New to Reefing, Cycling questions

[WaterMarque]

Hello All,

I'm new to this forum and new to reefing in general. I currently am running a Red Sea Max 170E. I have live rock, a crushed Florida coral sand/substrate, heaters at 79, Two powerheads, auto top-off running, etc. (I am not using the skimmer yet). I am at the stage where I am cycling the tank and I have some questions:
1. As I cycle, should I run my lights? If so, what length of day should I run them? I have the Red Sea ReefLED90, I can run it at White and/or Blue for as long as I want at any intensity level. It presets to about 10 hours a day, 1 ramp up, 8 full, one 1 ramp down, but should I be running them while the tank cycles?

2. I've never cycled a salt tank before and I don't know what I'm looking for as it goes. I've had some dead shrimp in the sup for a day now and I'm starting to see an Ammonia spike. Is this normal this early?

3. I also tested phosphates for the first time and they clocked in at around .18. IS that OK while it's cycling?

Thanks for your help. I'm ignorant enough I know there's a lot I don't know and I'm just looking for general cycling guidance.

Note: The purple is not algae, it's the synthetic dry rock.

 

[blaxsun]

1. Entirely up to you (optional).
2. Ammonia spike » nitrite spike » nitrate spike » nitrate settles back (I'm oversimplifying, but that's the gist of it).
3. Yes.

 

[brandon429]

you sole concern is now prepping the tank against fish disease which has nothing to do with cycling since you skipped it by purchasing already cycled rock and moving it into your tank. that action doesn't kill bacteria.


if the live rock was not wet from the pet store when you bought it, then it was not live and none of this applies.

if the rock was wet at your pet store and you brought it home wet, all of this applies = updated cycling science cycles your tank in the method relative to your rock origin. that isn't ocean uncured live rock, we can see by the pictures.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

2. I've never cycled a salt tank before and I don't know what I'm looking for as it goes. I've had some dead shrimp in the sup for a day now and I'm starting to see an Ammonia spike. Is this normal this early?

What is the ammonia progression?

 

[brandon429]

I think I see benthic animal proofing in the form of a pink foraminiferan at the very top of the live rock, among some pink shading offset by the coralline surroundings.

can't wait to find out if this was wet from a pet store, finger drum rolls on desk...it could easily be painted dry rock too/people call that live having not read of this distinction prior but they get the education first post at rtr that's for sure

 

[WaterMarque]

that's a skip cycle tank, do nothing, you skipped the cycle by adding live rock if that came from a pet store wet, to your home

you are now into reefing. you would not test for any aspect of the cycle, nor add ammonia, nor try and get a spike in ammonia or nitrite, see this thread using solely that kind of example you have:

A thread tracking pure skip cycle instant reefs, no bottle bac

I'm at river city Aquatics in Austin rn Now this is skip cycle live rock If kept wet in saltwater it will not: Starve Get uncycled Fail to skip cycle Cause a mini cycle See all the coralline The bottom of the tank has pods and micro brittle stars, all healthy proof of being cycled with no...

www.reef2reef.com

you sole concern is now prepping the tank against fish disease which has nothing to do with cycling since you skipped it by purchasing already cycled rock and moving it into your tank. that action doesn't kill bacteria.


if the live rock was not wet from the pet store when you bought it, then it was not live and none of this applies.

if the rock was wet at your pet store and you brought it home wet, all of this applies = updated cycling science cycles your tank in the method relative to your rock origin. that isn't ocean uncured live rock, we can see by the pictures.

The rock is dry rock, not wet. I am currently cycling. Thank you for the info!

 

[brandon429]

if you did nothing but leave the shrimp rotting in the tank for 30 days then change the water out it will be cycled

all that dry surface area will be fed + coated in cycling bacteria that come as the first wave in new tanks.

conversely, you can have it cycled in about four days if you simply add biospira, fritz or dr tims bottle bacteria for cycling...you have control over your cycle end date based on how you want to proceed. one is free and 30 days, one is fast and for-cost. still be reading on fish preps, the cycle isn't going to be hard, avoiding this will be very hard and it takes careful tank preps unrelated to your cycling:

Dreaded velvet wiped my tank :(

Hi all, unfortunately after only having my tank since jan and finally adding a few fish last weekend velvet appeared and I lost all my fish (2 clownfish, 1 regal tang and royal gramma) except my yellow watchman goby who seems to have shed his skin and has a small white patch on his head, he...

www.reef2reef.com

while it's cycling be reading in the disease forum how they prep incoming fish, tanks, and anything wet you add from a pet store to avoid that loss cycle

 

[WaterMarque]

The rock is dry rock, not wet. I am currently cycling. Thank you for the info!

 

[dstockwell]

Welcome to the Reef

 

[WaterMarque]

I think I see benthic animal proofing in the form of a pink foraminiferan at the very top of the live rock, among some pink shading offset by the coralline surroundings.

can't wait to find out if this was wet from a pet store, finger drum rolls on desk...it could easily be painted dry rock too/people call that live having not read of this distinction prior but they get the education first post at rtr that's for sure

It’s dry rock that is painted. I knew that buying it, essentially dry rock being cycled

 

[WaterMarque]

Welcome to the Reef

Thank you, I’m excited to be here! Finally.

 

[WaterMarque]

What is the ammonia progression?

I Honestly don't know yet. I threw the fish in two nights ago and tested for the first time last night. Will be doing nightly tests so I'll have a better idea then.

 

[fishyjoes]

Only thing I have to add is to consider not running the lights for the first couple of months.

You don't have corals or decorative macro-algae that you want to support at this time. If you run the lights there's more chance of something nasty taking over. If you let biofilm and such spread in the "dark" for a couple of months you can have a lower chance of the ugly photosynthetic stuff taking over.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

I Honestly don't know yet. I threw the fish in two nights ago and tested for the first time last night. Will be doing nightly tests so I'll have a better idea then.

What was it when you did measure it?

 

[WaterMarque]

What was it when you did measure it?

Yesterday it measured 1.2 on the Testing kit I have (Red Sea) and today it measured a 2. Both are the top two spots on the chart. So I'm def getting that Ammonia spike.

 

[brandon429]

all you do is sustain it for the calculated time, you choose your own end date. it's not open-ended wait any longer, that's key. cycling evolved just like all other aspects of reefing evolved and the change was: known end date to anyone's cycle ahead of time.

we no longer have to let non digital test kits decide the cycle date because when compared to any digital reading, they're off by a large margin.


precalculated cycle end dates are how they run reef conventions, 400 instant full sized reefs running all by friday / runs as long as they want with no expiration cycle, they're legit cycled/it's why the vendors trust queen angels and fifty grand in bounce mushrooms in them.


you've already inoculated the system with filter bacteria in your setup, if you wait 30 days and remove shrimp/change water it's actually done well before that's just the safe already known testless date for a shrimp cycle among rocks.

and if you add biospira, fritz or Dr Tims, specifically in this mix you have by 3/6/23 you could change the water, remove the shrimp, and be equally cycled to option one. these adherence times for bottle bac have already been tracked out, and the # of days you've already been running with the shrimp is also factored in your known cycle close date.

I wouldn't doubt that you have some ammonia in place now from that test reading/good sign/now it just stews for the chosen # of days as you read up on fish preps for disease

a cycling chart can be solved for time on one of its axes, that's what we're using in the calcs. (ammonia was the only line we look at, nitrite and nitrate don't matter)

bottle bac carries fish on day one, we're waiting +4 more days, that's included in the calculation of your cycle as well.

 

[KrisReef]

Found your other thread,
Welcome to Reef2Reef.
Start a build thread on here to track progress, trials and changes.
I also agree with leaving the lights off for as long as you can stand it or a couple of months as the tank matures.