Starting my cycle, few questions.

kevyg · Jan 3, 2018

Hey everyone, I am about to start up my new BioCube 32 LED. I have decided on a Chaeto refigium, chemi pure blue, Purigen and filter floss with one side having fine floss. I'm using live Fiji Pink and dosing BioSpira. I have rocks from ReefCleaners so there is not much going on with the rocks they have been THOROUGHLY cleaned. I am also running a skimmer.

I am going to get everything started but had a few questions.

1. Should I run all of my filter media (including Chaeto) during the cycle?

2. Can pods reproduce during the cycle process?

3. If so, is it a good idea to add pods with the initial setup before cycling?

4. Should I add and other filter media?

And finally:

5. I will have the filter floss first in the filter chambers, but what order should I put the other stuff? Chaeto, purigen and chemi-pure blue?

Thanks!!!

tankstudy · Jan 3, 2018

kevyg said:
1. Should I run all of my filter media (including Chaeto) during the cycle?

No do not put chaeto in during your cycling period. You want the bacteria to use and build up their populations with that ammonia source. As for the filter media, their really isn't much for it to filter during the cycling process. I would just wait till after your cycling process and then use the filter media.

kevyg said:
2. Can pods reproduce during the cycle process?

Unless your providing an outside food source for them during this time, usually, they won't do to well. I'd wait till after your tanks cycled and its green/brown fuzzy looking.

kevyg said:
3. If so, is it a good idea to add pods with the initial setup before cycling?

I'd wait till you actually have something they can eat before placing them in.

kevyg said:
4. Should I add and other filter media?

Add as needed. For now, I would just start with the chaeto. If phosphates start creeping up, add some GFO/Chemipure. If nitrates start going up, biopellet reactors and etc.

kevyg said:
5. I will have the filter floss first in the filter chambers, but what order should I put the other stuff? Chaeto, purigen and chemi-pure blue?

I generally prefer to put chaeto before chemipure, which has GFO, if possible. Some tanks can't do that though.

Zagreus · Jan 3, 2018

Welcome buddy I don't know all the answers but here is what i would do from my own personal experience.

1. Can't hurt, do you have a refugium or are you going to use one of your filter spaces on the back of your tank.

2. Do not know. But would not go out and spend money buying any until your tank is fully cycled. I have never bought pods and I have more than I know what to do with.

3. See above

4. No it will slow down your cycle. Maybe a little filter floss but that is it and i would not change it until your tank is well cycled.

5. Do not add any chemical filtration. It's like lighting a campfire to stay warm and then peeing into it. Sure the steam will be hot, but the fire won't burn as well and as fast. All joking aside it is not needed and may prolong your cycle.

6. What are you using to create the ammonia you need to start the cycle?

7. Do not run your skimmer for the first 2 weeks.

Some advice read read read read read this form. Use the search button and read as much as you can as pretty much every single issue or question you have someone has already experienced here. It will be a huge resource to you and may even save you a lot of wasted dollars. This has been my personal experience and if I would have found reef 2 reef before I went out and bought everything that the sales marketers told me to get, I would have saved a lot of money and I would have had a better looking and more alive tank faster. Good luck and happy reefing. Zag

reefndude · Jan 3, 2018

From my experience chaeto and pods will be fine. I used a big ball of it from old tank to cycle new tank. It went through the normal cycle period. Tank is now full of pods. Only other thing I used was just a 2 pound piece of rock out of the tank

40B Knasty · Jan 3, 2018

What kind of pods are you using?
If you want them eaten by picky eaters only like pipe fish, mandarin etc.. Use Tisbe pods. They are smaller. One of the better for a tank to start with. It will take at least 2 weeks for them to start populating.
Cyclopods are the next size up and Tigger pods are bigger than the cyclopods. Those will get chowed on by most fish.
If you want to use them as a food source. Checkout the Videography Forum on R2R. I have been posting videos and having great discussions about how to manage a population of pods outside of your display tank with 2x5g tanks.
If you are expecting to get a mandarin. They WILL clean out a 32g tank in no time. So you will be looking into doing what we are discussing.

kevyg · Jan 3, 2018

Thanks to everyone for the prompt responses. I'll be honest I was headed out to do my sales route and just did not want to dig through previous posts.

I was lucky to have stumbled on this website when I was a big part of plantedtank.net a few years back. So the second I decided to jump into reefing this was the first place I went.

I am reading a solid mix of results with Chaeto and pods initially. Essentially I will get a handful of Chaeto that has pods in it. But I don't want to tick away money, effort and time if I am just shooting myself in the foot.

As for filtration, I'll toss some filter floss in the top chamber during cycle and leave it at that.

For the ammonia source, I am on the fence. I could follow the LFS advice and throw a hardy little damsel in there. I have a 4 year old girl who is relentlessly asking me to put a fish in there, so the dad in me is getting manipulated by her little "pretty pleeeeeease"!
Or
Just go buy an uncooked shrimp and toss it in there.

(Any benefits to getting straight ammonia?)

40B Knasty · Jan 3, 2018

kevyg said:
Thanks to everyone for the prompt responses. I'll be honest I was headed out to do my sales route and just did not want to dig through previous posts.

I was lucky to have stumbled on this website when I was a big part of plantedtank.net a few years back. So the second I decided to jump into reefing this was the first place I went.

I am reading a solid mix of results with Chaeto and pods initially. Essentially I will get a handful of Chaeto that has pods in it. But I don't want to **** away money, effort and time if I am just shooting myself in the foot.

As for filtration, I'll toss some filter floss in the top chamber during cycle and leave it at that.

For the ammonia source, I am on the fence. I could follow the LFS advice and throw a hardy little damsel in there. I have a 4 year old girl who is relentlessly asking me to put a fish in there, so the dad in me is getting manipulated by her little "pretty pleeeeeease"!
Or
Just go buy an uncooked shrimp and toss it in there.

(Any benefits to getting straight ammonia?)

I always did the table shrimp. Yeah it may stink, but it is better than killing a fish like your LFS has suggested to take your money for.
Throwing out a buyer beware. You might want to qt the chaeto. Sometimes there is some things you don't want. I have had aiptasia and bristle worms nested up in just a $10 ball of it.

kevyg · Jan 3, 2018

40B Knasty said:
I always did the table shrimp. Yeah it may stink, but it is better than killing a fish like your LFS has suggested to take your money for.
Throwing out a buyer beware. You might want to qt the chaeto. Sometimes there is some things you don't want. I have had aiptasia and bristle worms nested up in just a $10 ball of it.

Just toss it into my qt tank? How long exactly?

40B Knasty · Jan 3, 2018

kevyg said:
Just toss it into my qt tank? How long exactly?

It is just to observe it. When things start dying. They come out of the wood works. It was just a buyer beware thing, because who knows what the LFS has hooked up to it.
All I know is my heart sank.when I opened up my cheato reactor a few days when I seen to aiptasia heads sticking out the top. I have been through aiptasia once. I pray it never happens again.
Also so the chaeto in a qt will need lights. It is a plant

kevyg · Jan 3, 2018

No problem I have a qt tank set up with more than adequate lighting. I appreciate the heads up, the last thing I want to do is start the first journey into reefing with an outbreak.....

So you are saying, put it in the tank and observe for...how long?
I am totally doing this btw

Frankly my LFS sucks in Santa Rosa, ca (75mi) away from my house is the closest place that even vaguely has stock. And the prices are more expensive than buying across the us and paying for shipping.

That being said ReefCleaners is where I will get my cuc and Chaeto (LFS doesn't even have Chaeto)

40B Knasty · Jan 3, 2018

kevyg said:
No problem I have a qt tank set up with more than adequate lighting. I appreciate the heads up, the last thing I want to do is start the first journey into reefing with an outbreak.....

So you are saying, put it in the tank and observe for...how long?
I am totally doing this btw

Frankly my LFS sucks in Santa Rosa, ca (75mi) away from my house is the closest place that even vaguely has stock. And the prices are more expensive than buying across the us and paying for shipping.

That being said ReefCleaners is where I will get my cuc and Chaeto (LFS doesn't even have Chaeto)

I would give it a good 2 weeks. Just remember all your pods that came in that chaeto are going disperse as well

kevyg · Jan 3, 2018

40B Knasty said:
I would give it a good 2 weeks. Just remember all your pods that came in that chaeto are going disperse as well

Perfect, thanks!

saltyhog · Jan 3, 2018

I used pure ammonia to fuel my cycle. Why use a stinky piece of rotting shrimp? Ammonia is ammonia. I used this https://www.bulkreefsupply.com/ammonium-chloride-for-fishless-cycles-dr-tim-s.html

The other advantage (other than the mess/stink) is you can pretty much set the ammonia level where you want to. You can also re-dose to an ammonia of 2 after the cycle to assure that your filtration can remove the ammonia in 24 hours.

I don't see any reason to put chaeto in till the cycle is over but probably won't do any harm. I wouldn't put pods in till after the cycle. They reproduce quickly and why take the risk of killing any of them with an ammonia spike when you will have PLENTY of time for them to populate after the cycle.

Your LFS is about a decade behind the curve recommending using a damsel.

kevyg · Jan 3, 2018

saltyhog said:
I used pure ammonia to fuel my cycle. Why use a stinky piece of rotting shrimp? Ammonia is ammonia. I used this https://www.bulkreefsupply.com/ammonium-chloride-for-fishless-cycles-dr-tim-s.html

The other advantage (other than the mess/stink) is you can pretty much set the ammonia level where you want to. You can also re-dose to an ammonia of 2 after the cycle to assure that your filtration can remove the ammonia in 24 hours.

I don't see any reason to put chaeto in till the cycle is over but probably won't do any harm. I wouldn't put pods in till after the cycle. They reproduce quickly and why take the risk of killing any of them with an ammonia spike when you will have PLENTY of time for them to populate after the cycle.

Your LFS is about a decade behind the curve recommending using a damsel.

Thanks for the advice, I like the concept of sterility of the bottle ammonia

40B Knasty · Jan 4, 2018

There is no scientific proof to what I am about to say, but I feel as though if you start off with the shrimp and ghost feed the foods you plan on feeding the tank for a good month. The tank has bacteria that knows what it needs to break down. Not just here is ammonia and break that down that is not solid. I call it beating up your tank. When your tank can laugh at you when you have thrown all your punches at it. Add your live stock 1 or 2 at a time every week or other week, because for every action there is a reaction. Plus you need to build up your anaerobic bacteria. That is the bacteria that lives down in the rocks porosity. Ammonia is broken down to a less toxic form by nitrites. Nitrites is broken down to a less toxic form called nitrates. Then there is anaerobic bacteria that turns nitrates into the gas form and that bubbles it up and out of our tanks. Good surface tension and water movement helps the gas exchange.

kevyg · Jan 4, 2018

40B Knasty said:
There is no scientific proof to what I am about to say, but I feel as though if you start off with the shrimp and ghost feed the foods you plan on feeding the tank for a good month. The tank has bacteria that knows what it needs to break down. Not just here is ammonia and break that down that is not solid. I call it beating up your tank. When your tank can laugh at you when you have thrown all your punches at it. Add your live stock 1 or 2 at a time every week or other week, because for every action there is a reaction. Plus you need to build up your anaerobic bacteria. That is the bacteria that lives down in the rocks porosity. Ammonia is broken down to a less toxic form by nitrites. Nitrites is broken down to a less toxic form called nitrates. Then there is anaerobic bacteria that turns nitrates into the gas form and that bubbles it up and out of our tanks. Good surface tension and water movement helps the gas exchange.

I can totally see the logic behind that statement. I honestly haven't even thought about or considered which foods I will be feeding. I know I will give the occasional treat of the frozen packs. But does anyone have suggestions for a good all around food for the livestock? I know I will have a clownfish pair, a blenny, some small colorful damsels, and something else in time.

40B Knasty · Jan 4, 2018

kevyg said:
I can totally see the logic behind that statement. I honestly haven't even thought about or considered which foods I will be feeding. I know I will give the occasional treat of the frozen packs. But does anyone have suggestions for a good all around food for the livestock? I know I will have a clownfish pair, a blenny, some small colorful damsels, and something else in time.

Hikari brine w/ spirulina or mysis. For a flake food Cobalt with spirulina. Pellets PE.