Cycling my 125

[Cmajor]

Currently on day 4 of cycling my tank. I decided to go ahead and test to see where everything is at and plan to test every other day. currently have a 125 gallon tank with 40 gallon sump. I have 150 lbs of dry rock and 80 lbs of dry sand. Used Bio Sphera in the tank as well to get the bacteria going. Also added 2 raw shrimp. Current tank params are as follows:
12 April 2021
SG 1.026
PH 8.0
AM 0
Nitrites 0.5
Nitrates 10
KH 10

how does everything seem. I know patience is key, just want to make sure im on the right track. Thanks for any input.

 

[Cell]

Bio-Spira works well and cycles your tank in a matter of days. I'd skip the shrimp and add a fish or two.

 

[Azedenkae]

Currently on day 4 of cycling my tank. I decided to go ahead and test to see where everything is at and plan to test every other day. currently have a 125 gallon tank with 40 gallon sump. I have 150 lbs of dry rock and 80 lbs of dry sand. Used Bio Sphera in the tank as well to get the bacteria going. Also added 2 raw shrimp. Current tank params are as follows:
12 April 2021
SG 1.026
PH 8.0
AM 0
Nitrites 0.5
Nitrates 10
KH 10

how does everything seem. I know patience is key, just want to make sure im on the right track. Thanks for any input.

Patience is key, but I am in the camp of test and monitor if one likes to make changes as necessary. Waiting through things that require you to wait. Doing nothing when you could be doing something is a waste imo.

Anyways, moving past that. When did you add the raw shrimps? Surprised you'd measure 0 ammonia.

 

[brandon429]

I feel this biospira thread describes why the shrimp haven't spiked.

Bio-spira works great

I just started a new tank a little over a week ago. I started with all dry rock and new sand. I added a bottle of Bio-Spira and put fish and coral the same day. Never saw any ammonia and fish and coral seem healthy.

www.reef2reef.com

biospira is ready on day 1/ its just plain good stuff. it truly processes bioload out of the bottle, and a $250 anemone too lol that part wow'd me above.

well tested in Dr Reefs threads, Cell was alluding to its raw power in the force.

second reason could be very highly common test variation, not that ammonia is full zero. technically its nice to actually see an ammonia spike up and then down agreed so we know the bottle bac isn't dead. but then again, I have never ever not once seen in inactive bottle of biospira. have heard of some dr Tim's ones but just so far not any biospira brand.

 

[Jekyl]

I would remove the shrimp, do a large water change and add a fish or 2

 

[brandon429]

Im convinced after a thousand cycling posts this is a new factual instant dry start skip cycle option for reefing, testless, won't fail, allows for immediate fish use (we have already tested these on seneye and seen actual instant nh3 control):

the options for use in testless dry start skip cycles are Fritz cycling bac, Dr Tims cycling bac, Biospira. Those are the top three from Dr. Reef's detailed study thread.

take any two of the bottles, use two different brands ideally but two bottles of the same strain I predict still works 99.999% of the time, and input the dose they each recommend into the tank per volume. Add the fish

there's no way statistically your LFS is selling two totally dead bottles of separately shipped and held water bac. the brands are already tested on seneye to work alone, without duality. your first mild pinch of fish food supports everything along with the typical dilutions we run in new setups and the actual fish waste providing instant bac sustenance along with vectored air import feeds.

Ok, bring on the brooklynella!

 

[Cmajor]

Patience is key, but I am in the camp of test and monitor if one likes to make changes as necessary. Waiting through things that require you to wait. Doing nothing when you could be doing something is a waste imo.

Anyways, moving past that. When did you add the raw shrimps? Surprised you'd measure 0 ammonia.

I added the shrimp the same day i added bio spira 10 april

 

[Cmajor]

I feel this biospira thread describes why the shrimp haven't spiked.

Bio-spira works great

I just started a new tank a little over a week ago. I started with all dry rock and new sand. I added a bottle of Bio-Spira and put fish and coral the same day. Never saw any ammonia and fish and coral seem healthy.

www.reef2reef.com

biospira is ready on day 1/ its just plain good stuff. it truly processes bioload out of the bottle, and a $250 anemone too lol that part wow'd me above.

well tested in Dr Reefs threads, Cell was alluding to its raw power in the force.

second reason could be very highly common test variation, not that ammonia is full zero. technically its nice to actually see an ammonia spike up and then down agreed so we know the bottle bac isn't dead. but then again, I have never ever not once seen in inactive bottle of biospira. have heard of some dr Tim's ones but just so far not any biospira brand.

Thanks for the link above. Going to read it now

 

[Azedenkae]

I added the shrimp the same day i added bio spira 10 april

Yeah I am very surprised you'd measure 0 ammonia with the shrimp in there since the 10th. :O I mean your aquarium is pretty huge compared to two shrimps, and reading some nitrite indicates some ammonia oxidation so it might be just that. But yeah, just a bit odd imo.

 

[Cmajor]

I still have the 2 raw shrimp in the tank and my params are as follows:
14 April 2021
Temp 78.5
SG 1.026
PH 8.0
AM 0
Nitrites 0.5
Nitrates 0
KH 11

 

[prdubois]

Good start, I would keep what you are doing

 

[Azedenkae]

I still have the 2 raw shrimp in the tank and my params are as follows:
14 April 2021
Temp 78.5
SG 1.026
PH 8.0
AM 0
Nitrites 0.5
Nitrates 0
KH 11

Yeah I am still curious how and why you'd be measuring 0 ammonia with shrimps in there, all the while with nitrite not increasing. Also weird that your nitrates would drop to 0.

Something seems off.

 

[Cmajor]

Good start, I would keep what you are doing

ok. thanks

 

[Cmajor]

Yeah I am still curious how and why you'd be measuring 0 ammonia with shrimps in there, all the while with nitrite not increasing. Also weird that your nitrates would drop to 0.

Something seems off.

I will test again tomorrow and post what I have. Could it be that I used Bio Spira causing the no reading of AM. I did not test the first 3 days after adding it because my test kit was not in. I started on day 4. Is it possible the spike already happened

 

[Azedenkae]

I will test again tomorrow and post what I have. Could it be that I used Bio Spira causing the no reading of AM. I did not test the first 3 days after adding it because my test kit was not in. I started on day 4. Is it possible the spike already happened

But then you would have seen more than 0.5ppm nitrite. And if nitrite has decreased too, then you would have seen more nitrate. Unless something is consuming nitrates. What test kit are you using?

 

[brandon429]

Cmajor if you were to make a 2 or 3 point summary from that thread posted what points would stand out

my first point would be did it fail, did the bottle bac fail on day one in the thread

as I watch this thread unfold, we are trending towards the might-not complete or might not be ready after 8x wait

 

[Cmajor]

But then you would have seen more than 0.5ppm nitrite. And if nitrite has decreased too, then you would have seen more nitrate. Unless something is consuming nitrates. What test kit are you using?

Red Sea Fish Pharm

 

[Cmajor]

Cmajor if you were to make a 2 or 3 point summary from that thread posted what points would stand out

my first point would be did it fail, did the bottle bac fail on day one in the thread

as I watch this thread unfold, we are trending towards the might-not complete or might not be ready after 8x wait

Would it be safe to get something like Dr Tims AM and dose up to 2ppm and see if in 24 hours they AM is consumed? Would this then tell me where my Tank actually is at?

 

[Azedenkae]

Red Sea Fish Pharm

Okay so the Red Sea nitrate test is affected by nitrite: https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/h...trite-interference.783628/page-3#post-8595637. Given you can read 0.5ppm nitrite, you really should be reading some nitrate, instead of 0.

I think either the tests are not being done correctly (sorry I have never actually used Red Sea kits so don't know how they work so can't really give a suggestion here), or you have a defective set.

Would it be safe to get something like Dr Tims AM and dose up to 2ppm and see if in 24 hours they AM is consumed? Would this then tell me where my Tank actually is at?

Before you do that, I would recommend making a solution of 2ppm ammonia (so still get Dr. Tim's ammonium chloride, yes) and measure that with your ammonia test kit to see if you can get 2ppm. If you still measure 0, then your ammonia test kit would likely be defective.

 

[Cell]

You are getting too caught up with numbers that just dont matter right now. Want to end the confusion? Toss the shrimp, add a fish and monitor your ammonia. Once you get tired of testing zero ammonia, you can put your mind at ease.

You are combining several cycling methods right now, a slow fishless cycle using a shrimp and instant cycle using bottled bacteria.