Hello R2R community. New 250 TSV Build Thread Coming.

[MontereyDNA]

I have a 200G Crystal Dynamics Peninsula and a Bashsea sump with skimmer and I'm eager to learn and share!

Out of curiosity, how would you cycle a tank like this? I'm leaning towards Triton and a fish only (no added ammonia) cycle with some clownfish but I'm a noob and really feel like I have to get it right out of the gate!

Anyway... long time lurker now participating!

 

[vetteguy53081]

 

[vetteguy53081]

I have a 200G Crystal Dynamics Peninsula and a Bashsea sump with skimmer and I'm eager to learn and share!

Out of curiosity, how would you cycle a tank like this? I'm leaning towards Triton and a fish only (no added ammonia) cycle with some clownfish but I'm a noob and really feel like I have to get it right out of the gate!

Anyway... long time lurker now participating!

Adding ammonia chloride or something to increase ammonia initially is often best way to tell if filters and denitrifying bacteria is doing its job. When ammonia rises then falls and holds a steady reading of Zero for at least 5 days and also nitrate rises and falls and holds at 20 or below- you are cycled.

 

[MontereyDNA]

Adding ammonia chloride or something to increase ammonia initially is often best way to tell if filters and denitrifying bacteria is doing its job. When ammonia rises then falls and holds a steady reading of Zero for at least 5 days and also nitrate rises and falls and holds at 20 or below- you are cycled.

thanks! I've heard that... how about a fish only cycle with dry rock?

Adding ammonia chloride or something to increase ammonia initially is often best way to tell if filters and denitrifying bacteria is doing its job. When ammonia rises then falls and holds a steady reading of Zero for at least 5 days and also nitrate rises and falls and holds at 20 or below- you are cycled.

I was at feedstock in Denver and the microbiomics owner gave a great talk about bottled bacteria and how to get diverse bacteria into the tank. He flat out sated that DNA testing showed that bottled bacteria products don't have enough if any of the denitrify/nitrifying bacteria we want. But he did say PNS products were the best of the bottled. I din't ask him about others because he was busy. I wonder if he's on here... forgot his name but really thoughtful/nice guy...

 

[Ocean_Queenie]

Hello & Welcome to R2R! Happy you are here

 

[Brisk]

Welcome!

 

[Crabs McJones]

Welcome!

 

[kevgib67]

Welcome, glad you are here!

 

[shakacuz]

welcome aboard the r2r board. hello from PA!

 

[Fish Styx]

Greetings and welcome to the reef!

 

[CO2TLEY]

 

[WalkerLoves_TheOcean]

Welcome to reef2reef! We are glad to have you here!

 

[Jimbhoy13]

Welcome to R2R and the salty world. Take things slowly. Lots of knowledgeable and helpful people here who will support and advise you when needed.

 

[1112-425XL]

 

[Dmmz]

Welcome to r2r

 

[lbacha]

Good luck with your build lots of good advice to be found here. If you can find some rock or media from and established tank it will really help kickstart your tank as it will seed your tank with the bacteria you need

 

[Reef By Steele]

MontereyDNA welcome to the reef. I discovered this forum as it seemed to always come up when I googled a question. Finally joined, then chose to become a supporting member and later a partner member to keep the forum available for others to come. My wife @Ocean_Queenie and I started culturing copepods and phytoplankton eventually selling some on here as a hobbyist. Eventually we decided to try to make a career out of it so we are now sponsors as well. I love the Reef2 Reef community here and the wealth of knowledge. Thanks for joining us.

 

[Reef By Steele]

As for cycling the tank, I have done fish in cycles almost all of my life. After joining R2R and reading all the ways to do it I chose to ammonia cycle my last new tank fishless. I found a product called prodibio quick start or rapid start?? It actually came in sealed glass vials. I cycled a 210 gallon Red Sea 3XL900 in 7 days. I think I ran a couple more doses of ammonia (found a chart for ounces or ml to add to my total volume to reach 2.0 and then tested with Hanna checker daily and maintained 2.0 until it dropped to 0 in less than 24 hours. Ran a little longer and maybe hotter as I had some large predators I was moving out of our XXL750 to cut the bio load. Then I added a large fish per week with no problems.

One thing I have learned and now recommend is adding copepods right after the cycle and dosing phytoplankton with at least one diatom strain. The diatom such as Thalassiosira weissflogii will consume silicates in your tank and lessen or eliminate the diatom bloom most tanks experience. It will also consume nitrates and phosphates as long as it is live phyto not condensed or reconstituted from paste.

Not a sales pitch, but we do specialize in those products. No matter where you choose to get them, I became a believer in the products which is why we started our business.

Best of luck. Start a build thread. Great way to get people following you and gathering advice and hints along the way.

 

[Gumbies R Us]

Welcome to Reef2Reef!

 

[zheka757]

Welcome to R2R!