Tank finished cycle, fish in quarantine. What to do in the meantime?

[Bishopreef]

So my tank finished cycle yesterday, i did dr tims cycle and on day 10 i was able to add dr tims ammonia at 2ppm at 9am and by 9pm i was reading ammonia 0, nitrite 0.1 ( im using salifert tests ) Nitrates are at 20 plus

I have my fish quarantining and they are on day 14.

Im now on day 11! I added a small amount of ammonia today to keep the cycle going but i am concerned that my cycle will stop.

What should i do? I plan to add my fish on day 30 of the quarantine! ( I have two clown fish, royal gramma and a tomini tang. I plan to first transfer the clown fish and within two weeks transfer the other two fish )

 

[Azedenkae]

You don't need to really do anything. Nitrifiers can go for prolonged periods ammonia-starved without dying off at any significant amount.

If you really want to be sure, you can dose 2ppm ammonia every week or two. That's all you need to do.

 

[dmsc2fs]

You could order Poseidon's feast and drop it in the tank for a pod jumpstart.

 

[Bishopreef]

You could order Poseidon's feast and drop it in the tank for a pod jumpstart.

great shout! Thank you. I actually plan to setup part of the sump as a refugium

 

[shakacuz]

planning on adding corals or is this a FOWLR?

 

[brandon429]

A cycle cannot be starved even if you stopped feeding for 4 years fallow. The catch is the tank needs to be open topped vs sealed

Starved cycles are completely false science. The more wait, the more bacteria from contaminants and feed sources in your home, even if you add nothing. Water doesn’t get sterile over time, it gets increasingly contaminated into a mini biome that catches food on its own.

courtesy: new cycling science.


go get some clear packing tape a strip two feet long. Bounce the sticky side up and down/ light sticks and pull up on top of your fan blades in the home, on the tops


then go do it to baseboards

go hold that tape up to the light, look at the funk, the gnat wings


theres your carbon and bacterial rafts, the main bacterial sourcing is the fact you didn’t pre boil any water used in topoff or make. The tape trick is the feed. Cycles cannot starve.

 

[brandon429]

You did a dang good job on quarantine preps that’s rare. That’s cutting edge 2022 reefing.


in Dr. Reefs bottle bac thread, page 97 onward, mSteven1 up cycles a vat of dry rocks with no feed no bacteria in four months and then it passes 1 ppm api ammonia oxidation proofing overnite. That’s further proof cycles cannot starve, they will self cycle given enough time.

 

[Bishopreef]

planning on adding corals or is this a FOWLR?

I will be adding corals but i want to get past the ugly stage first, havent decided whether to get radion xr30 or al hydra lights

 

[shakacuz]

I will be adding corals but i want to get past the ugly stage first, havent decided whether to get radion xr30 or al hydra lights

i recommend 2 AI prime. much more flexible, and then you can maybe add an LED bar later on(recommend the aliexpress version as it is significantly cheaper than the big box brands and works the same)

 

[Bishopreef]

You did a dang good job on quarantine preps that’s rare. That’s cutting edge 2022 reefing.


in Dr. Reefs bottle bac thread, page 97 onward, mSteven1 up cycles a vat of dry rocks with no feed no bacteria in four months and then it passes 1 ppm api ammonia oxidation proofing overnite. That’s further proof cycles cannot starve, they will self cycle given enough time.

Haha, trying to be careful as possible and keep telling myself, time wasted now will save me down the line. While im buying coral and more fish in my head plotting

 

[shakacuz]

time wasted now will save me down the line.

an ounce of prevention is worth a pound in cure! - BRS

 

[Bishopreef]

i recommend 2 AI prime. much more flexible, and then you can maybe add an LED bar later on(recommend the aliexpress version as it is significantly cheaper than the big box brands and works the same)

Yeah ive been googling alot about doing this, ive just got someone who will sell me a 6 month radion for $500 which is tempting me

 

[shakacuz]

Yeah ive been googling alot about doing this, ive just got someone who will sell me a 6 month radion for $500 which is tempting me

that is quite tempting! even with the ration you can still supplement with the LED bar

 

[Bishopreef]

an ounce of prevention is worth a pound in cure! - BRS

what tank do you have?

 

[brandon429]

You’re literally done testing for, or caring about in any way, ammonia and nitrite for the life of this good reef you’re building. Cycling is done and then don’t look back. Plus the ten day ammonia drop is neat: matches every cycling chart ammonia line ever written, books or web, and we have been studying ten day drops for thirty pages straight in the how to unstick any cycle thread in the newbs forum.


ten day drops are so reliable that when people state: help, im on day 20 and the ammonia is stuck, their tester is wrong or their interpretation of it. There aren’t any varied ammonia drop line cycle charts, there’s only poor test interp or in some cases totally misreading kits. I have threads where 2 year old full reefs post uncycled on both Red Sea and api.

 

[shakacuz]

what tank do you have?

aqueon 40B drilled with a fiji overflow box

 

[Bishopreef]

that is quite tempting! even with the ration you can still supplement with the LED bar

Im trying not to make impulsive buys but i know someone will snap it up if i dont. I also like the fact of only having one mounting arm when i eventually get a lid

 

[Bishopreef]

You’re literally done testing for, or caring about in any way, ammonia and nitrite for the life of this good reef you’re building. Cycling is done and then don’t look back. Plus the ten day ammonia drop is neat: matches every cycling chart ammonia line ever written, books or web, and we have been studying ten day drops for thirty pages straight in the how to unstick any cycle thread in the newbs forum.


ten day drops are so reliable that when people state: help, im on day 20 and the ammonia is stuck, their tester is wrong or their interpretation of it. There aren’t any varied ammonia drop line cycle charts, there’s only poor test interp or in some cases totally misreading kits. I have threads where 2 year old full reefs post uncycled on both Red Sea and api.

Awesome! Would you say dose the 2ppm in 10 days then, or i can dose a smaller amount?

 

[Bishopreef]

aqueon 40B drilled with a fiji overflow box

Nice! Hows it going? Reef tank or fish only.

 

[brandon429]

How did you determine from my rant that cycles can’t starve, and that youll never need to test for or consider ammonia or nitrite for the life of the reef that more ammonia at 2 ppm is needed in ten days

have you seen the movie back to school

im the meme of sam kinnison’s red face when he’s ranting about vietnam to rodney dangerfield based on that question