Cycling an Aquarium

Brew12 · Mar 1, 2018

Radco2003 said:
Hi everyone i'm after some knowledge please my tank Spec Below:
Red Sea Reefer 525XL
4 X Coral Moon Box Led
Bubble Magus G7 Skimmer
Jebao DCQ-5000 Return Pump
50kg Live Rock (30kg from my old tank which was still running that has now been transfered)
New Dry Sand
Jebao CP-40 Wave Maker
Jebao SW-4 Wave Makers x2
TMC Vecton 600 UV
TMR75 Phosban Reactor
Carbon Reactor
5KG Siporax in sump
Seneye Reef

Readings from today tank is 18 Days old i used ATM Colony to give it a boost
Tempreture = 25.5
PH = 8.28
Ammonia = 0.005
Nitrite = 0.50
Nitrate = 10.0
Phosphate = 0.10
Salinity = 1.025
Alkalinity = 8.2DKH
Calcium = 480
Silicate = 0.40

I have brown diatoms on sand bed and some of the rocks when will i know when the cycle is complete?
I do have another large bottle of ATM Colony as well

Odds are pretty good that it is ready for fish. I find the best way to check is to add either pure ammonia or ammonia chloride to dose ammonia up to 2ppm. If it can drop to 0ppm (or near 0ppm) in 24 hours you are ready to start adding fish.

Radco2003 · Mar 1, 2018

Brew12 said:
Odds are pretty good that it is ready for fish. I find the best way to check is to add either pure ammonia or ammonia chloride to dose ammonia up to 2ppm. If it can drop to 0ppm (or near 0ppm) in 24 hours you are ready to start adding fish.

Great stuff thank you would you hold back on a water change

Brew12 · Mar 1, 2018

Radco2003 said:
Great stuff thank you would you hold back on a water change

I wouldn't do a water change. Nitrates are still very low so I don't see any reason to put in the time and effort of performing one.

User1 · Mar 11, 2018

This is a dumb question but since it has been over 18 years since I last cycled a new tank using dry rock....once parameters align up do we re-add ammonia to verify the cycle? For example my tank is on day 30 of the cycle using nothing but ammonia added by me - fishless. This morning my tests show:

Ammonia 0 (have been 2/25)
Nitrite 0.05 - 0.1
Nitrate 10 - 20

I don't believe nitrites are 0 but they could be thus me using the next range. I have a 40 breeder I'll be moving once lighting is finished and the cycle is verified later in the month. I wasn't sure if I needed to dose another 2 mg/L of ammonia to see if it goes to 0 in 24 hours. I'm not feeding, nor lights on greater than 10 - 15 minutes (testing), and nothing alive is in there fish or coral wise. I wasn't going to do anything until later in the week firing up skimmer and lights full time to get the diatoms and algae blooms started then add a cleanup crew.

Brew12 · Mar 11, 2018

saf1 said:
This is a dumb question but since it has been over 18 years since I last cycled a new tank using dry rock....once parameters align up do we re-add ammonia to verify the cycle? For example my tank is on day 30 of the cycle using nothing but ammonia added by me - fishless. This morning my tests show:

Ammonia 0 (have been 2/25)
Nitrite 0.05 - 0.1
Nitrate 10 - 20

I don't believe nitrites are 0 but they could be thus me using the next range. I have a 40 breeder I'll be moving once lighting is finished and the cycle is verified later in the month. I wasn't sure if I needed to dose another 2 mg/L of ammonia to see if it goes to 0 in 24 hours. I'm not feeding, nor lights on greater than 10 - 15 minutes (testing), and nothing alive is in there fish or coral wise. I wasn't going to do anything until later in the week firing up skimmer and lights full time to get the diatoms and algae blooms started then add a cleanup crew.

I recommend doing a confirmation test by adding another 2ppm and letting it process but it isn't necessary in your case. I only consider it a must if people are trying to speed cycle their systems and want to add fish in a week by using a bottled bacteria product.

User1 · Mar 11, 2018

Brew12 said:
I recommend doing a confirmation test by adding another 2ppm and letting it process but it isn't necessary in your case. I only consider it a must if people are trying to speed cycle their systems and want to add fish in a week by using a bottled bacteria product.

@Brew12 Thanks, that is what I ended up doing. I did another dose based on my original, waited about an hour or so, then tested the water. Just about 2ppm which is what I wanted. I'll test tomorrow around the same time and see if it is back to 0. That is the hope anyway and I'm thinking it will reach it easy. If that is good and Nitrites are in check then I'll finish up the canopy and lights and plan a move. Only concern I have, which is probably minor, is that I'll be moving some fish to a larger environment which the rock is bare. I'll move over the live rock and corals but I'm thinking they may have a big sense of what the heck happened, over. Then again, maybe not...

In any case, thanks

Brew12 · Mar 12, 2018

saf1 said:
@Brew12 Thanks, that is what I ended up doing. I did another dose based on my original, waited about an hour or so, then tested the water. Just about 2ppm which is what I wanted. I'll test tomorrow around the same time and see if it is back to 0. That is the hope anyway and I'm thinking it will reach it easy. If that is good and Nitrites are in check then I'll finish up the canopy and lights and plan a move. Only concern I have, which is probably minor, is that I'll be moving some fish to a larger environment which the rock is bare. I'll move over the live rock and corals but I'm thinking they may have a big sense of what the heck happened, over. Then again, maybe not...

In any case, thanks

Glad to help.

And if you move over the live rock you should be just fine as far as the fish go. Coral can be a little touchy with any tank move. Back in November I pulled the live rock out of my 120g system and tore it down. I set up my 187g system, filled it with new sand, water and put a little more than 1/2 the old live rock in it along with all the fish. The entire process was done in 2 days. Never saw an ammonia spike.

BellaCoop · Mar 12, 2018

Thank you @Brew12 I just started up my tank two days ago and reading this was a big help with loads of information I can plan for coming in the future. If you have any good Article to read for new tank owners to read up on please link. All information is useful!

Brew12 · Mar 12, 2018

BellaCoop said:
Thank you @Brew12 I just started up my tank two days ago and reading this was a big help with loads of information I can plan for coming in the future. If you have any good Article to read for new tank owners to read up on please link. All information is useful!

Glad you found it useful!

I put this together, too. You may be interested in it.
https://www.reef2reef.com/ams/beginners-guide-to-acclimation-and-quarantine.299/

dowsetts101 · Mar 13, 2018

Brew12 said:
Glad you found it useful!

I put this together, too. You may be interested in it.
https://www.reef2reef.com/ams/beginners-guide-to-acclimation-and-quarantine.299/

Hey @Brew12 not sure if I’m tapping wrong but the link you posted for acclimation goes to a thread called “So whats the secret to keeping yumas and rics?”

I’ve got sausage fingers but generally can tap a link ok!!!

Brew12 · Mar 13, 2018

dowsetts101 said:
Hey @Brew12 not sure if I’m tapping wrong but the link you posted for acclimation goes to a thread called “So whats the secret to keeping yumas and rics?”

I’ve got sausage fingers but generally can tap a link ok!!!

That is kinda crazy! It works fine for me.

Jason mack · Mar 13, 2018

Worked for me as well !! Just added it too my reading list , thanks @Brew12 !!

BellaCoop · Mar 13, 2018

Popped righjt up. I took notes on all of this stuff haha

Somuchflo99 · Mar 13, 2018

New 28 gal nanotube cycling very well 10 days into it with live sand and rock from yours truly @YourReef

BellaCoop · Mar 13, 2018

Nice @Somuchflo99 its looking nice!

User1 · Mar 13, 2018

Looks like I can process the ammonia. On 3/11 I was reading 0 ammonia has I noted above. Added 20 ml, tested a couple hours later, ammonia is back at 2. So far so good. Next day I tested a little less than 24 hours after adding the ammonia and it read 0.2. So it was processing like we would expect. I forgot to test later that day but tested a few minutes ago and ammonia is 0. However, nitrites shot up to 1 - they reported .05 on the 11th. So I'm guessing that is what is expected with spikes. Ammonia -> convert to Nitrate (spike) -> then Nitrate(?)? At least that is what I thought should happen.

In any case looks like it processed the ammonia which is what I was looking for.

Brew12 · Mar 13, 2018

saf1 said:
Looks like I can process the ammonia. On 3/11 I was reading 0 ammonia has I noted above. Added 20 ml, tested a couple hours later, ammonia is back at 2. So far so good. Next day I tested a little less than 24 hours after adding the ammonia and it read 0.2. So it was processing like we would expect. I forgot to test later that day but tested a few minutes ago and ammonia is 0. However, nitrites shot up to 1 - they reported .05 on the 11th. So I'm guessing that is what is expected with spikes. Ammonia -> convert to Nitrate (spike) -> then Nitrate(?)? At least that is what I thought should happen.

In any case looks like it processed the ammonia which is what I was looking for.

Yup, that is exactly what you are looking for assuming it is a typo and the first nitrate is actually nitrite. Looks you are ready to go!

User1 · Mar 13, 2018

Brew12 said:
Yup, that is exactly what you are looking for assuming it is a typo and the first nitrate is actually nitrite. Looks you are ready to go!

It is - typo

Still plenty to do with getting canopy finished for lighting and bringing skimmer online. Minor stuff but getting there. Thanks for confirmation. Like I noted it has been a while since going traditional cycle. Although this was a bit quicker it seemed since dosing with ammonia rather than the shrimp. Still will be interesting to see how the next phase of diatom and algae form over the bare rock.

Thanks again

Have a great evening.