cycle

Hey everyone, To start, I am a total beginner. I saw someone building a pico reef jar on Instagram and thought it looked incredible — minimal, bizarre, a little risky, and fascinating. I've never had any saltwater tanks before (only a few easy freshwater ones), but after some more inspiration...

Hello everyone, I’m fortunate to live in NYC, where I have access to several nearby ocean beaches. Locally, I have Coney Island/Brighton Beach, and I also frequently visit family in Atlantic Beach on Long Island. Would it be a terrible idea to use NSW (natural seawater) collected from either...

Hi im really in need of some advice help i have setup an aqua one reefsys 326 saltwater tank it has been running for 3 plus months now and the whole time i have had constant nitrite issues i have no ammonia and i do have healthy amount of nitrates ive tried it all.. more bio media, more bacteria...

Ok so I just got this Top Fin Premium 5 gallon glass aquarium. Didn’t add anything (equipment) to it kept everything as is. I started cycling today added Dr.Tims one and only and a pinch of fish food. Is there anything else I need to do? Tank is still cloudy from adding water in it. But just...

Howdy all, My last reef tank was in 2008 and when I set it up with my dad in 2005 our only option was fish in method or ghost feeding. My dad wanted to add fish and The store assured us the few mollies we added would be fine and they all survived for quite some time afterwards before being...

Hey everyone, I am upgrading from a 30 gallon to a 60 gallon. The 30 gallon will be at my old apartment whereas the new tank will be in my new home so this will have to be done in a day. My plan is to transfer the existing 30 lbs of rock, 30 gallons of water, filter media, and the sand along...

Hi all, i just bought aquaforest life source because it was on sale, but my tank is still cycling. Can/should i start dosing this even though my tank is not cycled yet?

Hi all, Im doing fishless cycle with dry rock and live sand and i am 20 days in. Last week i added some copepods because i thought it wouldnt do any harm but i think many of them died off. Current parameters: • Ammonia: 2+ ppm (was lower ~4 days ago, then increased) • Nitrite...

Im currently cycling a tank with dry rock and live sand, and i did the shrimp method to up the ammonia until it is 2 ish ppm, while dosing microbe lift special blend. I want to buy a (small) chunk of live rock to increase biodiversity early etc. Can a piece of liverock just be added into the...

Hello reefers, I have set up my AIO tank and i currently have dry rocks, live sand from aquaforest and i dosed some arka microbelift special blend. Is this enough to start the cycle? Or do i need to add an ammonia source like very little fishfood or bottled?

Hello everyone, I've got a question about cycling a reef tank. I know what the nitrogen cycle is, and I know how to do it in freshwater, but I know there are many differences between this, and marine tank cycling. I'm planning to use cured live rock, and some bottled bacteria, and I will be...

Hey everyone, I just more or less finished setting up my tank (build thread to follow), and dosed some ammonia to start my cycle. I am trying to use the Salifert Ammonia test to track the ammonia concentration to see how my cycle is doing, but i cannot for the life of me figure out what i am...

Hello! A week ago, I set up a 15 gallon all in one cube. I used Caribsea 'live' sand and Caribsea dry rock in the display. I already added two small clownfish (which are the only livestock I will have for a bit) and I'm attempting a fish in cycle. I'm testing my water daily, am ready to do water...

I’ve just had a rough start and would really value your advice. Tank & gear Marine Vue 87 L , mesh lid Oase Biomaster Thermo 250 (outlet pointing up for surface agitation) Jebao SW-2 wavemaker PopBloom H54 LED (custom schedule, full dark 21:00–07:00) ~10 kg caribsea life rock, CaribSea sand...

Yesterday I had Ammonia: 0.4ppm Nitrite: 1+ppm Nitrate: 20ppm Today I have Ammonia: 0ppm Nitrite: 1+ ppm Nitrate: 25ppm Is my cycle complete/what are my next steps?

Hey All, I am a fresh water guy dipping my toes (or going head first) into salt. I have just started the cycle 3 days ago. I dosed the tank up to 1 ppm Am with Dr. Tims AmCl solution. I was a bit hesitant to go to high in Am as I am worried about getting too much Nitrate at the end of the...

Moving into my new condo so going to set up my brand new unused tank shown in my tank thread, which has now been sitting empty at my old LFS for 2 years (when I thought I was jumping back into the hobby head first) due to life's twists and turns. I'm trying to get my game plan in order for how...

Hi all! I have an established aquarium with 4 small fish (a lionfish, a trigger, a grouper and a banana eel). The eel was a late addition, and I was looking to create more spots for him to hide. I had bought gulf live rock back in March and used that for my initial cycle. My question is if I...

Sorry for the long post. I'm looking for some advice, I am completely stumped. I've cycled dozens of tanks over the years using Fritz Turbo Start and fishless. About 6 weeks ago I started a new 75g frag system doing it the exact same method I have in the past. Completely sterile system, rock...

Will I be able to avoid a cycling period to transfer fish to a temporary tank?? I’m breaking down my 75gal in order to do a restart on it that has only 3 fish, snails, crabs and starfish in it. I have a 29gal tank from years ago. Will I be able to just transfer all my current live rock from the...

Hi all, Thanks in advance. 30 gallon tank, cycle started 3 days ago with LFS supplied Nitrifying Bacteria (no brand, they have a culture themselves in store) and Fishless Fuel Ammonia Solution from Fritz. I don't have live rock or sand, its just basic stuff all around. Once I had the water...

Hey everyone! So I set up my new saltwater aquarium a week ago today. I have a 14 gallon tank that I set up with live sand, one aquacultured live rock and some dry live rock. After it was set up, I tested everything the next day and was showing 0 ammonia, 0nitrites, and about 5ppm of nitrates...

How’s it going. This may have already been asked, but will ammonia dissipate overtime? I think I overdosed it with the Tim’s ammonia stuff and now my ammonia is reading at the max levels of the test kit. I bought another bottle of bacteria and I was gonna add it today to try to I guess battle...

Hi All! Quick question regarding cycling with ocean live rock. I recently purchased 35 lbs of live ocean rock from Gulf Live Rock and put it in my new SR80. I’m sure there was some die off on the rock, however a lot of the larger hitchhikers survived (clams/mussels/tunicates). I did also add...