Dr Tims Fishless Cycle

Hetts

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Day 2 of the fishless tank cycle, how’s my numbers look?

ammonia 0.25-0.50

Nitrite 0

Nitrate 5-10

pH 8
 

brandon429

why did you put a reef in that
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how to turn this exact cycle into a testless cycle with a known completion date

right now, add in one small pinch of fish food, any type, ground into powder in the setup.

wait until 3/31/23 and then do a water change of whatever % you can muster to change and the tank is cycled, and nothing your test kits say matter in it being cycled. source for claims: 40 page work thread on testless cycling. if you have rocks stewing in there, they'll be done by that date with a little carbon boost in place. since you can see by searching api usually shows .25-.5 ammonia in fully stocked tanks, you won't be able to expect your kit to tell you when it's ready.


between now and then you'd study on fish disease order of addition/stocking from the disease forum, that way your cycled tank wont get full up on disease right when you add new fish to it. your cycle portion is now done/known date/all that remains for you to have a reef is to choose how you're handling fish disease. if you want to just wing it/no preps/your tank is fish ready 3/31/23 as a testless cycle. the length of time it takes bacteria to adhere to surfaces has already been charted multiple ways and times. it always lines up.
 
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Hetts

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how to turn this exact cycle into a testless cycle with a known completion date

right now, add in one small pinch of fish food, any type, ground into powder in the setup.

wait until 3/31/23 and then do a water change of whatever % you can muster to change and the tank is cycled, and nothing your test kits say matter in it being cycled. source for claims: 40 page work thread on testless cycling. if you have rocks stewing in there, they'll be done by that date with a little carbon boost in place. since you can see by searching api usually shows .25-.5 ammonia in fully stocked tanks, you won't be able to expect your kit to tell you when it's ready.


between now and then you'd study on fish disease order of addition/stocking from the disease forum, that way your cycled tank wont get full up on disease right when you add new fish to it.
So ground up a small pinch of food. Add it to water. Small water change on 3/31. Then cycled? That seems way too easy but I love it if that actually works!
 

brandon429

why did you put a reef in that
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it's what we've been doing here all this time:
give it a run and post the results/we collect outcomes not the test kit readings

*don't forget to buy fish in ways that account for acclimation of salinity. nearly every pet shop you get fish from holds them at very low salt levels, very low, because it's a cheat to preventing diseased fish they sell from expressing

but owners buy them, the get them into .024~ display water too quickly, which is the real initial insult. take your salinity meter when you buy fish, and don't buy from any keeper housing them well below reef salinity. simply buy from another source. don't bag float new fish to acclimate them, that's what freshwater aquarists do.
 

brandon429

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the way it works is, that much total time plus fish food alone would get you a basic ammonia control system covering rocks. factored alongside the bottle bacteria you've added, they're fully cycled by then for ammonia control based on # of days + any cycling chart's ammonia control drop date. all brands of bottle bac alone are adhered before ten day's time, that's the formula we applied to all those cycles. none miss the start date. when that start date becomes illegitimate, someone will write a new cycling chart. cycling charts have always had a 10-12 day ammonia drop line for a reason, going back decades...well-charted mechanism.
 
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Hetts

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it's what we've been doing here all this time:
give it a run and post the results/we collect outcomes not the test kit readings

*don't forget to buy fish in ways that account for acclimation of salinity. nearly every pet shop you get fish from holds them at very low salt levels, very low, because it's a cheat to preventing diseased fish they sell from expressing

but owners buy them, the get them into .024~ display water too quickly, which is the real initial insult. take your salinity meter when you buy fish, and don't buy from any keeper housing them well below reef salinity. simply buy from another source. don't bag float new fish to acclimate them, that's what freshwater aquarists do.
What’s the best way to acclimate my fish into my tank? I bought some saltwater from my LFS to get started and they keep their water at .030 salinity
 

brandon429

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you have to test the water they keep the clownfish in not the change water

you just move them into your tank via net once the salinity matches/gotta read up on the fish disease forum/ beyond acclimation coverage they list the preps needed so the fish you buy don't die in a few months via disease / multi step process must be studied in Jay's forum here at the site
 

brandon429

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We need you to read up in the fish disease and fish keeping forums here to discover acclimation, that was just the lead details into the self study. be sure and pick up from here acclimation techniques and quarantine + fallow techniques:


it's not possible to describe all the nuances that go into fish keeping in the cycling thread. we just made the cycling part really really easy here/rest is self study
 
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So ground up a small pinch of food. Add it to water. Small water change on 3/31. Then cycled? That seems way too easy but I love it if that actually works!
It does. It has. It will. I myself just did exactly this. Dropped in bottled bacteria, added the food, 10 days later added fish. Not a test one was done. All fish thriving and happy.

You can read the countless threads that @brandon429 provides linked and make your own call. But as he said the real matter now is to make sure you aren't introducing disease into your new display.
 

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