Help! How long does it take for a tank to truly cycle?

Blackcoupe369

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30 gallon here. Some have told me 2-6 weeks, others 6 months. My tank is 4 weeks old. Up until a week and a half ago my ammonia was .5 nitrites .5 and 0 nitrates. Since then my ammonia spiked to 8 ppm nitrites 5 ppm with no nitrates. I then added bio-spira and now my readings fell back to ammonia .5 ppm , Nitrites 1 ppm and now nitrates are present at 20 ppm. Am I finished cycling? Am I close to finishing? My readings have been that way for almost 2 weeks now. Where do I go from here? Thanks
 

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Yes. Once ammonia and nitrite is gone, you should be able to sustain a fish. The bottled bacteria are fantastic in assuring the tank is fish ready and that you have the right kind of bacteria in the first place. The old method of 6 months and what not doesn't really apply these days. Some tests an be difficult to interpret and thus you may see remaining ammonia with 0 nitrite. Nitrite is processed more slowly so if this hits 0 and you have something like 0.25ppm, you are fine.

PS Nitrite at 1ppm isn't harmful in marine tanks. I only stated 0 nitrite as its a convenient number and what reef tanks have moving forward.
 
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The move forward from here is often a water change to get the nitrate down to a more manageable level, and then decide how you will source your fish. I strongly recommend pre-quarantined fish for new hobbyists, or to set up a QT tank (doesn't need to be big or an actual glass tank). This applies to fish, corals, and inverts. The further you progress in the tank, the more difficult the issues from not quarantining become.

If you are running a refugium, you can skip the water change and let that handle it (assuring you have some phosphate too).
 
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Blackcoupe369

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Yes. Once ammonia and nitrite is gone, you should be able to sustain a fish. The bottled bacteria are fantastic in assuring the tank is fish ready and that you have the right kind of bacteria in the first place. The old method of 6 months and what not doesn't really apply these days.
Thanks for the reply I have been cycling with 2 clownfish. My ammonia spiked at 3 weeks at 8 ppm, my nitrites at 5 ppm, at that point of time I had no nitrates. I then completed a 50% water change and added the bio-spira. Since then it has been a week and my ammonia has fell to .5 ppm and nitrites to 1 ppm and I now have nitrates at 20 ppm but this hasn’t changed for a while. I know that my ammonia and nitrates should both be 0 but I had already spiked. Am I finished cycling? Am I close to finished?
 

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Thanks for the reply I have been cycling with 2 clownfish. My ammonia spiked at 3 weeks at 8 ppm, my nitrites at 5 ppm, at that point of time I had no nitrates. I then completed a 50% water change and added the bio-spira. Since then it has been a week and my ammonia has fell to .5 ppm and nitrites to 1 ppm and I now have nitrates at 20 ppm but this hasn’t changed for a while. I know that my ammonia and nitrates should both be 0 but I had already spiked. Am I finished cycling? Am I close to finished?

Hopefully the fish get damaged too much from cycling. In future scenarios, never cycle a tank with the fish present. Use ammonium chloride (without surfactants).

If nitrite and ammonia values are not changing, they are almost certainly 0 and that the test kit is reaching the range where values become very difficult to distinguish.

Cycling really doesn't have an enpoint, but rather stages. Its always happening, but there comes a point where the desirable bacteria has populated enough to support a young tank and will continue to do so along side future organisms that may take use of the ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate.
 
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Blackcoupe369

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The move forward from here is often a water change to get the nitrate down to a more manageable level, and then decide how you will source your fish. I strongly recommend pre-quarantined fish for new hobbyists, or to set up a QT tank (doesn't need to be big or an actual glass tank). This applies to fish, corals, and inverts. The further you progress in the tank, the more difficult the issues from not quarantining become.

If you are running a refugium, you can skip the water change and let that handle it (assuring you have some phosphate too).
Hopefully the fish get damaged too much from cycling. In future scenarios, never cycle a tank with the fish present. Use ammonium chloride (without surfactants).

If nitrite and ammonia values are not changing, they are almost certainly 0 and that the test kit is reaching the range where values become very difficult to distinguish.
Frustrating in this hobby because everyone tells you something different. The lfs told me I should cycle with the 2 clownfish. Some people tell me cycling takes 2 weeks, others 6 months. Very contradictory when all I want is to do it perfectly. I feel stuck moving forward because there really isn’t any solid guidance to do so.
 

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Thanks for the reply I have been cycling with 2 clownfish. My ammonia spiked at 3 weeks at 8 ppm, my nitrites at 5 ppm, at that point of time I had no nitrates. I then completed a 50% water change and added the bio-spira. Since then it has been a week and my ammonia has fell to .5 ppm and nitrites to 1 ppm and I now have nitrates at 20 ppm but this hasn’t changed for a while. I know that my ammonia and nitrates should both be 0 but I had already spiked. Am I finished cycling? Am I close to finished?
Why would you cycle your tank with 2 clownfish in this day and age...?

And then after your ammonia spiked at 8 - add the cycling agent...?
 
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salty150

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Frustrating in this hobby because everyone tells you something different. The lfs told me I should cycle with the 2 clownfish. Some people tell me cycling takes 2 weeks, others 6 months. Very contradictory when all I want is to do it perfectly. I feel stuck moving forward because there really isn’t any solid guidance to do so.
There is A LOT of guidance on here and on YouTube (the BRS videos...)

You just have to do your research... before jumping in...

I certainly would NOT go back to that LFS for anything...
 

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Frustrating in this hobby because everyone tells you something different. The lfs told me I should cycle with the 2 clownfish. Some people tell me cycling takes 2 weeks, others 6 months. Very contradictory when all I want is to do it perfectly. I feel stuck moving forward because there really isn’t any solid guidance to do so.
Find a new LFS. Why would you ever potentially hurt or kill fish to cycle your aquarium? Now a days, this is stupid advice.

Cycling completion just means that your aquarium will oxidize ammonia (toxic) to nitrite (not toxic in saltwater). And because nitrite is not toxic in saltwater, waiting for it to be oxidized by bacteria to nitrate is not required as it is in a freshwater aquarium. Many people are still confused about this, including LFS.

Test kits tell you the progress of your cycling. Cheap test kits give you crude estimates of the ammonia and nitrite levels in your water. If you understand this, cheap kits are fine. If you are new to the hobby, cheap test kits are going to confuse you.

By the way, welcome to R2R!
 

salty150

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FWIW the BRS 52 Weeks of Reefing series promotes fish-in cycle…
And is 8 years old... a "lifetime" in this ever-evolving hobby...

They have done several newer cycling videos since then...

Including the latest one we are all waiting for results on.
 

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Frustrating in this hobby because everyone tells you something different. The lfs told me I should cycle with the 2 clownfish. Some people tell me cycling takes 2 weeks, others 6 months. Very contradictory when all I want is to do it perfectly. I feel stuck moving forward because there really isn’t any solid guidance to do so.


There are definitely a lot of opinions. The best way to sift through it would probably do the following:
1. Do they present a clear, logical, and sound reason?
2. Does this make sense from a biological perspective (i.e. would this make sense in the context of how the fish are in the wild)
3. How do they know the information is true or well supported. This is a big one. Many people will make clams, but can't tell you how they know for sure that what they are saying is true or supported. You can keep digging at this by constantly asking how in your mind to each response. My reason for not cycling with fish is that ammonia is toxic to fish, levels during cycling can cause physiological damage (or death) to fish, and that there are very cheap and quick alternatives.

Some methods are simply dated, and many of those linger around. If you hear info on old posts or from someone who has been in the hobby for a long while but still sticks to their original methods, you might want to check to see if better methods have come about. And also, if someone points out a mistake on here, never take it as a personal comment. Its nearly always in an attempt to have you achieve better success in reef keeping :)
 

brandon429

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removed, no tank pics given per request.
 
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KrisReef

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I’m glad the clownfish handled the measured ammonia spike and lived through it. Based upon the thread thus far I think you should let the tank rest a couple of weeks before you make new additions.
Your “AMMONIA” cycle is functional and moving forward slowly is the simple way to minimize ecological stress in the system going forward. Congratulations on the first milestone!
Welcome to Reef2Reef.
 

brandon429

why did you put a reef in that
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in the disease forum, Jay has discussed specific signals of ammonia burning in fish? Opercular rates elevated, blood red gills, aerotaxis (hovering at the top seeking oxygen due to damaged gills, perhaps laying near death at the bottom, something we can see as a symptom)

Have you noticed as cycle umpires that's never happening in these threads? Does that factor before we tell people they're harming fish with ammonia?
 

KrisReef

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in the disease forum, Jay has discussed specific signals of ammonia burning in fish? Opercular rates elevated, blood red gills, aerotaxis (hovering at the top seeking oxygen due to damaged gills, perhaps laying near death at the bottom, something we can see as a symptom)

Have you noticed as cycle umpires that's never happening in these threads? Does that factor before we tell people they're harming fish with ammonia?
I think folks post “HELP” when they scorch a fish, and I have not noticed this particular point before you mentioned it but I think you might have a good point, come to think about it?

Im going to drive to the Port of Long Beach this morning so I will have some drive time to further consider your suggestion and observations, in between cursive avoidance measures on the road.
image.jpg

This Chinchilla is in full agreement.
 
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Blackcoupe369

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Hopefully the fish get damaged too much from cycling. In future scenarios, never cycle a tank with the fish present. Use ammonium chloride (without surfactants).

If nitrite and ammonia values are not changing, they are almost certainly 0 and that the test kit is reaching the range where values become very difficult to distinguish.

Cycling really doesn't have an enpoint, but rather stages. Its always happening, but there comes a point where the desirable bacteria has populated enough to support a young tank and will continue to do so along side future organisms that may take use of the ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate.
My 2 clownfish haven’t been eating and I’m afraid to add more fish.
in the disease forum, Jay has discussed specific signals of ammonia burning in fish? Opercular rates elevated, blood red gills, aerotaxis (hovering at the top seeking oxygen due to damaged gills, perhaps laying near death at the bottom, something we can see as a symptom)

Have you noticed as cycle umpires that's never happening in these threads? Does that factor before we tell people they're harming fish with ammonia?
It has been over a week since my ammonia spiked… since then it has fell from 8 ppm to .5 ppm. They seemed really out of whack but since then I must admit even myself is amazed at their progress. They seem to be doing a lot better but still not feeding. They are swimming very strong now but continue to pace on the glass. No physical signs of damage. They look spectacular, 2 beautiful MochaVincis
 

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