First fish-less cycle: Praying to Poseidon

[JakesReef209]

It feels strange cycling an aquarium with no livestock at all.
Although I'm a big fan of the idea of not having a "sacrificial fish" or at the very least a fish that gets the wrong end of the stick, it makes me progressively more and more sad to come home from work hearing the water gently trickle through the overflow yet see 0 movement and not even get to see my fancy expensive lights on.
Am I the only one who wishes there was some way to visually see your live nitrifying bacteria frolicking and eating!? [emoji23]
*long sigh/sip of beer*
Oh well, patience is a virtue (and that goes doubly-so for reefing)
Today is day 6 of my fishless cycle, I've been following the instructions on Dr. Tims website and
My ammonia is starting to drop much more rapidly in 24-48 hour periods
My ph is holding strong at around 8.2
However my nitrites are still sitting high at around 5 ppm and nitrates are close to 80 [emoji31]
So needless to say we're not there yet.
But those bacteria are working harder and harder every day!

Anyone have tips on time travel or methods of distraction to make the long wait a little easier? Lol
I'll check back in in a few days time if anyone cares [emoji28]
Happy reefing everyone!

 

[Idoc]

It's rough waiting! Mine has been cycling for a month...it is almost ready! I didn't use any bacteria in a bottle, just dosed pure ammonia to start. I'm at the point that the tank can reduce 1.0-1.5ppm ammonia to zero in 24hrs!

But, my 2 clowns are still going thru prophylactic treatment in their QT, so i still have another 3 weeks probably....over half done with their 30 days of copper, then doing PraziPro!

So to pass the time, set up your QT now and get that first fish! By the time quarantine is done, the tank will be cycled!

 

[JakesReef209]

It's rough waiting! Mine has been cycling for a month...it is almost ready! I didn't use any bacteria in a bottle, just dosed pure ammonia to start. I'm at the point that the tank can reduce 1.0-1.5ppm ammonia to zero in 24hrs!

But, my 2 clowns are still going thru prophylactic treatment in their QT, so i still have another 3 weeks probably....over half done with their 30 days of copper, then doing PraziPro!

So to pass the time, set up your QT now and get that first fish! By the time quarantine is done, the tank will be cycled!

I definitely want to set up a QT tank but I have soo many questions about it.
Do they require the same filtration as a regular tank? What size should it be? Does it have to stay up and running constantly?
I see, without a doubt the massive value of having a QT system but if it's basically gunna be the cost of setting up a nano tank, I don't think I can swing it right now

 

[beaslbob]

...

However my nitrites are still sitting high at around 5 ppm and nitrates are close to 80 [emoji31]

Before I found out about macro algae, during the initial cycle nitrites would peg (5ppm) the test kit for days and in one case weeks. Until I stopped feeding the fish. Then they would drop down in a few days. I guess that means stop adding the ammonia until nitrites drop down. After that nitrite cycle I could feed the fish and nitrites never jumped up again.

So needless to say we're not there yet.
But those bacteria are working harder and harder every day!

Anyone have tips on time travel or methods of distraction to make the long wait a little easier? Lol

use macro algae. Lol

...

my .02

 

[Bouncingsoul39]

I recently did my first fishless cycle too and it was weird, lots of staring at empty tank. Worked out well though and no fishes had to suffer through ammonia so that was nice.

 

[JakesReef209]

Before I found out about macro algae, during the initial cycle nitrites would peg (5ppm) the test kit for days and in one case weeks. Until I stopped feeding the fish. Then they would drop down in a few days. I guess that means stop adding the ammonia until nitrites drop down. After that nitrite cycle I could feed the fish and nitrites never jumped up again. use macro algae. Lol
my .02

My sump is pretty small and I don't currently have the room for a refugium but maybe after everything settles in I'll start planning a sump upgrade. Thanks so much for the response!

 

[beaslbob]

My sump is pretty small and I don't currently have the room for a refugium but maybe after everything settles in I'll start planning a sump upgrade. Thanks so much for the response!

you can always to an in tank refugium. just an egcrate partition with some added side lighting. Get the chaeto thriving between the egg crate and glass and watch nitrates and nitrItes drop as pH rises.

(psst that wa the best thing I did on my old 55g.)

My.02

 

[JakesReef209]

you can always to an in tank refugium. just an egcrate partition with some added side lighting. Get the chaeto thriving between the egg crate and glass and watch nitrates and nitrItes drop as pH rises.

(psst that wa the best thing I did on my old 55g.)

My.02

Sounds like a good idea! Do you have any pics? When you say "in tank" do you mean in your DT?? Or just in the sump?

 

[beaslbob]

Sounds like a good idea! Do you have any pics? When you say "in tank" do you mean in your DT?? Or just in the sump?

in the display.

What I did was just cram in an egg crate 2-3" in front of the back glass. then added 2 4' 2 tube shop lights 6" behind the tank pointing forward. Bottom of egg crate I used rocks and the top I used powerheads to hold it off the back glass.
Meanwhile a lot of the plumbing was hid behind the eggcrate, pods thrived along with the macro algae. (I used chaeto and caluerpa. I found with the shop lights the grape caulerpa thrived, with less lighting profilera.)

My tangs were constantly grasing on the macros that poked through.

nitrates dropped to 0 in 3 weeks, phosphates a few month later.

nitrItes were already unmeasureable, This was what completed the cycle balanced out and stabilized the system

my .02

 

[JakesReef209]

in the display.

What I did was just cram in an egg crate 2-3" in front of the back glass. then added 2 4' 2 tube shop lights 6" behind the tank pointing forward. Bottom of egg crate I used rocks and the top I used powerheads to hold it off the back glass.
Meanwhile a lot of the plumbing was hid behind the eggcrate, pods thrived along with the macro algae. (I used chaeto and caluerpa. I found with the shop lights the grape caulerpa thrived, with less lighting profilera.)

My tangs were constantly grasing on the macros that poked through.

nitrates dropped to 0 in 3 weeks, phosphates a few month later.

nitrItes were already unmeasureable, This was what completed the cycle balanced out and stabilized the system

my .02

Wow sounds awesome! Back of my tank is painted flat black tho [emoji58] lol maybe I could squeeze it in on the side

 

[Xclusive Reef]

Well I started my QT 12 days ago , I started with Dr. Tims and after 5 days of not seeing anything change it to Seachem Stability. I am now on day 12 and nitrates, nitrites never moved from 0.. Ammonia started at 2.0ppm and its been there since day 1.

 

[JakesReef209]

Well I started my QT 12 days ago , I started with Dr. Tims and after 5 days of not seeing anything change it to Seachem Stability. I am now on day 12 and nitrates, nitrites never moved from 0.. Ammonia started at 2.0ppm and its been there since day 1.

Hmm that seems strange. Maybe your bacteria didn't live??

 

[tankstudy]

Anyone have tips on time travel or methods of distraction to make the long wait a little easier? Lol

You can dump even more bacteria and it will speed the process up even more.

Looks like your going to need to do a pretty big water change with nitrates already at 80 ppm once your cycle is done.

 

[JakesReef209]

You can dump even more bacteria and it will speed the process up even more.

Looks like your going to need to do a pretty big water change with nitrates already at 80 ppm once your cycle is done.

I agree. It seems particularly strange to me tho since I started with reef saver rock. Where are these nitrates coming from?? Will they not start to fall when nitrites do?

 

[JakesReef209]

Well I started my QT 12 days ago , I started with Dr. Tims and after 5 days of not seeing anything change it to Seachem Stability. I am now on day 12 and nitrates, nitrites never moved from 0.. Ammonia started at 2.0ppm and its been there since day 1.

Have you tried a different testing method??

 

[JakesReef209]

 

[Xclusive Reef]

Have you tried a different testing method??

i tried 2 different ammonia test kits

 

[tankstudy]

I agree. It seems particularly strange to me tho since I started with reef saver rock. Where are these nitrates coming from?? Will they not start to fall when nitrites do?

Nitrates are are coming from the breakdown of nitrite by bacteria.

Ammonia eating bacteria produce nitrite. Nitrite eating bacteria produce nitrate. In the natural world, there are bacteria that also consume nitrate but in our tanks, we aren't able to produce a large enough environment suitable to produce enough of those bacteria. We use other methods to reduce nitrate such as macro algaes, biopellet reactors, water changes and carbon dosing methods.

 

[Xclusive Reef]

Hmm that seems strange. Maybe your bacteria didn't live??

in the bottle or in the tank? what are the chances that i got 2 bad bottles of bacteria?

 

[JakesReef209]

in the bottle or in the tank? what are the chances that i got 2 bad bottles of bacteria?

It depends. What are the parameters in your tank like? Is your salinity stable? Temp?
And where did you get the bottles of bac from? If they were shipped to you and it wand the a "shelf stable" bac, they could have died during shipping I think