High nitrites during cycle

[brandon429]

your biofilter will 100% carry that stocking plan just fine, certain. nice tank too/open scape it'll be easy to access rocks for lifting out occasionally to clean off expected invasions vs let them takeover, new tank headaches like algae and cyano for example.

 

[Reef craze]

I plan to set up a display Refugium also next to this tank as a low flow Macro tank going with a 20 gallon plumbed into the main display.

 

[Garf]

I plan to set up a display Refugium also next to this tank as a low flow Macro tank going with a 20 gallon plumbed into the main display.

Randy Holmes Farley has a plethora of articles on reefkeeping from a scientific perspective, can i suggest you read them over and over again, if you haven’t already. That would keep you busy for a while :)

 

[Reef craze]

Yeah looking them up now

 

[Reef craze]

I do have 1 more question. I get conflicting info. So how long does bacteria lI’ve in a reef tank with no ammonia source. So I qt for 30 before adding fish to my tank. How do I keep the biological filtration from dying. Do I keep dosing ammonia or do I ghost feed or do I just leave it alone and do nothing.

 

[Garf]

I do have 1 more question. I get conflicting info. So how long does bacteria lI’ve in a reef tank with no ammonia source. So I qt for 30 before adding fish to my tank. How do I keep the biological filtration from dying. Do I keep dosing ammonia or do I ghost feed or do I just leave it alone and do nothing.

I would put a tiny pinch of food in every couple of days, just for the hell of it and mature the tank a bit, but it’s probably not required from an ammonia reducing perspective.

 

[brandon429]

cycled bacteria, locked into biofilm slicks like yours are by day ten, cannot be starved in an open topped tank its not possible. They self feed from daily input contaminants and not one thread example exists on the entire internet for starving a cycle, its that certain.

we have folks who bring up totally dry tanks in 3 months of merely circulating water, nothing added, a true wait cycle.

the home provides both the bacteria and the feed, bottle bac is optional only to speed up the wait. no feeding is required we have ready examples for this study too. since cycles will self feed and self inoculate given 3 or 4 months, that means we can't starve them thereafter they're actually still taking on mass daily even if we dont feed. in the dust on top of fan blades and blinds in the home and my own baseboards, that's dust/carbon/gnat wings/some human cells/ and when all that gets into water: bacteria food.

homes aren't clean enough to starve cycles, positive pressure microbiology labs might be.

I have a three year feed withholding study and the rocks instantly passed ammonia oxidation, without dormancy wake up time they were active during the whole wait.

 

[Reef craze]

cycled bacteria, locked into biofilm slicks like yours are by day ten, cannot be starved in an open topped tank its not possible. They self feed from daily input contaminants and not one thread example exists on the entire internet for starving a cycle, its that certain.

we have folks who bring up totally dry tanks in 3 months of merely circulating water, nothing added, a true wait cycle.

the home provides both the bacteria and the feed, bottle bac is optional only to speed up the wait. no feeding is required we have ready examples for this study too.

I have a three year feed withholding study and the rocks instantly passed ammonia oxidation, without dormancy wake up time they were active during the whole wait.

Cool thank you. So no harm in waiting And letting the tank do it’s thing. I’m in no rush to get fish in the tank. Ill set up an emergency qt and add some marine pure balls and filter and heater and qt my fish for 30 days and look for disease and feeding. Thank you.

 

[Garf]

Cool thank you. So no harm in waiting And letting the tank do it’s thing. I’m in no rush to get fish in the tank. Ill set up an emergency qt and add some marine pure balls and filter and heater and qt my fish for 30 days and look for disease and feeding. Thank you.

You could probably run some of them balls from your sump, in a hang on filter for your quarantine, insta QT.

 

[Reef craze]

You could probably run some of them balls from your sump, in a hang on filter for your quarantine, insta QT.

That was my thinking. Thanks for all your help really appreciate it. I like the new way we see reefing. You guys really know your stuff.

 

[Reef craze]

So I’m assuming you set up a qt for fish one for inverts and one for coral. I seen threads from people on qt inverts and coral. So am I correct in assuming you all set up 3 separate qts

 

[brandon429]

thats on the continuum of disease choices agreed, totally clean separation of animals/highly rigid medical-like isolations to observe animals before including in the display, and then dirtier methods which still present a markedly higher fish retention rate by 8 months than no preps at all.


the most common method is strictly qt and isolate new fish, they get observation time and in many cases anticipatory treatment for common infections to the group...tangs and crypto for example. or clownfish and brooklynella

but for animals like corals and snails with shells/those too can bring in disease but just at a much lower rate than being totally isolating in all preps and handling. that continuum choice exists, everyone is trying to find the best combo.

sometimes people choose to forego common fish food from the pet store, they hand make all their food from human seafood options at the local store, preventing disease with better diet as we know works too in humans. anything is better than buy lfs/add

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/can-adding-inverts-cause-disease-outbreak.864490/

 

[Reef craze]

Thank you for the info. Time to plan my path then. You gave me a lot to think about. I followed you on here to keep an eye on more info you provide.

 

[brandon429]

thank you much, hope we can keep learning about aquarium trending as the days go by. I like watching rtr posts for new patterns.

also handy to consider

I know its a hassle to have to prepare all the extra holding tanks, other options exist but with restrictions I feel.

if we read all of nano-reef.com, 20 yrs of nano reef data, we can see they hardly ever do these disease preps. they cycle a tank, add two clowns and a goby, and get very high retention rates by month 8/totally opposite prediction outcomes from above.


there's something inherently strong in the breeding of 2 clownfish and gobies in order to stave off the common headaches we see daily in the disease forum here. On these larger tanks from rtr, far more speciation is used and that's bringing in more disease among lesser immunity. I think systems that are ok with two clowns and a goby max really do have a chance in skipping protocols, feeding well, and select the best pet store specimens.


past that speciation its all down hill without the preps yep.