Filling and cycling

[Steven91]

Hey fellow reefers,

I am about to start filling my 120 gallon tank and 30 gal sump, I am going to be using sugar grain size sand as I want to have a sand shifter eventually. What is the best way to fill the tank:
Filling the sump and then tank or
Filling tank and letting it overflow to sump?

Also, what is the best way to cycle a tank, I've seen ghost feeding, dropping in a cocktail shrimp, and nothing... recommendations please

 

[Cory]

Let it overflow from tank to sump.

I woulf add a bottle of bacteria and some ammonia.

 

[Jason mack]

Let it overflow from tank to sump.

I woulf add a bottle of bacteria and some ammonia.

+1 i agree with this

 

[TylerV]

Let it overflow from tank to sump.

I woulf add a bottle of bacteria and some ammonia.

This is what I did, tank cycled in 2 weeks but still went fishless for an additional 4 weeks just to stablize the tank

 

[Katrina71]

Temp at 80, piece of raw shrimp, ball of chaeto, a bottle of biospira in the tank. No water changes until you are cycled. We used live rock and sand. This was a simple method that worked well. ( take the shrimp out after 2 or 3 days) we used our filter during the cycle phase.

 

[BlueCursor]

The raw shrimp thing works only with fresh shrimp that has never been frozen. Frozen shrimp have no bacteria.

I like to buy bacteria as a starter, anyway. My first preference is ProDigest, but if I was starting a new tank I think I would get a box of the live seawater that they use on Tanked. Then do a normal cycle (I would never add fish right away).

 

[Jason mack]

Buy a bottle of pure ammonia from any supermarket .. add small amounts and test till you reach 1-2 ppm then test after 24 hrs if it's 0 your good too go .. with a shrimp it will take a few days to hit 1-2 pmm

 

[Steven91]

Thank you, I'm super excited to get my tank rolling.

 

[Mombo]

Here is a link to a calculator. At the very bottom it has a calculator for dosing pure ammonia like Jason mack was suggesting. Ive done this with a couple freshwater tanks and it works fine.

On that note I do not endorse any of the other calculators on it haha I have only used the ammonia one at the bottom.

http://www.fishforums.net/aquarium-calculator.htm

If you have one around you I found ammonia at Ace Hardware. 10% solution. One bottle is like a lifetime of tanks supply lol. You need to make sure you find pure ammonia though. Most stores dont carry pure ammonia. I went to many many stores and almost all of them have surfactants in it. Do a shake test before you buy any ammonia. It should have NO bubbles/foam up from shaking it. Or just go to Ace.....

 

[brandon429]

here's another option

the bacteria get in regardless of what you add, adapted for eons this way. they get feed too, even if you add no ammonia. adding things saves you from waiting two + mos for the coating of bacteria to complete via natural means like it does in a rain puddle.
Nitrifying bacteria are likely stuck to a fair portion of reader's skin as we speak...complexed with other bacteria in a big communal mix vying for vital space/ they're everywhere depending on variables. touch garden dirt or soil/done deal on the vectoring. probably a few stuck to external mucous membranes too, consider that next time our nose itches

not that they'll flourish there, but deposition is rampant. that frees you up knowing if you merely add water, you'll cycle but it w take a long time.

rinse your sand until it cannot cloud before you set up the tank, even if its live sand. rinse it over and over in tap water, then fresh saltwater and fill up the tank. some people add rocks before they add sand so the rocks sit on the bottom, choose your nuance but rinse the sand so that you cannot cloud the tank upon refill.

your cycle is determined by the type of rock you choose, not all cycles involve you adding ammonia. as a person who cannot stand the 16 mos of barren white rock by using dry rock, I skip all cycles, buy the most premium $ live rock my lfs sells, transport it home wet with frags, and skip the cycle.

Your cycle technique is determined by if you are using live rock, don't add ammonia to live rock setups its for dry rock only.

live rock setups go home and are ready, transport them underwater in buckets back to home if you buy premium lr.

if you are choosing to actually cycle the tank with dry rocks, use the dr tims fishless cycle method for a 2-4 week ability the ends are the same.

the way you know live rocks brought home are ready is when they are not leaking ammonia 24 hours after adding into the tank. Do enough of these setups and you'll never even have to test ammonia, its easy to move lr without dieoff.

the way you know a dry system is ready for use is you must complete a duration period underwater of at least 3 weeks to be safe, then if you've done the fishless cycle method it explains your tank will be able to digest 1 or 2 ppm of ammonia down to zero within 24 hours.

last offer, do not use api tests for ammonia buy salifert. if you do all that above your tank will be bulletproof we have large threads showing those types of setups/cycles/skip cycles.

 

[Mombo]

Hmm thanks for that I was wondering how much ammonia it should be digesting per day to measure if the colony has grown large enough. On that note we should be seeing the 2ppm of ammonia and the nitrite that comes after all being digested down to 0 within 24 hours.

 

[brandon429]

sorry to confuse but if it helps, nitrite testing is not required at any time...only saying that because if we skip testing neutral parameters then its less testing error that feigns a stalled cycle. heres a one param cycling thread for consideration in the link below

if we have exceptional quality nitrite testing and practice to run it, nitrite will always follow what ammonia does by day 20 regardless of the approach used so its ok to test. but should we opt out of testing just to simplify, that pattern holds just the same. nitrite cannot be unlinked to ammonia behavior by the second tor third week see all cycling charts its such a handy shortcut to skip it!

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/the-microbiology-of-reef-tank-cycling.214618/

 

[Jason mack]

A side note on live rock or dry rock ...
Some people choose dry rock over live as a way of controlling what comes in your tank, as well as being easier too aquascape without water in the tank ..with live rock many things both wanted and unwanted enter the tank .. I guess it depends on where you buy your live rock .. but I've only ever worked with dry rock so I have no experience setting up a tank that way !