Cycling New Tank

[BGrand]

Please Help!

I am starting my fishless cycling tonight using Dr Tim's Ammonium Chloride Solution and my plan is to use all three of the following:

• Dr. Tims One and Only
• Bacter7
• Prodibio Bio Digest

I want to get various types of bacteria in there for the cycle and don't mind it taking longer than usual. The sand is live sand is CaribSea Arag-Alive Special Grade and the rock is MarcoRocks Reef Saver Dry Rock from @BRS. There is not media in the sump other than the sock and the black mesh filter that came with the Eshopps sump. Two new Vortech MP10WQD's will be installed tonight to keep flow going. I don't plan on putting fish in until after the first week of March (vacation the end of February into March).

1. Should I add all three brands of bacteria all at the same time or space them out some???
2. Should I continue to feed them ammonium chloride during the next two months?
   1. If so how often?
3. Do I leave the following off/out the whole two months?
   1. Filter sock
   2. Skimmer
   3. Reactor (Carbon & GFO)

 

[DLHDesign]

Should I add all three brands of bacteria all at the same time or space them out some???

All at once is fine.

Should I continue to feed them ammonium chloride during the next two months?
If so how often?

Ammonium chloride is their "food", so yes - you will want to feed this to them whenever they need it. If you keep the levels around 1ppm, you should be good. This will get more difficult to do as time goes on (which is a good thing; shows the population is growing), which is why most people switch to "ghost feeding" the tank - which is basically where adding a raw shrimp comes into play.
Also note that bacteria do need more than just ammonia to thrive. The live sand will help kick-start them - and potentially sustain them until you add fish. But it's also not a bad idea to add in a bit of food (or that raw shrimp) to provide everything that is needed.

Filter sock
Skimmer
Reactor (Carbon & GFO)

Filer socks won't really matter; you can leave them in or out.
Skimmer should likely be off for at least when you dose in the bacteria and a few hours after. There shouldn't really be much need to run it at all, in truth, but I don't think it would hurt at other times. Getting it "broken in" before you add fish would be good.
Carbon & GFO I would leave off, personally. They will remove things from the water that you want to leave available to your growing bacteria colony.

 

[BGrand]

All at once is fine.


Ammonium chloride is their "food", so yes - you will want to feed this to them whenever they need it. If you keep the levels around 1ppm, you should be good. This will get more difficult to do as time goes on (which is a good thing; shows the population is growing), which is why most people switch to "ghost feeding" the tank - which is basically where adding a raw shrimp comes into play.
Also note that bacteria do need more than just ammonia to thrive. The live sand will help kick-start them - and potentially sustain them until you add fish. But it's also not a bad idea to add in a bit of food (or that raw shrimp) to provide everything that is needed.


Filer socks won't really matter; you can leave them in or out.
Skimmer should likely be off for at least when you dose in the bacteria and a few hours after. There shouldn't really be much need to run it at all, in truth, but I don't think it would hurt at other times. Getting it "broken in" before you add fish would be good.
Carbon & GFO I would leave off, personally. They will remove things from the water that you want to leave available to your growing bacteria colony.

Thank you so much for the assist. So after it has finished it's cycle add the raw shrimp and keep dosing the ammonia?

 

[DLHDesign]

I wouldn't really say that your cycle will "finish"; just reach a stage where you have enough bacteria established to support a fish and coral population.

From a practical perspective; there's no reason not to add a raw shrimp right off. It will break down and provide ammonia and other nutrients. You can really do this at any point, since the nutrients won't be exported from the tank. Note also that the shrimp is going to do the same thing as the ammonium chloride, just in a less controlled fashion. What I do is use the ammonium chloride solution to buffer up the levels when needed.

 

[lapin]

DLHDesign says it all.
Plus you really dont even need to run your return pump for a while, if you have power heads in the tank.
Ill second the if you dont need GFO dont run it.

 

[BGrand]

Thank you both (@DLHDesign and @lapin) alot. Since I had planned on the fishless cycle from the get go I will start with that and when I get to the point of the ammonia levels dropping to zero in 24 hours after dosing I'll throw in the shrimp. We are talking about a shrimp I buy in the grocery store raw? Shell or no Shell?

 

[lapin]

Raw 16/24 size will work If its in the shell it will be easier to remove when it fall apart from decay. You could use an oyster or clam raw on the half shell.

 

[tankstudy]

1. Should I add all three brands of bacteria all at the same time or space them out some???

You can add all three at the same time. I sometimes mix match Dr. Tim's with Biospira. I just go with what I have available to use but for the most part I don't think there is much of a difference between any of the bottles. Your biggest concern is to make sure you store the bottles properly before use and when you bought them they were stored properly.

1. Should I continue to feed them ammonium chloride during the next two months?
   1. If so how often?

You want to make sure you have a known concentration of ammonium chloride. Without knowing the concentration, overdosing is actually a big problem when using bottled bacteria. It's probably the number 1 thing I see when people go the bottled bacteria route. Your cycle can stall for a very long time because of overdosing. As for dosing instructions, I'd recommend following Dr Tim's guide. He'll give you the reference range, initial dosing instructions and when to continue dosing more ammonium chloride. The pros to bottle bacteria is that its' very fast but the cons is that it requires you to follow instructions to stay within the reference ranges. Go outside of them and you'll run in to problems.

1. Do I leave the following off/out the whole two months?
   1. Filter sock
   2. Skimmer
   3. Reactor (Carbon & GFO)

I would leave them all off until your cycle is complete.

 

[BGrand]

You can add all three at the same time. I sometimes mix match Dr. Tim's with Biospira. I just go with what I have available to use but for the most part I don't think there is much of a difference between any of the bottles. Your biggest concern is to make sure you store the bottles properly before use and when you bought them they were stored properly.

You want to make sure you have a known concentration of ammonium chloride. Without knowing the concentration, overdosing is actually a big problem when using bottled bacteria. It's probably the number 1 thing I see when people go the bottled bacteria route. Your cycle can stall for a very long time because of overdosing. As for dosing instructions, I'd recommend following Dr Tim's guide. He'll give you the reference range, initial dosing instructions and when to continue dosing more ammonium chloride. The pros to bottle bacteria is that its' very fast but the cons is that it requires you to follow instructions to stay within the reference ranges. Go outside of them and you'll run in to problems.

I would leave them all off until your cycle is complete.

Thank you

 

[FLSharkvictim]

Please Help!

I am starting my fishless cycling tonight using Dr Tim's Ammonium Chloride Solution and my plan is to use all three of the following:

• Dr. Tims One and Only
• Bacter7
• Prodibio Bio Digest

I want to get various types of bacteria in there for the cycle and don't mind it taking longer than usual. The sand is live sand is CaribSea Arag-Alive Special Grade and the rock is MarcoRocks Reef Saver Dry Rock from @BRS. There is not media in the sump other than the sock and the black mesh filter that came with the Eshopps sump. Two new Vortech MP10WQD's will be installed tonight to keep flow going. I don't plan on putting fish in until after the first week of March (vacation the end of February into March).

1. Should I add all three brands of bacteria all at the same time or space them out some???
2. Should I continue to feed them ammonium chloride during the next two months?
   1. If so how often?
3. Do I leave the following off/out the whole two months?
   1. Filter sock
   2. Skimmer
   3. Reactor (Carbon & GFO)

@BGrand - nice set up mate! Its probably going to take a little longer since you basically did not add real live rock and went with Marco Live rock which can take a little longer.
I have heard of people in my Facebook Network that they are having a lot of trouble with this rock and there PO4 Levels.
I am going to be installing my new SCA Rimless 150 system in the next month or so and I will be just using One & Only Live Nitrifying Bacteria... I am just waiting on the Sump MFG i CHOOSE to build my 44'' sump and a 10 -gallon ATO reservoir.
I only will be using these the following products below:

& there Ammonium Chloride Solution for Fish less Cycling!!!

Also, will be using REAL live rock that I had left over from an old build. I kept around 50lbs of some Old School Ultra Premium Fiji which is currently curing and to speed up the cycle.

 

[Jason Roth]

OP, what size tank do you have? I have one similar in 55g. Nice setup. Sump definitely looks crammed in there. I ended up doing an external setup with a 20g long so I could add chaeto.