Must Have Test For Starting and Cycling Reef Aquarium

[Kev The Fish Keeper]

I have a API freshwater test kit. If In not mistaken I can check the basics with that kit, it test for high PH. My question is what other must have test do I need while cycling? I know Alkalinity, but what else?

 

[tsouth]

I am unaware of what the freshwater kit provides, but the saltwater kit tests ph, ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate. These are the fundamental tests for cycling.
If their purpose is for cycling only, then alk is not needed.

 

[Kev The Fish Keeper]

I am unaware of what the freshwater kit provides, but the saltwater kit tests ph, ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate. These are the fundamental tests for cycling.
If their purpose is for cycling only, then alk is not needed.

Freshwater test include the same. Let me make sure I understand. I dont need to check alkalinity while cycling?

 

[tsouth]

Freshwater test include the same. Let me make sure I understand. I dont need to check alkalinity while cycling?

That’s correct. You can trust what the salt you’re using posts the levels at. Think of it this way - why test for something that’s not going to be increased or decreased?

Testing alkalinity for the purposes of monitoring dosing or consumption by corals is a valid reason, but a tank going through the cycling process with little to no initial life is not, and money best saved or spent elsewhere.

Now once you’re 6 months in and stocking up (slowly ) then yes, I can justify you testing alk to see what your consumption is, assuming water changes can’t keep up.

 

[Kev The Fish Keeper]

That’s correct. You can trust what the salt you’re using posts the levels at. Think of it this way - why test for something that’s not going to be increased or decreased?

Testing alkalinity for the purposes of monitoring dosing or consumption by corals is a valid reason, but a tank going through the cycling process with little to no initial life is not, and money best saved or spent elsewhere.

Now once you’re 6 months in and stocking up (slowly ) then yes, I can justify you testing alk to see what your consumption is, assuming water changes can’t keep up.

Thanks for the info, since I have your ear. Do I need powerheads for cycling or should I wait until I start putting livestock in the tank? Do I need a ATO or can the wait as well?

 

[KrisReef]

WhooaH here.

Looks like you are going in the correct direction setting up a salt tank. To improve your outcome a few questions about your situation might help us provide advice.

What size tank are you setting up?
What critters do you want to keep in the system it after it has cycled?
What substrate(s) are you starting with: rock (live or dead or recycled)?
Sand or no sand?
Filtration?
Water movement initially?

Fine-tuning your startup may improve your long term results.

 

[tsouth]

Thanks for the info, since I have your ear. Do I need powerheads for cycling or should I wait until I start putting livestock in the tank? Do I need a ATO or can the wait as well?

You certainly do not need them, but they are incredibly valuable quality of life pieces that would be at the top of my list of investments. You’ll have to supplement rodi freshwater manually in the mean time. Power heads aren’t needed until livestock, but it doesn’t hurt to get them sooner.

I would rather buy an ATO and perform larger water changes than buy a skimmer and have to put freshwater in every day.

 

[Kev The Fish Keeper]

WhooaH here.

Looks like you are going in the correct direction setting up a salt tank. To improve your outcome a few questions about your situation might help us provide advice.

What size tank are you setting up?
What critters do you want to keep in the system it after it has cycled?
What substrate(s) are you starting with: rock (live or dead or recycled)?
Sand or no sand?
Filtration?
Water movement initially?

Fine-tuning your startup may improve your long term results.

@KrisReef its a 72g reef randy tank
I want to keep a mix of coral
Still not 100% on fish besides clown
Want to do live rock, but expensive for size tank
May do live and dry rock
Sand
DIY Sump pics are in build thread
Not sure on water movement. Thats why I was inquiring about powerheads

 

[Kev The Fish Keeper]

You certainly do not need them, but they are incredibly valuable quality of life pieces that would be at the top of my list of investments. You’ll have to supplement rodi freshwater manually in the mean time. Power heads aren’t needed until livestock, but it doesn’t hurt to get them sooner.

I would rather buy an ATO and perform larger water changes than buy a skimmer and have to put freshwater in every day.

I guess I need to get an ATO already have skimmer....lol

 

[tsouth]

I guess I need to get an ATO already have skimmer....lol

Most definitely. Cycling imo is one of the best time periods because it provides you with passive progress. You can actively research, purchase, and bypass shipping times while the tank is cycling.

A heater, salt, ro/di water, some dry rock, sand, a return pump, plumbing, and maybe some bottled bac are the only things needed to effectively have a tank running and cycling (alongside fueling the ammonia).

During this downtime, do your research on your ATO, lighting, and powerheads and get that going. So fun

 

[brandon429]

you dont need any test kits for cycling, none. in fact, the ones you are about to buy mislead in nearly every cycle. interesting fact...you're not dealing in seneye measures coming up.

if that sounds crazy Ill send you a 23 page thread of no test cycling being applied.

tests for ions CA/Alk after cycling, some tanks need those agreed.

we wouldnt throw a random mix of things and take a guess at a cycle, you can't build 23 pages like that. We would simply do what always works in testless cycling, that's how you get 23 pages of completed testless cycles with fish swimming around happily.

The absolute sheer misleading nature of what API ammonia has done to cycling made us invent the testless method, so we could actually consistently cycle. There is no must have test for cycling, ammonia is all you need to cycle a tank and api ammonia has to be used a certain way to get it to work. if you use it per directions, your cycle is going to take between 10-90 days.

and if you use testless cycling, you pick the date you want it cycled by and we'll make that happen. today, if you like...that fast of a cycle.

 

[KrisReef]

For cycling, you can use a bucket with a powerhead to keep water moving but since you have the tank and a skimmer you could just partially fill the tank with seawater, add the skimmer and rock and let the skimmer provide the water movement while the rock cycles.

I will not try to sell you on live vs dead rock, that is another discussion. If you get all dead, just add a bottle of bacteria and a bacteria food source (dead shrimp, flake food, or the old evil method of using a damsel) and wait 6 weeks and your tank will be cycled.

You don't have to test, just wait and the bacteria will grow. See post 2

How long for dry rock to function like live ocean rock

Hello all! With all of the threads I’ve seen lately about struggling SPS tanks and discussions of dry rock vs live rock I wanted to get the community’s opinion on something. How long do you think it takes for man-made dry rock (CaribSea, Marco Rocks, Real Reef, etc.) to function the same as live...

www.reef2reef.com

The ATO should be added before you start trying to keep stuff other than bacteria, but that is later. Cycling is first and you can start now and not have to wait later.

You can add sand later, or live sand now instead of bacteria in a bottle. Just make certain you rinse the sand in freshwater first;
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/the-official-sand-rinse-thread-aka-one-against-many.230281/
Good luck!

edit, Brandon has already checked it,...

 

[Kev The Fish Keeper]

Most definitely. Cycling imo is one of the best time periods because it provides you with passive progress. You can actively research, purchase, and bypass shipping times while the tank is cycling.

A heater, salt, ro/di water, some dry rock, sand, a return pump, plumbing, and maybe some bottled bac are the only things needed to effectively have a tank running and cycling (alongside fueling the ammonia).

During this downtime, do your research on your ATO, lighting, and powerheads and get that going. So fun

Just got a box of goodies more on the way.

 

[Kev The Fish Keeper]

For cycling, you can use a bucket with a powerhead to keep water moving but since you have the tank and a skimmer you could just partially fill the tank with seawater, add the skimmer and rock and let the skimmer provide the water movement while the rock cycles.

I will not try to sell you on live vs dead rock, that is another discussion. If you get all dead, just add a bottle of bacteria and a bacteria food source (dead shrimp, flake food, or the old evil method of using a damsel) and wait 6 weeks and your tank will be cycled.

You don't have to test, just wait and the bacteria will grow. See post 2

How long for dry rock to function like live ocean rock

Hello all! With all of the threads I’ve seen lately about struggling SPS tanks and discussions of dry rock vs live rock I wanted to get the community’s opinion on something. How long do you think it takes for man-made dry rock (CaribSea, Marco Rocks, Real Reef, etc.) to function the same as live...

www.reef2reef.com

The ATO should be added before you start trying to keep stuff other than bacteria, but that is later. Cycling is first and you can start now and not have to wait later.

You can add sand later, or live sand now instead of bacteria in a bottle. Just make certain you rinse the sand in freshwater first;
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/the-official-sand-rinse-thread-aka-one-against-many.230281/
Good luck!

edit, Brandon has already checked it,...

Thank you g or the great information

 

[brandon429]

her's the fastest way to skip cycle, even if you're in no rush once you add these items, you are cycled. you can then wait arbitrarily as long as you want to start; the cycle cannot starve, stall or undo.

Setup the tank with typical water and temps and rocks and sand and sumps and filters. most people are using dry rocks nowadays, if you aren't and you can source real live rock from a pet store, from a large vat like this, all wet rock with coralline and starfish attached, that's skip cycle rock.

when you bring it home it skips the cycle, no it wont leak ammonia it just skips the cycle. if you set it in your tank, your tank can carry fish and corals its as simple as that. Its how they set up 500 reefs at MACNA to all start on a friday carrying fifty grand in rare animals per tank, its not a guess method. Conventions rely on it.

*when you are invited to macna, or pay ten grand to get invited with a reef, you dont show up hoping your cycle completes, you use skip cycle biology and keep your space. For 20 years, at all marine conventions, nobody has failed to cycle by a given exact start date, that means something in the big picture.


Conversely, if you are using all dry rock

take ten pounds of the same rock above lol, and add it to your system. Ten pounds of live rock will run any starting bioload in reefing, and in 20 days all your formerly dry surfaces are now cycled by mere association.


ya'll thought I was making it up huh admit it, the testless cycle. Ive never cycled a reef tank in my whole life, Id rather get a tooth extracted. most pico reefers as a matter of pride will forego testing and begin reefing, its not to flout rules its because what conventions do are ok for me and you. just because you can carry ten fish on day 1 doesnt mean you can; there's disease prevention protocols to sort out.

if you wanted to put in some zoanthids and a candy coral though on day one lol, I know about twenty thousand people who would welcome you into the skip cyclers club. we really honestly do not test for cycling, nearly every pico reefer on the planet. the biology of a large tank with extra dilution has no problem scaling up what we've been doing two decades online.

This changes cycling into something you hope for, into something im already sure will happen as soon as you set rocks in your water.

Going 100% dry start?
ok, here's a day 1 of those too he he:

Bio-spira works great

I just started a new tank a little over a week ago. I started with all dry rock and new sand. I added a bottle of Bio-Spira and put fish and coral the same day. Never saw any ammonia and fish and coral seem healthy.

www.reef2reef.com

 

[Kev The Fish Keeper]

you dont need any test kits for cycling, none. in fact, the ones you are about to buy mislead in nearly every cycle. interesting fact...you're not dealing in seneye measures coming up.

if that sounds crazy Ill send you a 23 page thread of no test cycling being applied.

tests for ions CA/Alk after cycling, some tanks need those agreed.

we wouldnt throw a random mix of things and take a guess at a cycle, you can't build 23 pages like that. We would simply do what always works in testless cycling, that's how you get 23 pages of completed testless cycles with fish swimming around happily.

The absolute sheer misleading nature of what API ammonia has done to cycling made us invent the testless method, so we could actually consistently cycle. There is no must have test for cycling, ammonia is all you need to cycle a tank and api ammonia has to be used a certain way to get it to work. if you use it per directions, your cycle is going to take between 10-90 days.

and if you use testless cycling, you pick the date you want it cycled by and we'll make that happen. today, if you like...that fast of a cycle.

I like the sound of that @brandon429 but I have to ask is it going to cost me?

 

[brandon429]

itll cost ya much more than an all dry rock start, live rock is wet heavy gold sold by the pound for a reason.

I just edited in above a 1 day all dry start too above, we've got a skip cycle for every setup yessir

ten pounds of true live rock is cheap, add that to your normal caribsea sand reef + dry marco rocks and that still instant cycles regarding the ability to oxidize ammonia immediately vs with a wait time.

 

[Kev The Fish Keeper]

itll cost ya much more than an all dry rock start, live rock is wet heavy gold sold by the pound for a reason.

I just edited in above a 1 day all dry start too above, we've got a skip cycle for every setup yessir

ten pounds of true live rock is cheap, add that to your normal caribsea sand reef + dry marco rocks and that still instant cycles regarding the ability to oxidize ammonia immediately vs with a wait time.

Thanks for all the info I really appreciate it. I was thinking a mix of live and dry marco, so you just confirmed it for me. I'm not in a hurry but I like the fact that I can do it that way. Again thanks for the info.

 

[Kev The Fish Keeper]

@brandon429 here is a pic of my first rock...

 

[KrisReef]

@brandon429 here is a pic of my first rock...

The setup looks clean and the rock is a very nice first piece to start with! Your plans are coming together beautifully.
Is that your son in the photo? And what’s cooking in the bucket?