What next?? Cycle is over!

[TylerJaid]

If this were my tank, tester corals, the hardy fish, and a good CUC would already be in this tank

I would have some (looks sumpless) macro algae behind the rock. Couple jars of copepods, 20 nassarius snails for the sandbed. Dosing bacteria each night. And making sure everything is fed

I see no reason to delay, if this were mine. What is the delay for?

Was waiting for clean up crew until I saw same algae just so the stuff didn't go in and die right away

 

[Solo McReefer]

Was waiting for clean up crew until I saw same algae just so the stuff didn't go in and die right away

The algae "spores" come in on the shells of the CUC, the frag plugs of tester corals, macro algae, in my tanks I set up. [It comes in on the real live rock, but in this scenario I am pretending I started with terrestrial dead rock]

The CUC will be fine eating fish food and fish poop on the sand and rocks, until the nuisance algae comes in. I expect half my first CUC to die, and become part of the cycle, in the first month or so, in the tanks I set up

 

[skey44]

Tank looks ready for fish to me! I stand by my original post. 30% WC and add a dose of nitrifying bacteria daily until the fish get here. I have experience with stability and micro bacter 7. I prefer the MB7 but I can’t give you a real reason why. Your tank is looking great.

 

[skey44]

Is anyone actually reading the OP here? The cycle is done. They weren’t asking for cycle advice. They are dealing with a delay between cycle completion and addition of fish. I was trying to avoid an overly technical discussion but here it goes… There is some literature evidence that nitrifying bacteria, especially those involved in the conversion of nitrite to nitrate, and to a lesser extent, the bacteria that convert ammonia to nitrite, can become dormant in the absence of ammonia input. Sometimes there can be a delay in reactivating these bacteria upon reintroduction of ammonia. This latent dormancy usually takes a few weeks in the absence of ammonia, but nonetheless it is worthwhile to consider. To avoid this, while waiting for fish to arrive, the OP could continue to dose ammonia every few days, keeping the bacteria fed and active. The downside is continued increase in nitrate in the interim, which would need to be managed by water changes. Not dosing is an option as the bacteria most often observed to go dormant is primarily responsible for the nitrite to nitrate part of the nitrogen cycle, and nitrite is much less of a concern for fish.

I definitely read. OP is good I think. No need to over manage. Get the nitrates down and keep adding beneficial bacteria until his new pets arrive. One last thing before I go to bed… get one of those ammonia alert things. Gives me lots of confidence even as a seasoned aquarist. Peace of mind is a huge deal in this hobby, especially when you’re doing everything right and still worried.

 

[TylerJaid]

The algae "spores" come in on the shells of the CUC, the frag plugs of tester corals, macro algae, in my tanks I set up. [It comes in on the real live rock, but in this scenario I am pretending I started with terrestrial dead rock]

The CUC will be fine eating fish food and fish poop on the sand and rocks, until the nuisance algae comes in. I expect half my first CUC to die, and become part of the cycle, in the first month or so, in the tanks I set up

That make sense I guess I was just told to wait until some algae popped up but any life is better than no life in the tank like mine has been for a month lol

 

[TylerJaid]

I definitely read. OP is good I think. No need to over manage. Get the nitrates down and keep adding beneficial bacteria until his new pets arrive. One last thing before I go to bed… get one of those ammonia alert things. Gives me lots of confidence even as a seasoned aquarist. Peace of mind is a huge deal in this hobby, especially when you’re doing everything right and still worried.

I will get one of those and keep dosing bacteria, do a water change and add my fish when they show up!

 

[TylerJaid]

Thanks for all of the info and help everyone!

 

[Solo McReefer]

That make sense I guess I was just told to wait until some algae popped up but any life is better than no life in the tank like mine has been for a month lol

Obviously, a Clean Up Crew needs something to clean up

You're just gonna have to give it food to clean up and fish poop to clean up

Until there is algae to clean up. You will also be giving it dead snails and dead hermit crabs to clean up, if you catch my drift.

That all goes into the cycle, which hasn't ended. Your cycle just started, if you catch my drift

I don't understand the rationale for no copepods, someone suggested above. Dead copepods go into the cycle too

When people say "My cycle has ended", what they really mean is that just got it started.

A tank nitrogen cycle is like a wheel, that you're trying to get spinning on it's own. Even when it's spinning, it will slow down. You as the reefer have to help give it another push

When it spins on its own, with little input from you, your tank is mature

When the wheel stops spinning, that's a dead cycle. Tank is dead. Many reefers will take a hiatus. Rethink, regroup,

And start up at a later time.

Anyway, adding copepods now and later is like giving that wheel a little push. Adding CUC now and later a little push. Far better for 10 snails to die, spin the wheel, than a frag.

 

[Solo McReefer]

.

 

[Solo McReefer]

.

 

[Solo McReefer]

get one of those ammonia alert things.

Great idea!

Seachem Ammonia Alert https://a.co/d/9KksOYI

 

[Outlaw Corals]

I have 2 hang on back filters with sponges and filter floss in them, roughly 58lbs of carribsea rock, 40 lbs of ocean direct sand.

Today ammonia was 0 ppm
Nitrite was 0 ppm
Nitrate around 15 ppm
Salinity 1.026
Temperature 78

I have not done a water change at all since I started the cycle, lights are always off until I get my first livestock. It's my first reef tank so I'm going to keep mainly soft corals ( I really like the look of them even though they are a nuisance to a lot of other people) anything I missed? Thanks for the replies!

I did my first tank with a hang on, a 20 ga tank with a hang on filter and protein skimmer, the tank ran just fine, i few months later i got a 120ga with a wet / dry filter loaded with bio balls

 

[TylerJaid]

Obviously, a Clean Up Crew needs something to clean up

You're just gonna have to give it food to clean up and fish poop to clean up

Until there is algae to clean up. You will also be giving it dead snails and dead hermit crabs to clean up, if you catch my drift.

That all goes into the cycle, which hasn't ended. Your cycle just started, if you catch my drift

I don't understand the rationale for no copepods, someone suggested above. Dead copepods go into the cycle too

When people say "My cycle has ended", what they really mean is that just got it started.

A tank nitrogen cycle is like a wheel, that you're trying to get spinning on it's own. Even when it's spinning, it will slow down. You as the reefer have to help give it another push

When it spins on its own, with little input from you, your tank is mature

When the wheel stops spinning, that's a dead cycle. Tank is dead. Many reefers will take a hiatus. Rethink, regroup,

And start up at a later time.

Anyway, adding copepods now and later is like giving that wheel a little push. Adding CUC now and later a little push. Far better for 10 snails to die, spin the wheel, than a frag.

Yes that makes sense as well, I was really going to add pods before I got my fish, but now maybe I'll add some cuc as well, what do you think 20 snails in total for a 55 gallon?? Was also going to put 2 peppermint shrimp and a skunk shrimp, let me know your thoughts a lot of contradicting all over for someone new! Thanks!

 

[CocoReef]

Yes that makes sense as well, I was really going to add pods before I got my fish, but now maybe I'll add some cuc as well, what do you think 20 snails in total for a 55 gallon?? Was also going to put 2 peppermint shrimp and a skunk shrimp, let me know your thoughts a lot of contradicting all over for someone new! Thanks!

Personally I dont think you need to keep dosing bacteria. Your already present colony will keep growing as it feeds on available ammonia.

As others said a cuc needs stuff to clean. 20 snails will be overkill if you have no signs of algae yet, unless you plan on feeding them.

Building up a pod community early wouldnt hurt but dose some phyto every few days so they dont starve. 5-10ml every few days should be plenty to keep them happy

If I were you I would do a water change, get a hardy soft coral or two (if the drive is worth it to you), and ghost feed until the rest of your livestock arrives.

Dosing more ammonia will raise your nitrates faster than doing a little ghost feeding every few days.

 

[Solo McReefer]

If I wanted 20 $1 snails, I would buy 40 $1 snails

And a couple turbos. And $10 of the tiny 20 cent snails. You're going to have snails that crawl out of the tank at 3 AM, or when you're at work. Just happens

20 hermits, will become 10 hermits in a month. Those kill each other, nothing you can do about that. I've bought extra shells so they don't kill each other. Doesn't help. You'll have extra shells in a month. Which is how vendors get them

Couple peppermint shrimp, sure

Reefcleaners.org sells pods and cheato too. Stick the cheato behind the rock, if you don't have a reactor.

TLF reactors are cheap, grow lights are cheap, jebao pumps are cheap, filter foam cheap. You could make an algae reactor for less than $100. Or buy a pro reactor for $500. Stick the cheato in there

Start buying your coral dips too
Revive
Lugols
Reef Primer
CoralRX
Etc
Watch some videos on how to dip corals. Fragging videos helpful too

 

[TylerJaid]

I did my first tank with a hang on, a 20 ga tank with a hang on filter and protein skimmer, the tank ran just fine, i few months later i got a 120ga with a wet / dry filter loaded with bio balls

I have had a fish only tank in the past and a hang on filter worked just fine for two years until I broke the tank down, I was just a kid but it was fun to have them!

 

[TylerJaid]

Personally I dont think you need to keep dosing bacteria. Your already present colony will keep growing as it feeds on available ammonia.

As others said a cuc needs stuff to clean. 20 snails will be overkill if you have no signs of algae yet, unless you plan on feeding them.

Building up a pod community early wouldnt hurt but dose some phyto every few days so they dont starve. 5-10ml every few days should be plenty to keep them happy

If I were you I would do a water change, get a hardy soft coral or two (if the drive is worth it to you), and ghost feed until the rest of your livestock arrives.

Dosing more ammonia will raise your nitrates faster than doing a little ghost feeding every few days.

I'll order some cuc one of these coming days, I will probably add the pods about the same time, trying to space it out a little bit also as getting the tank up and running has cost me a bit of my spare money, and it seems to be that everything is pretty spendy! I will ghost feed instead of dosing just to keep nitrates down! Thank you

 

[TylerJaid]

If I wanted 20 $1 snails, I would buy 40 $1 snails

And a couple turbos. And $10 of the tiny 20 cent snails. You're going to have snails that crawl out of the tank at 3 AM, or when you're at work. Just happens

20 hermits, will become 10 hermits in a month. Those kill each other, nothing you can do about that. I've bought extra shells so they don't kill each other. Doesn't help. You'll have extra shells in a month. Which is how vendors get them

Couple peppermint shrimp, sure

Reefcleaners.org sells pods and cheato too. Stick the cheato behind the rock, if you don't have a reactor.

TLF reactors are cheap, grow lights are cheap, jebao pumps are cheap, filter foam cheap. You could make an algae reactor for less than $100. Or buy a pro reactor for $500. Stick the cheato in there

Start buying your coral dips too
Revive
Lugols
Reef Primer
CoralRX
Etc
Watch some videos on how to dip corals. Fragging videos helpful too

Thank you for all this, gives me a great reference to come back to, I have been trying to soak up as much info as I can, it's just a lot when your new as everyone here probably remembers !!

 

[Doctorgori]

I have used freshwater mollies as tank canaries before…
they eat algae and don’t carry saltwater diseases (from what I’ve been recently told)