Tank cycling... Help me

[Reef_Tank_Fan_SC]

So tomorrow I will be moving the tank into the house and I will be starting the cycling process. I have never had to cycle a tank before so I honestly don't know what steps to take. I have heard a lot of different opinions from raw shrimp, ghost feeding to chemical additive. What exactly do you guys recommend from your experience with it? Also do I need to be running my skimmer? And what about lights? I have heard to run them and I have also read to cover the tank so it's blacked out... I don't know what to do, lol. Help me please.. haha

 

[Flippers4pups]

Running lights is not necessary when cycling. Skimmer could help pull excess organics from the set up.

Good read: http://www.melevsreef.com/cycle

 

[Shelbytwp123]

2-3 bottles of BIOSPIRA and leave it alone for few weeks and you'll be mostly there. .. presumably that you doing it with live sand and or rock. ..I prefer dry rock due to lot less unwanted crap you may get with live rock. .. but in my case BIOSPIRA was the key. . No spikes on any of the parameters and that was about 3-4 months ago

 

[alfani]

lights not necessary but keep everything else running like normal, skimmer, pumps,etc..., throw in a couple chucks of grocery shrimp and leave it for 6-8 weeks

 

[Reef_Tank_Fan_SC]

I have dry rock for my tank also (BRS reef saver) but I do have live sand (Caribsea Hawaiian black sand). I have read about the biospira but don't know anything about it.. is it better to go all natural or does it not make a difference?

 

[Reef_Tank_Fan_SC]

What about water changes? Do you do them during the cycling process or no? If so then how often do you do it?

 

[Stolireef]

Since you've never done this before, let me give you a pretty sure fire recipe for an easy and stable cycle.

First, a really quick primer on cycle. Basically, you're trying to establish a few different species of bacteria that do the following:
1. Convert (reduce) ammonia (NH4) to nitrite (NH3) and then from nitrite to nitrate (NH2) and finally from nitrate to nitrogen gas.
2. All of the foregoing bacteria live everywhere from the air to your hands to the rock you put in the tank. They're just at very low levels.
3. Ammonia and nitrite reducing bacteria need an aerobic environment to thrive. Nitrate reducing bacteria need an anaerobic environment. So, the ammonia and nitrite reducing bacteria live on the surface of everything in your tank. The nitrate reducing bacteria live deep within the rocks.

Withe the foregoing in mind, go to Ace Hardware and buy a small bottle of janitorial grade ammonia. Look for the bottle with the redish label.

Add the ammonia to your tank until you reach 2ppm on your Ammonia test kit. Look for ammonia calculators online and it'll tell you exactly how much to add.

Now, you have two choices. You can either exercise patience and wait 4 to eight weeks for your ammonia and nitrite to go down to zero at which point your initial cycle is complete. During this time, read all of the stickies at the top of this forum. Alternatively, you can shorten your cycle a little (probably knock a couple of weeks off) by adding either Bio-Spira or Dr. Tims. This just seeds your tank with a dense population of nitrifying bacteria that the tank would get elsewhere with time. As a newbie, I'd suggest going the slow and steady route since this will also teach you the most important lesson in reef keeping...Patience.

It's a great hobby. Keep asking questions.

Oh, and no water changes during cycle.

 

[Sammi Mi]

I'm still new (very new) to the hobby, just finished my cycle about a week ago now.
As everyone else said lights are not necessary. Water changes are not necessary either, not until you've completed the cycle. Then a 30% to 50% water change, they suggest a 50% if you can
I've found that Natural vs "chemicals" is really a matter of opinion. Another way to look at it is that bio spira isn't really a chemical it's a nitrifying bacteria. It just kinda helps jump start the bacteria in your tank. The cycle process is the nitrogen cycle; Ammonia then Nitrites then Nitrates.
Personally I went with the shrimp (it was cheaper, I had some in my freezer) I threw it in for one day, pulled it out and let the tank do the rest. I also have LR in my tank, so not really sure if that makes a difference between your tank and mine.
Hope this helps a little

 

[Reef_Tank_Fan_SC]

As a newbie, I'd suggest going the slow and steady route since this will also teach you the most important lesson in reef keeping...Patience.

Patience just happens to be one if my strong suits so that won't be a problem for me, lol. This is also a bit of a project that I am doing for my oldest son to enjoy, and hopefully for my soon to be newborn to enjoy also. With that being said I'm not in a hurry, I just want to do it the right way so that I can explain it to them so that they can enjoy it and also understand what is going in inside the tank. Does the fact that I am using dry rock and not live rock matter a while lot? Would you suggest and additive to kind of boost the bacteria that they are lacking..

 

[jeff williams]

+1 stolireef however i would make this suggestion of you buy dr Tims one and only nitrifying bacteria just buy his ammonium chloride and take all the guess work out of dosing the ammonia just follow his instructions on the bottle. Also you should remove the filter sock and turn off the skimmer for the first 48 hrs

 

[jeff williams]

+1 stolireef however i would make this suggestion of you buy dr Tims one and only nitrifying bacteria just buy his ammonium chloride and take all the guess work out of dosing the ammonia just follow his instructions on the bottle. Also you should remove the filter sock and turn off the skimmer for the first 48 hrs

 

[Mombo]

I would add the bio spira. The dry rock will work fine it will just take longer to become stable. I think you can use pretty much whatever brand of bottled bacteria. Biospira was just easy for me to find at the store. I also am using the Ace Hardware Ammonia. Doesnt need much. Life time supply for cycling tanks haha.

 

[Reef_Tank_Fan_SC]

So ACE hardware ammonia and biospira.. should I add them both at the same time or should I do the ammonia and the a week or two later do the other?

And are you guys saying that I DO need to run the skimmer during the cycle? Or will it pull out the bacteria I am trying to keep in the tank

 

[Sammi Mi]

So ACE hardware ammonia and biospira.. should I add them both at the same time or should I do the ammonia and the a week or two later do the other?

And are you guys saying that I DO need to run the skimmer during the cycle? Or will it pull out the bacteria I am trying to keep in the tank

Don't run the skimmer for the first few days. Then turn it on.

 

[Sammi Mi]

So ACE hardware ammonia and biospira.. should I add them both at the same time or should I do the ammonia and the a week or two later do the other?

And are you guys saying that I DO need to run the skimmer during the cycle? Or will it pull out the bacteria I am trying to keep in the tank

The skimmer doesn't pull out good bacteria, which is what your trying to build up. The skimmer pulls out organic waste.

 

[Reef_Tank_Fan_SC]

I'm still new (very new) to the hobby, just finished my cycle about a week ago now.
As everyone else said lights are not necessary. Water changes are not necessary either, not until you've completed the cycle. Then a 30% to 50% water change, they suggest a 50% if you can
I've found that Natural vs "chemicals" is really a matter of opinion. Another way to look at it is that bio spira isn't really a chemical it's a nitrifying bacteria. It just kinda helps jump start the bacteria in your tank. The cycle process is the nitrogen cycle; Ammonia then Nitrites then Nitrates.
Personally I went with the shrimp (it was cheaper, I had some in my freezer) I threw it in for one day, pulled it out and let the tank do the rest. I also have LR in my tank, so not really sure if that makes a difference between your tank and mine.
Hope this helps a little

What parameters were you checking while you did your cycle? How often were you doing your checks?


I do believe I can handle all the information you are giving me and put it to good use ladies and gents. I will keep you guys updated on my progress as I move forward with the process.. thanks again for all the help

 

[jeff williams]

Ace ammonia whe I used it was 1 drop per gallon equaled 1 ppm. Let's say you have a 100 gallon tank I would dose about 100 drops then test ammonia to see were your at. Now keep in mind I don't know what ammonia your going to buy so you can get a gallon milk jug fill it drop 1 drop of ammonia on it and test it to make sure of the ppm. Also skimmer WILL pull out bacteria whe it is first added so donot run skimmer for first 48 hrs like wise filter sock can remove bacteria when first added so take sock out if you use one. Hers a cycle break down. Shut off uv sterilizer remove sock turn off skimmer dose bacteria I dump the whole bottle in dose ammonia to 1-2 ppm. 48 hrs later check ammonia and nitrite you should see a drop in ammonia and an increase in nitrite once ammonia hits zero and nitrite is .25 I like to redose ammonia to 1 ppm and you should see the ammonia and nitrite hit close to 0 in twenty-four hrs if so do a 50% water change ( this depends on how high your nitrate is ) I done a 95% water change let the tank run a few days and add fish

 

[jeff williams]

Here's a bit more info that might help this process out lined above will take a few weeks. After the initial dose you measure just to see were your at in 48 hrs then measure as much as you want until the ammonia hits 0 and nitrite hits around .25 ppm most people will consider the tank at this point cycled, I just add the extra step of redosing ammonia to 1 ppm and letting the bacteria continue to populate until I can dose 1 ppm and 24 hrs later ammonia and nitrite are 0 this takes longer you have to do a bigger WC at the end cus nitrate will be off the chart but your bacteria colony will be strong enough you could add 4-5 fish

 

[Mombo]

I posted this in another thread but at the bottom of this page is a calculator for figuring out how much ammonia to dose. Much quicker and likely more accurate then doing drops

http://www.fishforums.net/aquarium-calculator.htm

 

[Reef_Tank_Fan_SC]

I posted this in another thread but at the bottom of this page is a calculator for figuring out how much ammonia to dose. Much quicker and likely more accurate then doing drops

http://www.fishforums.net/aquarium-calculator.htm

Thanks my man.. I appreciate it.