red sea reefer 170 and i added two drops of bio s daily. Today i just started pro bio s and np pro, also using the probiotice reef salt. Quickest cycle ive seen on a tank in the 15+ years ive been in the hobby.

Quick question for you. Did you provide an ammonia source to build up the bacteria? If not then that is why you didn't see anything. You have nothing for the bacteria to grow from. Hence you would not have cycled at all. If you do it with out a source it would take months to see any change in ammonia

Cblair · Jul 23, 2016

domination2580 said:
Quick question for you. Did you provide an ammonia source to build up the bacteria? If not then that is why you didn't see anything. You have nothing for the bacteria to grow from. Hence you would not have cycled at all. If you do it with out a source it would take months to see any change in ammonia

Yes i did, i added some raw shrimp for a week as i have cycled 5 tanks over the last 15 years and this is how i have always done it. I tested 2-3 times a day for 10 days and never seen any ammonia spike at all...nothing, was the same for nitrites. I believe it was day 8 or 9 i noticed i started getting nitrate and i figured i wouldnt be getting nitrate if the bacteria wasnt processing ammonia-nitrite. On day ten a added a test frag and in all honesty it looked better than it did on the tank i had running so i decided to transfer everything. Ive been testing daily and just notice my nitrates creeping up to 3-5ppm and all corals and the 3 fish i have are responding very well showing no signs of stress whatsoever. Now i dont know if that is attributed to the high quality fully cured real reef rock ive added, the aquaforest bio s with the probiotic salt or both, but this is literally the first tank ive started where i havent seen a cycle.

Lilmatty5dimes · Jul 25, 2016

Cblair said:
Yes i did, i added some raw shrimp for a week as i have cycled 5 tanks over the last 15 years and this is how i have always done it. I tested 2-3 times a day for 10 days and never seen any ammonia spike at all...nothing, was the same for nitrites. I believe it was day 8 or 9 i noticed i started getting nitrate and i figured i wouldnt be getting nitrate if the bacteria wasnt processing ammonia-nitrite. On day ten a added a test frag and in all honesty it looked better than it did on the tank i had running so i decided to transfer everything. Ive been testing daily and just notice my nitrates creeping up to 3-5ppm and all corals and the 3 fish i have are responding very well showing no signs of stress whatsoever. Now i dont know if that is attributed to the high quality fully cured real reef rock ive added, the aquaforest bio s with the probiotic salt or both, but this is literally the first tank ive started where i havent seen a cycle.

So do I need to dose a lil ammonia into the tank first then drop the bio s in after?

Cblair · Jul 25, 2016

I would start the bio s from day one but make sure you have a source of ammonia in the tank.

Lilmatty5dimes · Jul 25, 2016

Cblair said:
I would start the bio s from day one but make sure you have a source of ammonia in the tank.

Ok. I'll drop a few drops in the tank of janitorial strength ammonia tonight and then start the 2 weeks of bio s tomorrow.

David Cher · Sep 28, 2016

can i borrow this thread? i have been using AF bio S to cycle my new tank , i have not seen any spike in ammonia but instead at the 13th day i saw a spike in nitrite. then some reefers recommended to add frozen food to help in the cycling , so i added it on the 13th day , do it mean it will take 2 more weeks to get the nitrite down ?

Lilmatty5dimes · Sep 29, 2016

What are your nitrates? The only reason I knew I had ammonia in the tank was because I dose half a cap of this stuff.

Never really saw anything else as far as nitrites or nitrates. I would add a lil bit of food and test for ammonia the next couple of days along with nitrites and nitrates see what ya get if nothing I would say your tank is cycled.