I am flat-out not a reef tester at all (the tests I use to reef are temp and salinity only) so I’d have to defer to others on testing accuracy vs calibrated readouts from places like ICP or others for trace elements
You mentioned key visual + submersion timing and ammonia action indicating your own tanks very quick cycle. Anything we can see forming in the tank like diatoms, algae, light cyano etc all by rule are deposited after nitrifiers.
We won’t find examples of tanks that have sat underwater long enough to develop any form of biofilm covering and not be cycled. To biofilm is to completely cycle
The bottle bac you used has been repeatedly used here and in Dr Reefs thread and found live/good to go, so your tank is cycled in that a starting bioload will not die
It should also be able to withstand the classic test of full water change / redose ammonia and it again oxidizes in half a day or so (the water change exports suspended bac if any, leaving only deposited ones on surface to reveal the action. In this way we can’t be getting a cheat reading on nitrification from floating bac out of the bottle)
thank you for posting your cycle example- we love relating visual detection clues + timing rules for all our cycle analyses to show consistency. Now your tank is past cycling for base ammonia control and into rock curing and maturing. As soon as coralline starts to build on the rocks that’s the sign home free is coming soon for that rock to behave better in terms of fending off algae and early primary colonizers we don’t like
*continued testing of ammonia is a combo measure of your sand which was already cycled and the bottle bac + what stuck on rocks so far and whatever may still be suspended bac in the water. A neat way to truly measure rocks alone would be to set some in a simple bucket and dose to half a ppm, see if rocks alone with no help can still oxidize ammonia.
You mentioned key visual + submersion timing and ammonia action indicating your own tanks very quick cycle. Anything we can see forming in the tank like diatoms, algae, light cyano etc all by rule are deposited after nitrifiers.
We won’t find examples of tanks that have sat underwater long enough to develop any form of biofilm covering and not be cycled. To biofilm is to completely cycle
The bottle bac you used has been repeatedly used here and in Dr Reefs thread and found live/good to go, so your tank is cycled in that a starting bioload will not die
It should also be able to withstand the classic test of full water change / redose ammonia and it again oxidizes in half a day or so (the water change exports suspended bac if any, leaving only deposited ones on surface to reveal the action. In this way we can’t be getting a cheat reading on nitrification from floating bac out of the bottle)
thank you for posting your cycle example- we love relating visual detection clues + timing rules for all our cycle analyses to show consistency. Now your tank is past cycling for base ammonia control and into rock curing and maturing. As soon as coralline starts to build on the rocks that’s the sign home free is coming soon for that rock to behave better in terms of fending off algae and early primary colonizers we don’t like
*continued testing of ammonia is a combo measure of your sand which was already cycled and the bottle bac + what stuck on rocks so far and whatever may still be suspended bac in the water. A neat way to truly measure rocks alone would be to set some in a simple bucket and dose to half a ppm, see if rocks alone with no help can still oxidize ammonia.
Last edited: