First tank Cycle troubles

[Luxorth]

Hello, I have a new 32 gallon BioCube I have recently filled. I mixed the water in the tank with my pump, salinity looks good, I used Live Sand as well as API Quick Start it has been sitting for about a week with sand settling and everything clearing up.

I went through my first water test today and I am a bit perplexed (results posted below). I seem to have no parameters throughout the tank, I am completely new to this and this is my first tank, so go easy on me . And feel free to just tell me I am being impatient.

I may be misreading the Nitrate levels, but it seems they are reading 0 as I would suspect at least Nitrite would be more than 0. Any advice to begin the cycling process would be much appreciated, do I need to spike the Ammonia with chems? Just confusion

 

[19Mateo83]

Have you added any starter cultures like fritz turbostart 900 or nitrobacter start xlm? Live rock or bio media from a mature tank will work as well.

 

[Luxorth]

Have you added any starter cultures like fritz turbostart 900 or nitrobacter start xlm? Live rock or bio media from a mature tank will work as well.

I used API Quick Start, perhaps I was confused on what I need exactly. Is that an option or is this not considered a starter culture? (NOTE: I did receive it from a keeper family member and the bottle was expired I found out afterwards, but I tend to not pay much attention to expirations on things other than food, maybe the bottle was just bad)

 

[19Mateo83]

I used API Quick Start, perhaps I was confused on what I need exactly. Is that an option or is this not considered a starter culture? (NOTE: I did receive it from a keeper family member and the bottle was expired I found out afterwards, but I tend to not pay much attention to expirations on things other than food, maybe the bottle was just bad)

That may be the issue, I’m not too familiar with quick start from api, the two I mentioned are very common ones you will hear get referred to here as well as dr. Tim’s one and only. There are many posts about how to cycle and as many opinions. Our resident reef genius @Randy Holmes-Farley has written many posts about it and a how to guide on it. I can’t seem to find it at the moment but this one will give you a a pretty good idea of what all is involved. Happy reefing!

CREATING HOMEOSTASIS DURING THE CYCLE OF YOUR REEF TANK

Good Morning Reefers ! I am writing this thread in order to help out the brand new reefers within the community . I have combined my knowledge and experience into a step by step guide in setting up your brand new reef tank . The goal we all have while setting up and keeping a tank is...

www.reef2reef.com

 

[Propane]

What are you feeding the tank

 

[lmfbs]

What are you feeding the tank

Yeah - what's your ammonia source? Generally, when you add bacteria, you'll need to add an ammonia source so the bacteria have something to eat

 

[chickendirt]

I messed up my initial cycle as well. Didn’t do the cycle properly and lost 200 dollars worth of fish.
You have to add an ammonia source. Can be something like Dr Tim’s or from fish food left in the tank. The fish food take longer.

I went nutz doing mine. Figured after my initial screw up to just take my time. Added any kind of sea snot lying around I could find plus bottle of Fritz 9, Dr Tim’s one and only and microbe lift nite out.

Be creative and just enjoy the cycle. That’s how I went about it. If you have time use it. It’s one of the few times you can just throw stuff in there and not really have to worry. Go with some live rock too. It speeds things up as it already has nitrifying bacteria. Get some filter bio balls from your LFS sump as well. I got five for twenty bucks.

after the cycle come the ugly stage. Just let the tank do it’s thing. It’s all part of the process. Just remember to do a water change before adding fish to get those nitrates down.

 

[Fishy888]

It looks like you’re using the API master test kit. API is not very accurate. I would get some unscented, plain old ammonia and dose your system with it. Honestly it’s better than ghost feeding at this point since you have no livestock. Using ammonia to cycle your system allows the nitrifying bacteria to flourish without adding phosphates.

 

[lmfbs]

Be creative and just enjoy the cycle. That’s how I went about it. If you have time use it. It’s one of the few times you can just throw stuff in there and not really have to worry.

Just be aware that the 'throw stuff in' method can introduce other things you don't want - like a bunch of phosphates, or super high ammonia levels which are unnecessary.

 

[Fishy888]

Just be aware that the 'throw stuff in' method can introduce other things you don't want - like a bunch of phosphates, or super high ammonia levels which are unnecessary.

I agree wholeheartedly. Never “just throw stuff in”. If anything now is the time to be extremely careful about what you add and where. If you accidentally introduce aiptasia, pyramid snails, flatworms, etc you’ll have a big mess on your hands.

 

[kian.aeineh]

Hello, I have a new 32 gallon BioCube I have recently filled. I mixed the water in the tank with my pump, salinity looks good, I used Live Sand as well as API Quick Start it has been sitting for about a week with sand settling and everything clearing up.

I went through my first water test today and I am a bit perplexed (results posted below). I seem to have no parameters throughout the tank, I am completely new to this and this is my first tank, so go easy on me . And feel free to just tell me I am being impatient.

I may be misreading the Nitrate levels, but it seems they are reading 0 as I would suspect at least Nitrite would be more than 0. Any advice to begin the cycling process would be much appreciated, do I need to spike the Ammonia with chems? Just confusion

Nitrate is low for this because the cycle has not been established. Ammonium and ammonia are high enough to be converted into nitrite in the cycle. nitrite to nitrate. Nitrate to phosphate and phosphate to nutrients