HUGE question regarding cycling

[The Fry]

alright, what ive learnt about cycling is that theres 2 ways to do it:
1. Fish in method : Where the fish goes in (clowns) and bottled bacteria right after
2. Ghost feed with live rock and live sand as they have the microfauna (nitrite into nitrate bacteria and ammonia to nitrite bacteria + a bunch more useful critters like pods)

Now the problem is that i dont have bottled bacteria and ive started off with dry rock and dry sand. How do I initiate my cycle? I was so caught up in everything else that I completely forgot about this. Please help me guys!

tx in advance!

 

[Arego]

Save yourself alot of problems, now and in the distant yet near future. Take the dry rock back and get a few pounds of legitimate live rock. That is literally all you need. If you can't do that for some reason get on Facebook and look for local reefers and get some sand and rubble from them.

You're jumping to fast. Don't make rash moves for the sake of getting it going. It will get its pound of flesh and come back biting hard

 

[The Fry]

Save yourself alot of problems, now and in the distant yet near future. Take the dry rock back and get a few pounds of legitimate live rock. That is literally all you need. If you can't do that for some reason get on Facebook and look for local reefers and get some sand and rubble from them.

You're jumping to fast. Don't make rash moves for the sake of getting it going. It will get its pound of flesh and come back biting hard

Live rock is illegal in India and no one is willing to give me rocks from their systems. This is the reason why i went with dry. And regarding sand, I couldnt find live anywhere, and i dont wanna order from amazon, cuz by the time it reaches me, itll be dry anyway. So i went with dry aragonite. Is there anything else I can do?

 

[brandon429]

All you need is fish food and thirty days, no bottle bac, no testing, it will 100% work every time. Bottle bac is only needed if we want your first option or to be ready much quicker.

copy this, a fish food + 30 day wait no bottle bac cycle:

Build Thread - My SPS Waterbox Peninsula Mini 15

Hi all. Long time member (I think I joined right around when R2R started or took off years ago) but got out of the hobby for about 6 years and now I am back! I don't see many build threads for the PM 15 (mostly the 25) so thought I'd share my journey here. This post will be a bit behind...

www.reef2reef.com

this way exchanges tedious testing and dosing for a time frame already known to complete the job (number of days on all cycling charts, thirty days )


agreed on the live rock it’s a headache saver. Too bad you can’t get some

a nice benefit of that post above is he made his own live rock in a mere seven months ish~

 

[The Fry]

All you need is fish food and thirty days, no bottle bac, no testing, it will 100% work every time. Bottle bac is only needed if we want your first option or to be ready much quicker.

copy this, a fish food + 30 day wait no bottle bac cycle:

Build Thread - My SPS Waterbox Peninsula Mini 15

Hi all. Long time member (I think I joined right around when R2R started or took off years ago) but got out of the hobby for about 6 years and now I am back! I don't see many build threads for the PM 15 (mostly the 25) so thought I'd share my journey here. This post will be a bit behind...

www.reef2reef.com

this way exchanges tedious testing and dosing for a time frame already known to complete the job (number of days on all cycling charts, thirty days )


agreed on the live rock it’s a headache saver. Too bad you can’t get some

a nice benefit of that post above is he made his own live rock in a mere seven months ish~

So i just keep feeding the tank for 30 days?

 

[TnFishwater98]

So i just keep feeding the tank for 30 days?

Or get a damsel fish and out him in there. It will make it through the cycle but might be a bully after that.

 

[HB AL]

Grind up some fish food and toss it in the tank. Check ammonia level 24 hours later, add some more food. Then check the ammonia level again. After a week check for ammonia and Nitrite. If ammonia is low or undetectable add some more fish food, repeat the above processes in say a few weeks to a month and your ammonia should be zero and your nitrates zero and your tank is cycled. You can now add a fish or 2. Your good bacterial population will slowly increase.

 

[The Fry]

Grind up some fish food and toss it in the tank. Check ammonia level 24 hours later, add some more food. Then check the ammonia level again. After a week check for ammonia and Nitrite. If ammonia is low or undetectable add some more fish food, repeat the above processes in say a few weeks to a month and your ammonia should be zero and your nitrates zero and your tank is cycled. You can now add a fish or 2. Your good bacterial population will slowly increase.

alright okay!

 

[The Fry]

Or get a damsel fish and out him in there. It will make it through the cycle but might be a bully after that.

Since its a 13.5 gallon (easier to recapture), shall i just add the damsel, wait a few weeks, return him then get me some clowns?

the damsel im talking about is the yellowtail btw. Those are the only ones they have

 

[The Fry]

So im trying to choose between TnFishwater's method and HB AL's. Which one should i go for?

 

[MaxTremors]

Why can’t you get bottled bacteria?

I don’t think that simply adding fish food without bottled bacteria, fish, live rock, or any sort of seeding of bacteria will lead to a cycled tank in 30 days (it’s possible, but not guaranteed), and to suggest someone do so and then throw some fish in without testing is irresponsible, bad advice.

Cycling with fish is unethical. You can’t get a little bit of sand or rock or filter media from the store that sells the fish? You can’t get bottled bacteria from Amazon? There’s got to be some sort of source of bacteria other than live fish that you can use to kickstart your cycle. If you can’t find any source, then cycle it for 30 days (make sure to ghost feed), but TEST to verify that the tank is actually processing ammonia before adding any fish (this is regardless of which method you use). Again, using live fish to cycle is unethical and should not be used.

 

[The Fry]

Why can’t you get bottled bacteria?

I don’t think that simply adding fish food without bottled bacteria, fish, live rock, or any sort of seeding of bacteria will lead to a cycled tank in 30 days (it’s possible, but not guaranteed), and to suggest someone do so and then throw some fish in without testing is irresponsible, bad advice.

Cycling with fish is unethical. You can’t get a little bit of sand or rock or filter media from the store that sells the fish? You can’t get bottled bacteria from Amazon? There’s got to be some sort of source of bacteria other than live fish that you can use to kickstart your cycle. If you can’t find any source, then cycle it for 30 days (make sure to ghost feed), but TEST to verify that the tank is actually processing ammonia before adding any fish (this is regardless of which method you use). Again, using live fish to cycle is unethical and should not be used.

Wait i didnt post it here? Ah ok. I researched a bit more about cycling with fish. And ive found out thats not just unethical but straight up cruel. Im 100% not gonna be doing that. And the thing with bottled bac is that its 3x the price of what it actually is. For eg, dr tim's one and only is like 71 usd here. The other ones are off brand and I dont wanna trust those. The hobby isnt cheap, i understand, but paying so much for something thats worth less than half its price, should i be paying? Ill probably go with ghost feeding and some used filter media from a different tank. I care about the animals I keep. I dont want a poor fish to go through the stress from all that ammonia.

 

[MaxTremors]

Wait i didnt post it here? Ah ok. I researched a bit more about cycling with fish. And ive found out thats not just unethical but straight up cruel. Im 100% not gonna be doing that. And the thing with bottled bac is that its 3x the price of what it actually is. For eg, dr tim's one and only is like 71 usd here. The other ones are off brand and I dont wanna trust those. The hobby isnt cheap, i understand, but paying so much for something thats worth less than half its price, should i be paying? Ill probably go with ghost feeding and some used filter media from a different tank. I care about the animals I keep. I dont want a poor fish to go through the stress from all that ammonia.

Biospira, microbacter, aquavitro seed, Fritz, there are plenty of reputable brands, Dr Tim’s isn’t the only good brand. But, if none of these are reasonably priced, the ghost feeding with some media/sand/rubble from an established tank will also work, just verify that nitrification is happening before adding fish. Also, good on you for researching cycling with fish and changing course!

 

[The Fry]

Biospira, microbacter, aquavitro seed, Fritz, there are plenty of reputable brands, Dr Tim’s isn’t the only good brand. But, if none of these are reasonably priced, the ghost feeding with some media/sand/rubble from an established tank will also work, just verify that nitrification is happening before adding fish. Also, good on you for researching cycling with fish and changing course!

Yeup, none of the ones that are reasonably priced are from the listed brands. Ill go with what youve suggested then. And thank you

 

[oldmonk]

Yeup, none of the ones that are reasonably priced are from the listed brands. Ill go with what youve suggested then. And thank you

Check yr pm

 

[ProxyAquarist]

Sorry to hear it is so much of a challenge in your area. Here are a few ideas based on our experience. My son's new tank is into 99 days of cycling.

1. Fish in method : I have never used it. That said, we have introduced fish slowly and in low numbers at 3 months of cycling.

2. Ghost feed with live rock and live sand - Again, I have never used it. We've used regular rock and sand with bacterial inoculation or bacterial additives. If the cycling is not happening or stalled, these sources may have lost their bacteria. this can happen in transport or storage. This is why many providers refrigerate bacterial additives.

Here are a few other ideas.

3. Add Food/Protein + Bacteria - We have done both. In a recent tank we added shrimp tails in a mesh bag. Within days, the ammonia rose. Within two weeks the Nitrite rose. Within 2 1/2 weeks the Nitrate rose and peaked a 3 weeks. After that the bacteria would consume the protein like there was no tomorrow! It was as if we had piranha in the tank. The values only peaked with each new bag of shrimp tails. The values quickly leveled off indicating the bacteria were doing their job.

4. Add Ammonia + Bacteria - I have used this once. It was ideal. The rate was similar to #3, but without the phosphate spike caused by protein dissolution.

Bacteria Sourcing - I have been very pleased with Fritz. However, as you hare having trouble getting affordable bacteria consider using inoculation from a known trusted tank. A source often used is floss from a filter or rock/media from a sump or filter.

Ammonia Sourcing - Frtiz now makes a stock bottle that is affordable in the USA. If sourcing is a problem for you, consider lab grade ammonia.

I look forward to hearing what you decide on and the results. Feel ask for more advice. Below is an image of what the numbers looked like on the cycling with 10 shrimp per week in a mesh bag in a 20 long with Fritz 7.

Best wishes,

Jim

 

[The Fry]

Sorry to hear it is so much of a challenge in your area. Here are a few ideas based on our experience. My son's new tank is into 99 days of cycling.

1. Fish in method : I have never used it. That said, we have introduced fish slowly and in low numbers at 3 months of cycling.

2. Ghost feed with live rock and live sand - Again, I have never used it. We've used regular rock and sand with bacterial inoculation or bacterial additives. If the cycling is not happening or stalled, these sources may have lost their bacteria. this can happen in transport or storage. This is why many providers refrigerate bacterial additives.

Here are a few other ideas.

3. Add Food/Protein + Bacteria - We have done both. In a recent tank we added shrimp tails in a mesh bag. Within days, the ammonia rose. Within two weeks the Nitrite rose. Within 2 1/2 weeks the Nitrate rose and peaked a 3 weeks. After that the bacteria would consume the protein like there was no tomorrow! It was as if we had piranha in the tank. The values only peaked with each new bag of shrimp tails. The values quickly leveled off indicating the bacteria were doing their job.

4. Add Ammonia + Bacteria - I have used this once. It was ideal. The rate was similar to #3, but without the phosphate spike caused by protein dissolution.

Bacteria Sourcing - I have been very pleased with Fritz. However, as you hare having trouble getting affordable bacteria consider using inoculation from a known trusted tank. A source often used is floss from a filter or rock/media from a sump or filter.

Ammonia Sourcing - Frtiz now makes a stock bottle that is affordable in the USA. If sourcing is a problem for you, consider lab grade ammonia.

I look forward to hearing what you decide on and the results. Feel ask for more advice. Below is an image of what the numbers looked like on the cycling with 10 shrimp per week in a mesh bag in a 20 long with Fritz 7.

Best wishes,

Jim

dang..... I knew cycling could take a while, but 99 days?
Anyway, Ill probably just end up getting filter media from a fellow hobbyist here and throw it in the area where the HOB filter's pads go.

 

[ProxyAquarist]

dang..... I knew cycling could take a while, but 99 days?

No, it cycled in roughly 30 days. The only reason the numbers did not hit zero is that the tank gets weekly feedings of 10 shrimp tails in a mesh bag.

COVID forced my son's tanks out of his college dorm so they are at home. I say it is "cycling" because I am just keeping the bacteria feed until he returns to get the tank some inhabitants.

These bacteria are going to be really mad when they have to subsist on poop instead of shrimp.

Stay positive and enjoy the journey,

Jim

PS: The reason my moniker is "ProxyAquarist" is that I am only a caretaker for my son's tanks.

 

[The Fry]

No, it cycled in roughly 30 days. The only reason the numbers did not hit zero is that the tank gets weekly feedings of 10 shrimp tails in a mesh bag.

COVID forced my son's tanks out of his college dorm so they are at home. I say it is "cycling" because I am just keeping the bacteria feed until he returns to get the tank some inhabitants.

These bacteria are going to be really mad when they have to subsist on poop instead of shrimp.

Stay positive and enjoy the journey,

Jim

PS: The reason my moniker is "ProxyAquarist" is that I am only a caretaker for my son's tanks.

ahhh okay! The bacteria will deffo be mad tho!

 

[brandon429]

the link above answers the question without any possibility of misunderstanding


feed once or twice it doesn’t matter


wait thirty days


cycled, and at no time will a tank not be cycled. No testing is required because I just typed the worlds simplest cycling option with a link already using it we can track out to system maturity.