Cycling 90.3 Waterbox

LeftFootedJedi · Jan 24, 2021

Josh@BVA said:
I personally like going a bit overboard for cycling. I do the feeding an empty tank method or leave a raw shrimp in for ammonia. whatever preferred method is then I let the tank keep growing bacteria until i start seeing some algae grow. then add cleaners to take of algae then add fish.

Going with Mother Nature vs bottled bacteria for this build.. my question is how much nutrients to add daily?

I’ve got plenty of flakes & shrimp pellets but not sure how much a tank this size needs daily to get the cycle started in a ‘practical’ amount of time.

Josh@BVA · Jan 25, 2021

I feed as if I had a tank filled with the fish i intend to keep. so if you are just doing 2 clowns then add less then if you plan on adding 4 big lion fish for example. essentially you are growing the bacteria to be ready for the type of bioload you expect in the tank. like I said I go a bit overboard and do it over the course of like 3 months adding flake/pellet food everyday until i get a thick mat of algae all over the tank. then i stop the feeding and add the cleaners. once the cleaners have eaten a majority of the algae that has grown i will go in and clean the rest myself. after all that and a good 2-4 months in (long time i know and probably not 100% necessary) i do a 30% water change and then add my fish.

LeftFootedJedi · Jan 25, 2021

Makes sense.. this is my upgrade tank so I am admittedly anxious to move my livestock & tear down my 20G. I just want to make sure it’s set-up properly as I’m only bringing livestock & no substrate/ rock.. currently battling cyano’s/dinos in my 20g.

Another thought, flakes just end up in my sump skimmer chamber.. but the bacteria in the sand is where it’s really needed. Suggestions?

Josh@BVA · Jan 25, 2021

i wouldnt run your skimmer until you are at the tail end of this process. you want to keep the nutrients in the tank to feed bacteria. skimmer will just remove those nutrients. also i find the same issue with flakes and i prefer to use pellets and frozen food for my system. i'll throw a few cubes min on day one and add pellets daily or as i see fit.