Back into the hobby

[Tronicsfixer]

Hello,
My name is Stephen (steve) and after being out of the hobby in 2007 due to an aquarium leak that took out my whole tank, I decided to come back. I also just moved to Mississippi. I never done a fishless cycle before so this is all new to me. Any advice would be awesome :)

Thank you and hope yall are having a great day

 

[revhtree Verified Admin]

Welcome to your new home for saltwater reef aquarium resources and fun! Welcome to the family! :D

 

[Crabs McJones]

Welcome to R2R!

 

[Fish Fan]

Welcome to Reef2Reef! Looks like a great start!

 

[Matt L]

Welcome Steve!
I use a raw shrimp and a bottled bacteria product like Microbacter 7 to cycle a tank. I put an ammonia alert badge in the tank, and wait for the ammonia to reach safe levels (in about 3-4 weeks), then perform a large water change and add fish.

 

[DarthRaiderBob]

Welcome

 

[zheka757]

Welcome to R2R!

 

[Reef Jedi]

Welcome to R2R! The best community out of the water. Is that a biocube? I haven’t seen on in a while. Personally I tried the fish less cycle, gave up on week 3 and didn’t have the patience. Dumped a bunch of turbo start 9000 and added a pair of clowns. Tank cycled so much faster that way.

 

[vetteguy53081]

 

[jsmkmavity]

 

[ReefQuestCorals]

Welcome back to your addiction!

Here is how I perform a fishless cycle:

- Set up new tank using RODI (any chlorine/chloramine will kill the bacteria)
- Let fresh saltwater mix at least 24 hours so the PH has risen and wont affect the nitrifying bacteria you will be dosing. Low or high fluctuations in PH can affect the bacteria.
- DrTim's Ammonium Chloride Solution dosed to achieve 2ppm ammonia .
- I used Brightwell MicroBacter Start XLM but other great products such as Fritz TurboStart, DrTim's One & Only, ect.. Dose according to directions.
- After ammonia has started to drop and is under 1ppm or undetectable I dose ammonium chloride again to achieve 2ppm and should see the ammonia lower under 1ppm/undetectable within 24 hours which tells me the nitrifying bacteria are able to efficiently consume the ammonia.
- Once you have achieved 0 ammonia then you are ready for fish and can make a water change if needed.

Some have noticed high levels of Nitrate after this type of cycle, I have not seen this issue and Nitrate was under 20ppm within 1 week after cycle without any water change. This method took my tank 2 weeks to complete the ammonia cycle

 

[FrugalReeferJon]

 

[Gumbies R Us]

Welcome to Reef2Reef!

 

[kevgib67]

Welcome, glad you are here!

 

[Brisk]

Welcome!

 

[Gman83]

Welcome!

 

[1112-425XL]

 

[Tronicsfixer]

Welcome to R2R! The best community out of the water. Is that a biocube? I haven’t seen on in a while. Personally I tried the fish less cycle, gave up on week 3 and didn’t have the patience. Dumped a bunch of turbo start 9000 and added a pair of clowns. Tank cycled so much faster that way.

Yes sir it's the biocube 32. Wanted to go slow and will upgrade in a few years

 

[Tronicsfixer]

Welcome back to your addiction!

Here is how I perform a fishless cycle:

- Set up new tank using RODI (any chlorine/chloramine will kill the bacteria)
- Let fresh saltwater mix at least 24 hours so the PH has risen and wont affect the nitrifying bacteria you will be dosing. Low or high fluctuations in PH can affect the bacteria.
- DrTim's Ammonium Chloride Solution dosed to achieve 2ppm ammonia .
- I used Brightwell MicroBacter Start XLM but other great products such as Fritz TurboStart, DrTim's One & Only, ect.. Dose according to directions.
- After ammonia has started to drop and is under 1ppm or undetectable I dose ammonium chloride again to achieve 2ppm and should see the ammonia lower under 1ppm/undetectable within 24 hours which tells me the nitrifying bacteria are able to efficiently consume the ammonia.
- Once you have achieved 0 ammonia then you are ready for fish and can make a water change if needed.

Some have noticed high levels of Nitrate after this type of cycle, I have not seen this issue and Nitrate was under 20ppm within 1 week after cycle without any water change. This method took my tank 2 weeks to complete the ammonia cycle

I'm using dr tims ammonia, dr tims one and only, RODI water, caribsea live sand and marco rock reef saver. I'm on day 9 where it says to add fish. Going to do a test again in a little while to see where I'm at. Yesterday my ammonia was 1.5 on my red sea test kit and 1 on the nitrite.

 

[edsbeaker]

Hello and welcome!