Bio-spira works great

[brandon429]

I recommend to never dose any system to 2 ppm as the test, agreed. Far less can be used in its place to the same ends, combined with some ground up fish food the cycle works better (Dr. Reefs carbon trick, these bottle bac make better use of fish food than raw ammonia, a few non-sales sites on the internet elucidate further)

it’s not that I don’t think common bottle bac can’t move the sample down overnite, it’s that I think api and Red Sea won’t indicate correctly when it does and will trick 99.9% of testers into thinking there’s a stall, which sells more bottle bac as a loop of false doubt.

more and more people own seneye meters nowadays, they will see the correct dynamics in the correct timeframes while non digital cyclers won’t in nearly all cases. Lab trained folks can usually wield the non digital kits well, posts show.

for non digital cycle proofing I like adding a pre calculated amount of ammonia, from a volume based ammonia calculator, to get the tank water to .5 ppm. If the tester at hand can’t even register that change it’s useless, get one that can or simply revert to a time- based cycle which is why I like fish food.


every reef tank in the world will self cycle using no bottle bac if fish food is added to a tank with rocks and waited out for thirty days. Here’s one, for proof:

Build Thread - My SPS Waterbox Peninsula Mini 15

Hi all. Long time member (I think I joined right around when R2R started or took off years ago) but got out of the hobby for about 6 years and now I am back! I don't see many build threads for the PM 15 (mostly the 25) so thought I'd share my journey here. This post will be a bit behind...

www.reef2reef.com

 

[brandon429]

Ike good job on your cycle thread, I’ve linked it hundreds of times to show the instant carry power of bottle bac to api testers in distress.

 

[Angel_V_the_reefer]

I recommend to never dose any system to 2 ppm as the test, agreed. Far less can be used in its place to the same ends, combined with some ground up fish food the cycle works better (Dr. Reefs carbon trick, these bottle bac make better use of fish food than raw ammonia, a few non-sales sites on the internet elucidate further)

it’s not that I don’t think common bottle bac can’t move the sample down overnite, it’s that I think api and Red Sea won’t indicate correctly when it does and will trick 99.9% of testers into thinking there’s a stall, which sells more bottle bac as a loop of false doubt.

more and more people own seneye meters nowadays, they will see the correct dynamics in the correct timeframes while non digital cyclers won’t in nearly all cases. Lab trained folks can usually wield the non digital kits well, posts show.

for non digital cycle proofing I like adding a pre calculated amount of ammonia, from a volume based ammonia calculator, to get the tank water to .5 ppm. If the tester at hand can’t even register that change it’s useless, get one that can or simply revert to a time- based cycle which is why I like fish food.


every reef tank in the world will self cycle using no bottle bac if fish food is added to a tank with rocks and waited out for thirty days. Here’s one, for proof:

Build Thread - My SPS Waterbox Peninsula Mini 15

Hi all. Long time member (I think I joined right around when R2R started or took off years ago) but got out of the hobby for about 6 years and now I am back! I don't see many build threads for the PM 15 (mostly the 25) so thought I'd share my journey here. This post will be a bit behind...

www.reef2reef.com

Wow i like that approach, very simplified and fantastic !

I am planning on downgrading to a smaller tank for my few hammers I have in my 20 gallon to create an all hammer tank.

My current 20 gallon has been on a battle with some turf algae and bryopsis that hadn’t been going away.

since I have been planning on downgrading to a desk tank for my current room desk (college student and I really have been wanting something smaller for a desk ) I thought why not restart to the beginning with fresh new rock and sand and note down every step of the way and begin tracking challenges and success.

this way I am able to help more R2R commoners !

 

[fulltang]

Fantastic thread. How's this tank doing?

 

[brandon429]

The reason this thread is one of the most important cycling threads is because I keep linking to it month after month to make cycling points. It’s relevant all the time.


to this day, May 31, 2022, the ability for bottle bac to handle even the slightest ammonia loading from the start is still doubted.

As of today’s date, the entire hobby still believes that bottle bac can’t support an initial bioload and most importantly: that ammonia-burned marine animals can be symptomless, for days.


disease control is where we focus efforts.


selling water filtration bacteria separated, spun and concentrated then bottled to us isn‘t the greatest feat of mankind. When it doesn’t work, I’ll be surprised.


Ike, all the fish- in cycles are a mere two clowns max, and everyone freaking out they’re being burned even if in 100 gallons dilution. There is not any bottle bac arrangement that can support initial bioload per today’s staunchest anti bottle bac posters. The degree of life you carried long term here since day one is still the most bioload I’ve seen at the quickest time on a dry start. Your thread is also in the record books per my call until we see more links of full tank day one dry starts.

 

[brandon429]

Of the 8800 views, 7280 are from using this thread to show people how much initial bioload is actually carried in functioning bottle bac cycles. it’s an important sample link.


For the first time, Ike uses a real initial bioload that would push towards 2 ppm daily turnover… a massive degree of waste to be handling from collective fish nitrogenous waste along with feed input and bacterial digestion of proteins from litter and other recycling jobs


most cycles are a tenth of this load, no work at all for powerful and concentrated cycling bacteria.