4 days into my cycle.

[reefmaster70]

I am just 4 days into the cycle. I am doing a fishless cycle. I used "arag-alive" reef sand (the wet kind with bacteria in it) and then I used a majority of dry Pukani rock, but I did also seed my tank with 3 small pieces of actual live rock from an 8 year old reef tank. I also seeded my sand bed with one cup of live sand from the same 8 year old reef tank. Right now my temp is 78F, my pH is 8.0 and I have a salinity of 1.024. My water parameters are: Ammonia 2.0ppm, Nitrite 0.5 ppm and Nitrate 5.0 ppm. My question is, how is this looking as far as the cycle? I also used a pinch of fish food for ammonia and I also added one frozen shrimp from a bag of raw shrimp we had in our freezer. I am just wondering if I'll see much of an Ammonia spike or anything? Right now everything is remaining fairly low. Oh, I should say I also dosed with a the dosing chart on a bottle of Fluval Cycle, concentrated biological bacteria. Any thoughts?

 

[fishywishy]

Looks fine. Don’t touch the tank until it’s cycled now.

 

[Tahoe61]

I would definitely take that shrimp out. Stick to fish food or Dr.Tims ammonium chloride, and the bottle bacteria.

 

[Jake_v]

Stick with Dr. Tim's ammonium chloride, you cant control the ammonia production with a shrimp decaying in the tank..

I dose ammonium chloride until I saw an ammonia spike, then wait a few days and check again, you should see a reduction in ammonia and start detecting nitrate. Then dose the original amount again and re-test.. You want to see ammonia drop to zero within 24 hours and nitrate increase.

If you want to speed things up, prodibio biodigest worked well for me.. I still dose a vial of it every 2 weeks (not sure if that's necessary at this point)

 

[reefmaster70]

so, for those saying Dr. Tims...I have heard of it, but was never one to use the "bottled" treatments out there. I am sort of "old school" if you will. I started in reef keeping back almost 25 years ago before we started having kids, and my reef tank hobby had to go on pause for a few decades. We didn't have Dr Tim's back then, or really anything to help with a cycle, We had two methods basically. The long one that was add actual "Live rock", "Live Sand" and some fish food, or a dead/frozen shrimp or two. OR, add your live rock, live sand, and a damsel fish and let it go until the cycle was complete. I must admit I did it both ways back then on different tanks. The Damsel fish method was great, except catching the dang thing to take back to the fish store was darn near impossible. Anyway, both methods worked fine for me back then, so I figured I'd do my current day tank the same way.

I will admit I have read good things about Dr. Tims stuff, but it seems like a lot more "putzing" around with testing and adding stuff until the cycle is done. Plus I don't have any Dr. Tims stuff on hand, so I'd have to order some from Amazon to start using it. Maybe I will and give it a try.

 

[Tahoe61]

I am really old school, got you beat by a couple years. Yup ammonium chloride is where it's at, with bacteria in a bottle like Microbactor7 or Fluval Cycle. Get this, now we even add supplemental phosphates, and worry about zeroing out phosphates. Some add ammonium chloride to feed their corals. No more cycling with fish or dead shrimp.
You really don't have to test that much. The tank cycles faster, you can't mess up the nitrogen cycle too badly.

:cool:

 

[brandon429]

you can simply this process tremendously to factor it as a time scenario vs a complex chem/testing one

let this mix stew for ten days, do a large water change, done.

reason why
if any reader in all of reefing right now can show me a calibrated seneye thread where by day 10 any cycling arrangement wasn't ready, in a home reef aquarium, I'll paypal you twenty dollars to the first finder.


how long will I keep my 20

:)
B

 

[brandon429]

=your give arrangement cannot fail to support a common bioload by day ten for multiple factors, all independently reviewed already in large work threads (bottle bac only cycles, live rock skip cycles, you're a blend of those well-studied approaches)

in other words, you have not described the arrangement that would violate the ammonia drop date from every cycling chart ever printed in a book. you're solving by the time factor of the cycling chart, not the param factor. to solve by the param factor means we all believe your relayed test levels are accurate/not the case.

 

[reefmaster70]

just updating my numbers for today

Temp: 78F
pH: 8.2
Salinity: 1.024
Ammonia ~2.0ppm
Nitrite: .5ppm
Nitrate: 20ppm

 

[BeanAnimal]

I would definitely take that shrimp out. Stick to fish food or Dr.Tims ammonium chloride, and the bottle bacteria.

Can you explain your reasoning? I honestly don’t see an issue with what he has done. I have no issue with removing the shrimp now or allowing it to be fully consumed, or bottled bacteria… but he has ammonia now and seeded rock and sand, so things will progress one way or the other.

@flyweed - as others have stated, you are basically looking for the ammonia to start dropping. It does not have to be dead zero, but certainly headed in that direction indicates things are ready or very close.

I would personally suggest that you outright ignore any advice regarding not testing or trusting “work threads” or arbitrary date predictions to determine when your tank is ready. There are too many variables to make such assertive predictions.

Bottled bacteria may or may not speed the process by a day or two, but you have already seeded the tank with live rock and two sources of live sand. Just relax and nature will do its thing. The shrimp can stay or go, you have ammonia and nitrate… so things are moving. The shrimp (if it stays) may prevent a drop right away, but will continue providing ammonia and driving more bacterial colonization.

 

[Tahoe61]

Can you explain your reasoning? I honestly don’t see an issue with what he has done. I have no issue with removing the shrimp now or allowing it to be fully consumed, or bottled bacteria… but he has ammonia now and seeded rock and sand, so things will progress one way or the other.

@flyweed - as others have stated, you are basically looking for the ammonia to start dropping. It does not have to be dead zero, but certainly headed in that direction indicates things are ready or very close.

I would personally suggest that you outright ignore any advice regarding not testing or trusting “work threads” or arbitrary date predictions to determine when your tank is ready. There are too many variables to make such assertive predictions.

Bottled bacteria may or may not speed the process by a day or two, but you have already seeded the tank with live rock and two sources of live sand. Just relax and nature will do its thing. The shrimp can stay or go, you have ammonia and nitrate… so things are moving. The shrimp (if it stays) may prevent a drop right away, but will continue providing ammonia and driving more bacterial colonization.

Simply you don't need the rotting shrimp to cycle a tank. Why would you let a rotting piece of meat cycle your tank?

 

[JayM]

Simply you don't need the rotting shrimp to cycle a tank. Why would you let a rotting piece of meat cycle your tank?

For the same reason you would “stick to fish food”.

 

[Tahoe61]

For the same reason you would “stick to fish food”.

Why so argumentative? The differences between dry processed fish food and rotting meat should be obvious.
I have used shrimp and it's gross and smells bad and adds a lot more decomposition to your tank then a pinch of dry pellets.

 

[BeanAnimal]

I have used shrimp and it's gross and smells bad and adds a lot more decomposition to your tank then a pinch of dry pellets.

The gross part is your personal opinion, and certainly not something I would try to change your mind about.

It adding “more” decomposition is not a problem in this context, and will likely speed things along.

There are numerous ways to add an ammonia source, I suppose each with pros and cons based on various factors, but there is nothing wrong with what the OP did or a need to reverse course.

 

[Tahoe61]

The gross part is your personal opinion, and certainly not something I would try to change your mind about.

It adding “more” decomposition is not a problem in this context, and will likely speed things along.

There are numerous ways to add an ammonia source, I suppose each with pros and cons based on various factors, but there is nothing wrong with what the OP did or a need to reverse course.

And in a public forum such as this we offer personal opinions, hopefully.
It's my opinion there is a better way to cycle a tank.
Rattling cages seem to be a theme of yours. Not interested, have a great day.

:cool:

 

[JayM]

Why so argumentative? The differences between dry processed fish food and rotting meat should be obvious.
I have used shrimp and it's gross and smells bad and adds a lot more decomposition to your tank then a pinch of dry pellets.

Why would you think I’m being argumentative for answering your question?

 

[Nano_Tuners]

Looks fine. Don’t touch the tank until it’s cycled now.

 

[BeanAnimal]

And in a public forum such as this we offer personal opinions, hopefully.
It's my opinion there is a better way to cycle a tank.
Rattling cages seem to be a theme of yours. Not interested, have a great day.

:cool:

You told the OP to remove the shrimp, and I asked why, as well as offering my opinion. The conversation was over.

You can cycle your tank however you wish and post whatever advice you wish. If you find a dead shrimp disgusting, I understand and (again) wouldn’t even begin to try to change your mind.

There is no need to be combative, or take a personal jab at me or anybody else, especially given that you just pointed that opinions should be welcome.

 

[reefmaster70]

Simply you don't need the rotting shrimp to cycle a tank. Why would you let a rotting piece of meat cycle your tank?

because it creates an Ammonia source, just like it would be adding fish food, or a live fish producing waste. Same thing.

 

[reefmaster70]

Today is DAY 6 of my 20 gallon tank cycle. Here are my numbers. Also a photo for you guys to double check my readings.
pH: 8.03. (test not shown)
Ammonia: .5 ppm
Nitrite: 2.0 ppm
Nitrate: 10 ppm
Temp: 78F

What you guys think? Cycle going well??