First time reef keeping need knowledge.

[chiro]

Ive been cycling my reef tank for few days. Can Api quickstart only be used once or i can use it for dosing every 7 days? Because its not in the instruction. If not what brands would you recommend for dosing? And how fast does this api brand cycle my tank?

 

[Fish Fan]

There would be no need to dose API QuickStart beyond the initial dose to start your cycle

 

[ScottJ]

There is quite a bit of knowledge here ;
The Supreme Guide To Setting Up A Saltwater Reef Aquarium | Reef2Reef

 

[Boehmtown]

Best advice I have to give, is your rock is worth more than anything else in the tank. Don't let it be an afterthought, seed it with real live rock, it at least a bunch of stuff from indo Pacific Sea farms

 

[chiro]

Best advice I have to give, is your rock is worth more than anything else in the tank. Don't let it be an afterthought, seed it with real live rock, it at least a bunch of stuff from indo Pacific Sea farms

This is what the rock i have looks like. Some rocks are getting darker as days goes by. Not a rock expert so lemme know if its a legit one

 

[JakeNova]

Best advice I have to give, is your rock is worth more than anything else in the tank. Don't let it be an afterthought, seed it with real live rock, it at least a bunch of stuff from indo Pacific Sea farms

This is what the rock i have looks like. Some rocks are getting darker as days goes by. Not a rock expert so lemme know if its a legit one

Be patient the start is the hardest part.

Its only difficult because this is when you make or break your aquarium.

 

[Fish Fan]

This is what the rock i have looks like. Some rocks are getting darker as days goes by. Not a rock expert so lemme know if its a legit one

Looks like a dry rock/sand start. Did you add anything to raise the ammonia concentration? You'd want to get the ammonia up to about 2.0 ppm to get your cycle started, in addition to the API QuickStart product. Almost all of these bacteria-in-a-bottle products take +/- 3 weeks to cycle, no matter what it says on the bottle

The notable exception seems to be Fritz TurboStart specifically. This product seems to work much more quickly at establishing a biofilter that is safe for fish, in as little as 24 to 48 hours. I'd go with Fritz TurboStart if you're in a hurry to add fish. Corals can be added even to an uncycled tank

 

[chiro]

This is what the rock i have looks like. Some rocks are getting darker as days goes by. Not a rock expert so lemme know if its a legit one

Looks like a dry rock/sand start. Did you add anything to raise the ammonia concentration? You'd want to get the ammonia up to about 2.0 ppm to get your cycle started, in addition to the API QuickStart product. Almost all of these bacteria-in-a-bottle products take +/- 3 weeks to cycle, no matter what it says on the bottle

The notable exception seems to be Fritz TurboStart specifically. This product seems to work much more quickly at establishing a biofilter that is safe for fish, in as little as 24 to 48 hours. I'd go with Fritz TurboStart if you're in a hurry to add fish. Corals can be added even to an uncycled tank

Yeah sadly fritz and dr tims aren't common in my country and it'll take weeks before it gets shipped here and its very expensive

 

[Boehmtown]

This is what the rock i have looks like. Some rocks are getting darker as days goes by. Not a rock expert so lemme know if its a legit one

It's all dry rock. Doable ,but it'll honestly take about a year till it's ok rock, and 2 till it's really good. As you get corals etc there will be some of the "live" part of the live rock. You're basically building your own live rock. Good part is, you're able to more tightly control the pests that get introduced. I started with dry rock only any have almost none of the common pests, no bubble algae, no aptasia, no vermitted. Enjoy the journey

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

what are the parameters? Thats the way to know how a cycle is doing, what is the ammonia and nitrate?

I read that you started with bacteria but I don't see ammonia? You need to add a pinch of fish food or a shrimp or something for the ammonia to feed on. Again, this can be tracked by testing.

No need to dose bacteria, once its in the tank its there, adding more doesn't do anything. A dry rock cycle takes 3-4 weeks, the tank will be cycled when the ammonia is zero and nitrate should be 10-20+. Do you have test kits?

 

[Michael Hughes]

Best advice I have to give, is your rock is worth more than anything else in the tank. Don't let it be an afterthought, seed it with real live rock, it at least a bunch of stuff from indo Pacific Sea farms

Unfortunately IPSF has been down for a couple months dealing with cyclone damage. I'm really hoping they come back because I also wanted to seed my new tank with some of their stuff...

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Ive been cycling my reef tank for few days. Can Api quickstart only be used once or i can use it for dosing every 7 days? Because its not in the instruction. If not what brands would you recommend for dosing? And how fast does this api brand cycle my tank?

It takes time for bacteria to get going. It can take weeks. Fritz turbo is among the fastest, but just waiting with the API will work.

 

[Fish Fan]

Yeah sadly fritz and dr tims aren't common in my country and it'll take weeks before it gets shipped here and its very expensive

The QuickStart is fine. You do need something for ammonia as mentioned above. I would add a piece of shrimp from the seafood market or a few big pinches of fish food to get things going.

 

[Boehmtown]

Unfortunately IPSF has been down for a couple months dealing with cyclone damage. I'm really hoping they come back because I also wanted to seed my new tank with some of their stuff...

Dang. I have started every tank with their stuff and every tank has been great, all of the cleanup crew they sell eats whatever is in their systems. Like a whole closed ecosystem in a box. It's definitely a shortcut setting up a dry rock tank. I got zero unintentional pests

 

[chiro]

what are the parameters? Thats the way to know how a cycle is doing, what is the ammonia and nitrate?

I read that you started with bacteria but I don't see ammonia? You need to add a pinch of fish food or a shrimp or something for the ammonia to feed on. Again, this can be tracked by testing.

No need to dose bacteria, once its in the tank its there, adding more doesn't do anything. A dry rock cycle takes 3-4 weeks, the tank will be cycled when the ammonia is zero and nitrate should be 10-20+. Do you have test kits?

I just got my testkit earlier and this is my results after 5 days (i hope its doing fine and progressing really well)

 

[Fish Fan]

It's hard to say without knowing what the ammonia concentration was when you started the cycle process, but to me this looks cycled. If you're ammonia was up to about 2.0 ppm initially and is now down near zero, you should be safe to start slowly adding some hardly livestock.

You can dose enough ammonia today to being the level back up to about 2.0 ppm, and then check again in 24 hours. If the ammonia is down near zero, you're good to go

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

I just got my testkit earlier and this is my results after 5 days (i hope its doing fine and progressing really well)

The tank is likely ready to start adding organisms slowly.

The nitrate result is not accurate since the nitrite will lead to a false high nitrate reading.