To add cuc or not to add cuc

[duncangweller]

My friend. Take a step back and relax. The old cliché in this hobby is that nothing happens fast, and I can guarantee that it doesn't.

A cycle can take months to complete. If you don't give it time, you'll spend money on live stock and it will die.

You don't NEED to add pure ammonia and you don't NEED to add bacteria. You can sprinkle a bit of fish food in there and that'll get things going. Or use a cocktail shrimp and it'll all occur naturally.

Don't bother testing every day, maybe once a week, if even that.

It'll level out eventually and then you'll have some great cycled rock ready for when you move house.

Besides, what's the rush anyway? You don't even have the tank setup yet.

Good luck and enjoy your new hobby.

 

[domination2580]

My friend. Take a step back and relax. The old cliché in this hobby is that nothing happens fast, and I can guarantee that it doesn't.

A cycle can take months to complete. If you don't give it time, you'll spend money on live stock and it will die.

You don't NEED to add pure ammonia and you don't NEED to add bacteria. You can sprinkle a bit of fish food in there and that'll get things going. Or use a cocktail shrimp and it'll all occur naturally.

Don't bother testing every day, maybe once a week, if even that.

It'll level out eventually and then you'll have some great cycled rock ready for when you move house.

Besides, what's the rush anyway? You don't even have the tank setup yet.

Good luck and enjoy your new hobby.

Thank you for the info. It's not necessarily a new hobby. I've had a tank set up before and did great! But I can see where that impression comes off with the whole cycling thing lol. Although it is the first time I've had to cycle any rock from start. I had used rock and water when I started up so it had the bacteria already built up. I would have thought that if I added the bacteria it would boost it though. I guess it just seemed to me that 2 weeks is an awfully long time for no amounts of ammonia to have converted over to nitrite

 

[domination2580]

Ok finally I have easily readable nitrites. After so long of waiting my ammonia is down to 1 ppm. Nitrite like 5. I did end up buying bio spira and it seems that it kicked some serious butt because I added it past might and ammonia went from 4 ppm to 1 in one day. I'm looking how's this is going

 

[domination2580]

@jetmaker hey, how many drops of ammonia should I dose to get to 4 ppm

 

[jetmaker]

I used 2 tsp

 

[jetmaker]

That was 75 gal dt

 

[jetmaker]

Check it when you see nitrite add bio speria and check again when you have. 020 nitrate ghost feed 1 half tsp every 2 days until you add fish.

 

[domination2580]

OK I've added biospira already, the ammonia I got up possibly a little more than 4 and nitrite are off the charts

 

[jetmaker]

Good you getting there I didn't mean 1 half tsp to ghost feed just half you doing good.

 

[domination2580]

I hope the extra ammonia doesn't slow the process down to much

 

[jetmaker]

Nah just wait for nitrate to come in and your good get a ammonia badge it will tell you

 

[jetmaker]

When nitrate gets to. 020 ammonia is gone.

 

[jetmaker]

You just have to ghost feed the bacteria

 

[domination2580]

Ghost feed?

 

[domination2580]

So will the bacteria eat the nitrate? I don't think they will. Isn't that why we have macro

 

[Maritimer]

There are anaerobic bacteria which live in deep sand beds or deep in your liverock which will convert nitrate to nitrogen - but it's a slower process. (I'm kind of waiting for them to show up in my pukani rock, and convert all my nitrates ... but there's no magic today!)

~Bruce

 

[domination2580]

Hmm...interesting. because my nitrates went down already

 

[domination2580]

These were my tests last night. What do you all think?