Cycling an Aquarium

[Brew12]

Hi Guys
totally new to the hobby, first time ever having an aquarium at my place. Using the following setup in a reefer 450 and 11 days into my cycle, using the RedSea reef mature kit. Set this up myself without any help so feel free to point out anything you guys can think of, better to fix it as early as possible.

1. Neptune Apex (Yes I am using the EB832 outside the US without a step-down transformer on international voltage and no I can't answer any questions regarding it as a thread related to it was deleted by the admin here and same on Neptune Support Forums).
2. Neptune Wav x2
3. Cor-20
4. Nyos Quantum 160 skimmer
5. 94 lbs of Dry rock
6. CaribSea Hawaiian Black live sand (100lbs)
7. Neptune AFS (not yet installed, too lazy)
8. Water RODI mixed with Red Sea Coral Pro Salt
9. 2x KeloRay AE-200 (We get this here the US equivalent is the cobalt aquatics C-Ray-200)
10. Two Nyos Torq are shipping out sometime this week (However don't plan on using them till the cycle is complete)
11. Deltec UV sterilizer 20W (Again not using it, waiting for the cycle to complete).
12. Schego Titanium 600W heater.
13. API Saltwater Test kit.

The tank is being cycled according to the Red Sea Reef Mature kit down to the letter, except for the water testing part which I'd love to do everyday but unfortunately can't due to work keeping me away from home more often than not. I've also not been dosing the KH Coraline Gro as the alkalinity is constant at 11-12 dkh, called Red Sea regarding this and they said it was fine as long as the alkalinity stayed above 8.4 dkh(Using Nyos Alkalinity test kit).
I'm now at the stage where the manual recommends adding the clean up crew however when I tested the water today there was a huge Nitrite Spike. So decided against introducing the cleanup crew for now. Don't wanna poison the poor guys. I am attaching a couple of pics from the log that I try to maintain within the Apex for the gurus and @Brew12 to look over. Love to have an opinion from you guys as my total knowledge and experience is reading up on forums here and my good friend google.

1. My LFS says that the cycle has stalled (Day 10 into the Cycle)and I need some other products, they were trying to sell me the Nyos Bacterial Kit today?
2. Should I add the cleanup crew, Cant see any algae, except for a few brown patches here and there.

That is a nice looking setup you have there! I love the looks of those light fixtures with the Redsea tank, they were made to go together!

Your cycle hasn't stalled, your tank just hasn't read the same books on cycling that your LFS has. If nitrite is still increasing, that means ammonia is still being processed. This isn't unusual at all. Many times the bacteria that convert nitrite to nitrate populate slower than the ones that convert ammonia to nitrite.
I would not add a CuC yet. The nitrite shouldn't hurt your CuC as long as you aren't going with anything too sensitive but if you don't have a food source there is no reason to add them imo.
Unless you are in a hurry for some reason, I would just wait it out. Otherwise, adding more of a different nitrifying bacteria product could speed up the process.

 

[grimreaper]

Thanks @Brew12
Seems like my tank is set to out wit me. Woke up today to find the glass spotted by brown algae/diatoms. Thinking of siphoning them off with a gravel vacuum. But read somewhere to just let them be.

 

[Brew12]

Thanks @Brew12
Seems like my tank is set to out wit me. Woke up today to find the glass spotted by brown algae/diatoms. Thinking of siphoning them off with a gravel vacuum. But read somewhere to just let them be.

I think that depends on your personality. I kept my front glass clean during the cycle. It won't hurt anything to clean it, but it won't hurt to leave it, either.
It does mean you should be fine adding a CuC in the next couple of days.

 

[grimreaper]

Thanks @Brew12, my personality suited to wipe the glass clean, though my laziness did keep me contemplating for a couple of hours.

I am just waiting for the Nitrites that have somehow locked themselves at 1.0 to budge before I add the CuC. But dang what a change since yesterday, by now the whole dry rock is full of diatoms and brown algae. Amazing to see especially yesterday there were just a couple of brown spots here and there. This really is turning out to be an interesting hobby.

 

[Dr. Dendrostein]

Thank you! I wanted this to be the article with the information I would have wanted when I set up my tank.

Now if only I could figure out how to shrink the photos to a more reasonable size.


Glad you like it. I could have written pages more. Actually, I did write more. A lot more. Especially regarding the use of bottled bacteria and skip cycling. It just got to be too much with all of the different rabbit holes you can go down. I wanted to keep this a bit more simple in a way that wouldn't overwhelm a new hobbyist.

Thanks for sharing, I'm cycling a new tank. Info big help

 

[JakeW]

Hi. I'm New to the saltwater. I started to cycle a 40 gallon tank on May 3rd. On May 14 had ammmonia spike to .4 with marine care test kit. 20 lb live rock. 2 inch crushed coral. Now all parameters are good. Phosphate .25, temp 79.8, ammonia 0, ph 8, nitrite 0, nitrate 2, MegL 2.5, salinity 1.025. Is this all to good to be true. Or am I just paranoid? Have 2 clowns

Do partial h2o change

 

[JakeW]

Great article Steven...really well done.

Agreed great post

 

[JakeW]

Thanks for sharing, I'm cycling a new tank. Info big help

Always great info

 

[grimreaper]

Ok so as far as updates go using the Red Sea reef mature kit with dry rock was a really slow process. The Nitrites had locked themselves at 1.0-1.5 and wouldn't budge. So asked the LFS guys if I could borrow a filter sock from them. They agreed and man two days after that the nitrites hit rock bottom and and the CuC went in followed by a lone clown (The other ones at the LFS weren't looking too good). The CuC included 10 peppermint shrimps two fire shrimps and about 10 turbo snails. The cleaned the rock like a charm and it's beginning to show white again.
Today I kicked in the UV and the Carbon reactor to clear up the water. The biggest problem I am facing after spending three days sorting out the code and setting up all the equipment and AFS is that the clown is on the other side of the aquarium. Its eating and feeding well. Infact its always hungry and comes to the top looking for food which it sometimes confuses with air bubbles. The AFS is on the other side and its not coming to that side. The setup for the AFS is as follows.
Feed cycle Initiates at 150
1. the return pump switches off
2. The return pump switching off causes the Skimmer to go offline
3. The dual Wav pumps switch off.
4. Two minutes after the return pump switches off the AFS kicks in(did this to give time to stagnate the water.)
5. 10 minutes after the AFS feeds the tank the Return pump kicks in
6. WAV pumps come back online
7. 5 minutes after the return pumps kicks back in the skimmer starts.

Ideally I'd like not to move the AFS as it does not look good on the other side. But the dang clown is on the other side of the aquarium. Any Suggestions. A you can see in the Pic below the AFS is on the left and the fish on the right.

 

[Brew12]

Ok so as far as updates go using the Red Sea reef mature kit with dry rock was a really slow process. The Nitrites had locked themselves at 1.0-1.5 and wouldn't budge. So asked the LFS guys if I could borrow a filter sock from them. They agreed and man two days after that the nitrites hit rock bottom and and the CuC went in followed by a lone clown (The other ones at the LFS weren't looking too good). The CuC included 10 peppermint shrimps two fire shrimps and about 10 turbo snails. The cleaned the rock like a charm and it's beginning to show white again.
Today I kicked in the UV and the Carbon reactor to clear up the water. The biggest problem I am facing after spending three days sorting out the code and setting up all the equipment and AFS is that the clown is on the other side of the aquarium. Its eating and feeding well. Infact its always hungry and comes to the top looking for food which it sometimes confuses with air bubbles. The AFS is on the other side and its not coming to that side. The setup for the AFS is as follows.
Feed cycle Initiates at 150
1. the return pump switches off
2. The return pump switching off causes the Skimmer to go offline
3. The dual Wav pumps switch off.
4. Two minutes after the return pump switches off the AFS kicks in(did this to give time to stagnate the water.)
5. 10 minutes after the AFS feeds the tank the Return pump kicks in
6. WAV pumps come back online
7. 5 minutes after the return pumps kicks back in the skimmer starts.

Ideally I'd like not to move the AFS as it does not look good on the other side. But the dang clown is on the other side of the aquarium. Any Suggestions. A you can see in the Pic below the AFS is on the left and the fish on the right.

I would give the fish time to find the AFS. It should happen soon enough.

I do worry about the 10 peppermint shrimp. Unless you have a major aiptasia breakout they can cause problems. Without a carnivore appropriate food source they will likely eat your snails.

 

[grimreaper]

I do worry about the 10 peppermint shrimp. Unless you have a major aiptasia breakout they can cause problems. Without a carnivore appropriate food source they will likely eat your snails.

Well I am now down to 2-3 of these guys as they found the AFS and in their excitement to get to the food managed to find the left Wav pump. Was out for work when that happened, hence now the wav pumps go off as well during feed time. I am adding some sinking shrimp pellets from time to time just to keep these guys going. But honestly I think they are way more interested in the Neptune Crossover Diet.

 

[grimreaper]

@Brew12 Should I stop feeding the clown in its corner in hopes that he finds the AFS. The poor guy just looks so hungry and only manages the swim halfway to the AFS and goes back to his corner

 

[Brew12]

@Brew12 Should I stop feeding the clown in its corner in hopes that he finds the AFS. The poor guy just looks so hungry and only manages the swim halfway to the AFS and goes back to his corner

That's a hard call. Without being able to observe the fish I'm not sure I can answer that. I've never had a fish that wouldn't swim the length of the tank to feed.
Does he eat when you put food in his corner? If so, you may want to try to keep moving the spot you feed him closer to the AFS and see if you can train him to go that way.

 

[grimreaper]

Eat? This guy wants to rip my finger when I put food in his corner.

 

[TroutWithLegs]

Wanted to say great guide. I'm about 4 days into cycling my tank, have been using a shrimp in there, but had some algae show up recently. I'm still showing no NH3, but wanted to know if the algae were going to impact the cycle at all. I know the tank is also pretty empty, I've got some new dry rock going in as soon as it arrives. Thanks

 

[BedrockIOMC]

Hi Guys
totally new to the hobby, first time ever having an aquarium at my place. Using the following setup in a reefer 450 and 11 days into my cycle, using the RedSea reef mature kit. Set this up myself without any help so feel free to point out anything you guys can think of, better to fix it as early as possible.

1. Neptune Apex (Yes I am using the EB832 outside the US without a step-down transformer on international voltage and no I can't answer any questions regarding it as a thread related to it was deleted by the admin here and same on Neptune Support Forums).
2. Neptune Wav x2
3. Cor-20
4. Nyos Quantum 160 skimmer
5. 94 lbs of Dry rock
6. CaribSea Hawaiian Black live sand (100lbs)
7. Neptune AFS (not yet installed, too lazy)
8. Water RODI mixed with Red Sea Coral Pro Salt
9. 2x KeloRay AE-200 (We get this here the US equivalent is the cobalt aquatics C-Ray-200)
10. Two Nyos Torq are shipping out sometime this week (However don't plan on using them till the cycle is complete)
11. Deltec UV sterilizer 20W (Again not using it, waiting for the cycle to complete).
12. Schego Titanium 600W heater.
13. API Saltwater Test kit.

The tank is being cycled according to the Red Sea Reef Mature kit down to the letter, except for the water testing part which I'd love to do everyday but unfortunately can't due to work keeping me away from home more often than not. I've also not been dosing the KH Coraline Gro as the alkalinity is constant at 11-12 dkh, called Red Sea regarding this and they said it was fine as long as the alkalinity stayed above 8.4 dkh(Using Nyos Alkalinity test kit).
I'm now at the stage where the manual recommends adding the clean up crew however when I tested the water today there was a huge Nitrite Spike. So decided against introducing the cleanup crew for now. Don't wanna poison the poor guys. I am attaching a couple of pics from the log that I try to maintain within the Apex for the gurus and @Brew12 to look over. Love to have an opinion from you guys as my total knowledge and experience is reading up on forums here and my good friend google.

1. My LFS says that the cycle has stalled (Day 10 into the Cycle)and I need some other products, they were trying to sell me the Nyos Bacterial Kit today?
2. Should I add the cleanup crew, Cant see any algae, except for a few brown patches here and there.

I used the red sea kit myself in my new red sea and had the same issue. I added my cuc and had no issues. I didn't go heavy on my crew at first but if I was you I would add them. I would follow the book to a T I did and it worked great. Enjoy that pretty tank.

 

[Brew12]

Wanted to say great guide. I'm about 4 days into cycling my tank, have been using a shrimp in there, but had some algae show up recently. I'm still showing no NH3, but wanted to know if the algae were going to impact the cycle at all. I know the tank is also pretty empty, I've got some new dry rock going in as soon as it arrives. Thanks

Glad you liked it!

If you have algae growing, you have something releasing and processing nutrients. Do you have any nitrates yet?

By the way, if your goal in cycling is to make it safe to add a CuC and/or fish, algae is your friend. It will consume ammonia and provide food.

 

[TroutWithLegs]

Not picking up any NO3 yet, o.25ppm NH3 and 0.25ppm NO2 on todays sample though.

 

[Brew12]

Not picking up any NO3 yet, o.25ppm NH3 and 0.25ppm NO2 on todays sample though.

Ok, and with algae growing you may never see any in your water. It is unusual to see algae so quickly, but that isn't a bad thing.

 

[Nyx101]

It’s alive!!! Hiya today, 8 days in using seachem stability + dr Tim’s ammonia on 65 pounds of dry rock + 1 pound of live rock from lfs, ammonia Level went from 1 ppm to 0! I’ll keep adding ammonia until I can transfer it all to a 92 g just saying seachem stability is a good product to start up