What do I need to cycle my tank?

[Xziller8]

I have seen too many people in a hurry to get the tank up. This is a hobby, not a race. The end result is I have seen people lose perfectly healthy livestock because they weren't patient enough. Tanks might be cycled, but if you throw tons of livestock in it at once, bad things happen. Slow and steady. Your number one goal right now is to cycle the tank. To do that, you just need water and an ammonia source. Protein will breakdown into ammonia and many people will just use a piece of uncooked shrimp to help start the cycle. Then mother nature does the rest. Honestly, go with dead rock and give it some patience and time. While you wait for the cycle, you can plan out the rest.

I didn't need a skimmer until my tank as about six months along or more. I didn't need an expensive light until I was a couple of months in and started adding corals. I pretty much added fish, one fish at a time over months. I have only lost one Green Chromis and he was not all that healthy when he came in. I have not seen ich in my tank at all, though I know it is probably there. Point is, while this is exciting to get into this hobby and people will explain how to speed things up, take it slow. Leave the faster set ups to people with more experience or your speed will surpass the amount of experience you have and you will crash the tank or lose livestock and at that point, many people give up.

There is so much to learn and speeding a tank without the time to learn the details is just asking for trouble.

 

[melypr1985]

if im not mistaken, i believe some types of calerpa are banned in certain states so you may have to check if NY is one of them. Also have you decided on what time of corals and fish you want to keep? I think a general idea is good to have so you can better tune your tank to keep such critters.

She's not in NY and actually semi close to me. Its not banned here that I know of considering there are tons of people here who have it including several LFS. I'm not sure of the species of mine, but it looks like ferns almost.

 

[sunken3]

the fern type is not too bad... I have a leaf version that is crazy invasive. The other issue I have seen with calerpa though is that it grows well, but can crash at a whim... (if you haven't tried Chaeto, look into it - it is not for the tank, but great for a fuge.)

 

[melypr1985]

chaeto is a good option- which is why so many people use it. Incidentally, when I was ready to start my fuge up the LFS didn't have any... anywhere! So I just went with what they had which was the calerpa. I have had it crash after "pruning" once, but I didn't do anything to help it and it came back pretty quickly. It's really up to the OP on what she wants to use. I was offering some for free because mine grows so fast. It's a shame to just throw it away.

 

[m88a2]

my bad i thought i read somewhere that she was in NY. anyway i looked into it shortly and i only saw something on cali and florida banning certain types of calerpa. but if there was any question i suppose you could call local fish/wildlife and they should be able to find out.

 

[sunken3]

chaeto is a good option- which is why so many people use it. Incidentally, when I was ready to start my fuge up the LFS didn't have any... anywhere! So I just went with what they had which was the calerpa. I have had it crash after "pruning" once, but I didn't do anything to help it and it came back pretty quickly. It's really up to the OP on what she wants to use. I was offering some for free because mine grows so fast. It's a shame to just throw it away.

sorry - not preaching if it came across that way. I have had the good and the bad of everything over the years of reefing!

 

[melypr1985]

Lol. Not at all! No worries

 

[Harold Green]

Take this from someone who's had saltwater tanks for over 40 years, setting up a new tank can be one of the most frustrating and at the same time rewarding experiences a hobbyist can have. I think may new hobbyists are so intent on getting the tank running they overlook the satisfaction of building a well operating system. Take the time to plan out how you're starting the tank and where you intend for the tank to go long term. If there is equipment you intend to buy in the future but not at the start you need to plan future placement room during the build. Water quality is priority one, water flow second, lighting next. Buy quality equipment, don't lose a tank of fish by buying a cheap heater that fails and the same holds true for most equipment. Plan safeguards where they are available, separate heater controller, water alarm, backup spares for things like critical pumps. Oversize beyond the minimum size needed for most equipment. Go big on skimmers, circulating pumps, even lighting if you can adjust the intensity. Largest sump you can fit in. Heaters, you want the minimum or dual small heaters to lessen the possibility of the heater sticking on and overheating the tank. There are lots of ways on this forum to cycle a tank successfully, my personal preference is to use fresh, uncured live rock. When I say fresh I'm talking about live rock shipped overnite that was in the ocean the day before. Little or no die off if shipped properly and I happen to like all the life that comes in on that type of rock. I'm sure you can get the occasional pest but so far I've never experienced that and feel lucky to get rock containing mitrax crabs, corals, inverts, plants, snails, etc. And as everyone suggests take your time. Plan six weeks for cycling, a year for a well seasoned tank that can support more delicate animals and lots of time for researching how to improve your tank.

 

[jaycee123]

Take this from someone who's had saltwater tanks for over 40 years, setting up a new tank can be one of the most frustrating and at the same time rewarding experiences a hobbyist can have. I think may new hobbyists are so intent on getting the tank running they overlook the satisfaction of building a well operating system. Take the time to plan out how you're starting the tank and where you intend for the tank to go long term. If there is equipment you intend to buy in the future but not at the start you need to plan future placement room during the build. Water quality is priority one, water flow second, lighting next. Buy quality equipment, don't lose a tank of fish by buying a cheap heater that fails and the same holds true for most equipment. Plan safeguards where they are available, separate heater controller, water alarm, backup spares for things like critical pumps. Oversize beyond the minimum size needed for most equipment. Go big on skimmers, circulating pumps, even lighting if you can adjust the intensity. Largest sump you can fit in. Heaters, you want the minimum or dual small heaters to lessen the possibility of the heater sticking on and overheating the tank. There are lots of ways on this forum to cycle a tank successfully, my personal preference is to use fresh, uncured live rock. When I say fresh I'm talking about live rock shipped overnite that was in the ocean the day before. Little or no die off if shipped properly and I happen to like all the life that comes in on that type of rock. I'm sure you can get the occasional pest but so far I've never experienced that and feel lucky to get rock containing mitrax crabs, corals, inverts, plants, snails, etc. And as everyone suggests take your time. Plan six weeks for cycling, a year for a well seasoned tank that can support more delicate animals and lots of time for researching how to improve your tank.

Awesome post!

What website do you recommend to get the rock from? I would love to try that!

 

[Harold Green]

I've ordered from Florida live rock four times and haven't been disappointed yet. Shipment gets air freighted overnite to the nearest airport where I pick it up as soon as it arrives. An hour later it's in the tank. It's all aqua cultured. They own a lease offshore where they seed dry rock and then collect it years later so they don't damage any natural reefs. My lfs has some nice live rock unfortunately it's almost twice the cost even when I figure in shipping.