tank cycle old school vs new school

[Xclusive Reef]

Wanted to see what you guys think on tank cycle. Who still uses the old shrimp in thank 1 month or so to cycle vs new school of using instant ocean bio-spira ? what do you prefer and why..

on instant ocean bio-spira BRS TV on youtube shows putting in bio-spira and adding a fish right away. what is the correct method of using bio-spira.

 

[Brew12]

Wanted to see what you guys think on tank cycle. Who still uses the old shrimp in thank 1 month or so to cycle vs new school of using instant ocean bio-spira ? what do you prefer and why..

on instant ocean bio-spira BRS TV on youtube shows putting in bio-spira and adding a fish right away. what is the correct method of using bio-spira.

I am a big fan of Biospira but I use it, and recommend using it, in two different manners.

If I am setting up my QT system, I dump the Biospira in and consider it ready to add fish immediately. If I have ammonia issues, my QT is small so water changes are easy.
If I am setting up a DT I will add it and then dose pure ammonia to verify it is working properly. Biospira is a live bacteria product. If it has ever been frozen or exposed to high temperatures it may no longer be viable. There can also be add interactions in a newly set up tank. Some people dump Biospira into their new DT and it still takes weeks before it is ready for fish.

I'm not a fan of adding a shrimp although it works. You don't know how much ammonia you are actually adding to the system, it smells bad, and it looks nasty after a few days. I prefer a more measured approach.

 

[dylana407]

I used both when I cycled my tank. The shrimp didn't stink nor clouded the water in my 55g tank. I didn't test my water until the shrimp disappeared. Also, no water change until added CUC.

 

[Xclusive Reef]

I used both when I cycled my tank. The shrimp didn't stink nor clouded the water in my 55g tank. I didn't test my water until the shrimp disappeared. Also, no water change until added CUC.

I am a big fan of Biospira but I use it, and recommend using it, in two different manners.

If I am setting up my QT system, I dump the Biospira in and consider it ready to add fish immediately. If I have ammonia issues, my QT is small so water changes are easy.
If I am setting up a DT I will add it and then dose pure ammonia to verify it is working properly. Biospira is a live bacteria product. If it has ever been frozen or exposed to high temperatures it may no longer be viable. There can also be add interactions in a newly set up tank. Some people dump Biospira into their new DT and it still takes weeks before it is ready for fish.

I'm not a fan of adding a shrimp although it works. You don't know how much ammonia you are actually adding to the system, it smells bad, and it looks nasty after a few days. I prefer a more measured approach.

If using bio-spira how much ammonia are you adding? I have a 75 gallon i am setting up. how you know when it is cycled?

 

[Xclusive Reef]

I used both when I cycled my tank. The shrimp didn't stink nor clouded the water in my 55g tank. I didn't test my water until the shrimp disappeared. Also, no water change until added CUC.

if you were to do it again using dry rock which would you choose? shrimp and wait or bio-spira ? how long was your shrimp cycle?

 

[chevegan]

I've done them all over the many years. My new tank I used reef saver rock, bio spira, and ammonia and cycled in 8 days. EIGHT DAYS! I'm never going back. Ever

 

[Paul B]

I don't remember what I did. I probably found a dead cat and threw it in there, but I could be wrong.

 

[Brew12]

If using bio-spira how much ammonia are you adding? I have a 75 gallon i am setting up. how you know when it is cycled?

It depends on the ammonia product. I do the calculations to get to 2ppm.

 

[Shelbytwp123]

BIOSPIRA here

 

[Xclusive Reef]

do you use cycled dry rock? or dry rocked washed and in the tank

 

[dylana407]

if you were to do it again using dry rock which would you choose? shrimp and wait or bio-spira ? how long was your shrimp cycle?

When I cycled my tank. I has 25lbs of live rock. The rest were live rocks. I added 1 cap of microbacter every 2, 3 days. It took 6 wks for the shrimp to dissolve. After checking the parms, I did the first WC, added CUC and wait a week to check my parms. Seeing the parms stable, I added a pair of clowns.

I'm in the process of upgrading to a 120g. I will cycle it the same way. But this time I will add a smaller shrimp. The cocktail shimp was too big...lol

 

[40B Knasty]

Shrimp always and let it rot. If my tank can not handle being beat up and brought down. That says to me my tank is not ready. Plus the instant gratification does not give the tank anaerobic bacteria. That is what turns nitrates into the gas form to float up and out of the tank.

 

[Xclusive Reef]

When I cycled my tank. I has 25lbs of live rock. The rest were live rocks. I added 1 cap of microbacter every 2, 3 days. It took 6 wks for the shrimp to dissolve. After checking the parms, I did the first WC, added CUC and wait a week to check my parms. Seeing the parms stable, I added a pair of clowns.

I'm in the process of upgrading to a 120g. I will cycle it the same way. But this time I will add a smaller shrimp. The cocktail shimp was too big...lol

Thought I watched a video where they added a shrimp and removed it and it was still whole. I don't think they waited the full 6 weeks.

 

[Reef man 89]

I used pure ammoina and bio Spria cycled in about 9 days

 

[boozeman27]

Any comments or votes for Red Sea Mature system?

 

[PlanB]

+1 on pure ammonia. Stinks less, easier to control/measure, and in my opinion works faster than letting a shrimp become consumed/rot.

 

[Xclusive Reef]

When I cycled my tank. I has 25lbs of live rock. The rest were live rocks. I added 1 cap of microbacter every 2, 3 days. It took 6 wks for the shrimp to dissolve. After checking the parms, I did the first WC, added CUC and wait a week to check my parms. Seeing the parms stable, I added a pair of clowns.

I'm in the process of upgrading to a 120g. I will cycle it the same way. But this time I will add a smaller shrimp. The cocktail shimp was too big...lol

i will be starting with all dead rock and live sand. i think i will go with the shrimp method. you said you used 1 cap of microbacter which product did you use? also witht he shrimp method i thought you just added shrimp for few days and removed it ? is there any step by step for this method? Time is not a issue I have all the time in the world. even it if takes 4 months to let it cycle. it aint going anywhere lol

 

[dylana407]

I let the shrimp completely dissolved. I used Microbacter7 because that's what my LFS sell. If you remove the shrimp early, it might not have generated enough ammonia. You can test for ammonia, nitrite and nitrate starting week 3. Your readings would most likely not be 0's.

 

[beaslbob]

I cycle with macro algae and a male molly.
the macro absorbs the ammonia directly preventing spikes. The molly is hardy, eats nuisance algaes and teaches newbies how to acclimate.

 

[brandon429]

one difference between new and old cycling is assessing the entire cycle off only one parameter, ammonia. nitrite doesn't matter in cycling and neither does nitrate testing for a litany of reasons we can find by searching ammonia only cycling threads here, but its interesting point to consider. to cycle any tank, only what ammonia does + a given submersion time underwater for bacteria to adhere to critical surface area matters in cycling.

cycles do not stall, they will revert to the timeline that unassisted cycling tanks display (unassisted cycles are where we only add water and wait a few mos>aka the 1970's, you add water and wait; all bacteria and ammonia get in naturally as they've done for millennia... this takes longer than reefers want to wait, enter bottled bac craze)





salifert and liquid ammonia and ~15-30 days underwater with bottle bac and an ammonia source is 2017 cycling



Merely distinguishing between types of cycling that use and don't use ammonia is so 2017

Even cycling threads and articles today talk about spiking all rocks brought into a tank with large doses of ammonia to verify cycling, yet we see in a huge portion of threads truly cured live rock with myriad animals in tow, the heart of the curing process, and those should never be dosed with raw ammonia, they're skip cycle rocks and if anything we need to be applying ammonia-suppressing moves to isolate that level of curing and cost to zero ammonia contact. Any cycling thread should distinguish that dry rocks are for ammonia, live rocks are for transferring and preventing ammonia, they're skip cycled ideally.

The principles of skip cycling are how large marine convention aquaria are set up that hold six thousand dollar bounce mushrooms. must be a pretty reliable bioapproach to things, they are able to set up full reefs fully stocked within hours that manage core parameters just like a fifteen year old tank would. We now command cycling, we don't wait to see what happens. its at our complete disposal now, the ability to seat or harmlessly transfer nitrifiers.