hello everyone , I’m in week two of cycling my tank ! I hit a Ammonia spike I think of at least 2 on Sunday 1-13 by Monday 1-14 Nitrite and Nitrate started working ! Then my 3rd picture is 1-16 Ammonia looks zero and Nitrite almost to zero and Nitrate is starting to spike ! My tank is yet very clean looking no build up of any algae or diatoms or what not ! Do you all think everything is looking ok ? My salinity is at 1.023 looking to get it up think it’s it 1.024 now ! But sure the amount to add little by little lol
Week 2 cycle
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A$AP-Reefer
Active Member
question, are you doing a fishless cycle. I was looking to do one! it would be my first time ever doing so. takes only 1 week, not 6-8weeks like it used to be 5 years ago! curious on what you are doing! keep up the good work though!
This is my first time also , I’ve never had a salt tank before and I’m very excited ! I inserted a frozen/thawed shrimp x1 that’s it , I used a stabilizer and a marine buffer for a few days till I talked to another guy at a LFS he said to stop using them so I did , this is the stage I’m at ! So yeah idk fully I’m learning as I go ! I’m just hoping to do everything right ! Thank you !
brandon429
what, exactly, are you doing in your avatar
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/the-microbiology-of-reef-tank-cycling.214618/
Takes about half an hour to read, but it will change the way you approach reefing, cycling, and algae prevention that's for sure.
These rocks were brought home ready :)
The sole reason this is important to know is because knowing what stage bacteria are in, and what they can tolerate and not tolerate, allows you freedom to act without interrupting your biofilter when algae comes, soon. You are able to lift rocks out and simply kill algae vs letting it take over your whole tank, since live rock bacteria are so tough they don't die when moved from pet store to home, or lifted out of the tank to be worked.
How we approach cycling totally affects how we approach early algae invasion, which determines the lifespan of your tank and investment.
Certain groups of rock don't have to be cycled again when brought home, you bought that kind we refer to as group B in the thread, I could tell you were already cycled because of the coralline on the rocks.
Takes about half an hour to read, but it will change the way you approach reefing, cycling, and algae prevention that's for sure.
These rocks were brought home ready :)
The sole reason this is important to know is because knowing what stage bacteria are in, and what they can tolerate and not tolerate, allows you freedom to act without interrupting your biofilter when algae comes, soon. You are able to lift rocks out and simply kill algae vs letting it take over your whole tank, since live rock bacteria are so tough they don't die when moved from pet store to home, or lifted out of the tank to be worked.
How we approach cycling totally affects how we approach early algae invasion, which determines the lifespan of your tank and investment.
Certain groups of rock don't have to be cycled again when brought home, you bought that kind we refer to as group B in the thread, I could tell you were already cycled because of the coralline on the rocks.
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A$AP-Reefer
Active Member
I remember my first time. trust me its a never ending learning process. be careful what you listen to with local fish stores, not all of them are correct and will just sell you things to make money, this site is very informative and have actual scientists as well marine biologists and tons of people whove been in the hobby a long time. don't be scared to personal message anyone or just post a thread on what you need help with. someone is always on from around the world! I haven't slept since yesterday. im to happy for my packages to come I have 6 in total! which are filled with all dry goods for my fish tank that is also on its way but will be here either next week or the week after! which ill be posting a thread for my tank build! so stay tuned for that as well.
but anyways, as for the shrimp thing that is what I did my first time took a few weeks! as for they type of setup youll be doing.?? mixed reef, fishonly? softies ? what will you be choosing? !
brandon429
what, exactly, are you doing in your avatar
Second benefit of buying rocks that are already cycled:
change all or most of your water out for new made water, and add some starter corals, couple of snails etc. Wait a bit longer for fish, research quarantine of fish and see if you want to go that way. But regarding a couple starter corals and some clean up crew, you have the green flag after the water change :)
This isn't speeding, rushing, or breaking rules. A doctor doesn't put a light sprained ankle into a full fixed cast, those are for breaks. And when the break is healed, they don't keep the cast on arbitrarily it comes off when healing is complete
Your rocks have the same baseline average amount of bacteria on them now as they did on day one in your tank, or two years ago, so we're simply matching a new bioload to that detail. The thread above details that once cycled, a set of rocks doesn't uncycle as long as they're simply kept wet.
Your new tank looks nice and clean, can't wait to see it with some life, you paid extra for rocks that bring some age and maturity instantly into your tank
Since the cycle is done, we should make an algae game plan.
So let's say it's March, and light green hair algae is tufting along the top part of the rocks, what do you do?
change all or most of your water out for new made water, and add some starter corals, couple of snails etc. Wait a bit longer for fish, research quarantine of fish and see if you want to go that way. But regarding a couple starter corals and some clean up crew, you have the green flag after the water change :)
This isn't speeding, rushing, or breaking rules. A doctor doesn't put a light sprained ankle into a full fixed cast, those are for breaks. And when the break is healed, they don't keep the cast on arbitrarily it comes off when healing is complete
Your rocks have the same baseline average amount of bacteria on them now as they did on day one in your tank, or two years ago, so we're simply matching a new bioload to that detail. The thread above details that once cycled, a set of rocks doesn't uncycle as long as they're simply kept wet.
Your new tank looks nice and clean, can't wait to see it with some life, you paid extra for rocks that bring some age and maturity instantly into your tank
Since the cycle is done, we should make an algae game plan.
So let's say it's March, and light green hair algae is tufting along the top part of the rocks, what do you do?
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Awesome I’ll have to remember your name in here and look for your builds , that’ll be exciting ! Congrats ! I’m looking to do a mixed reef , corals and fish ! I hope I answered that correctly haha I really like that GSP coral
Fandom feeding like ghost feeding ? I did throw in some fish flake hopefully don’t matter but it was Betta flake , I just figured it was good ! I did that only a few days with the shrimp ! The shrimp is now out !
I had a Asterina starfish in there moving around but I took him out and also a few feather duster I believe and a few snails these were all hitchhiking lol
I like your theory and in reason makes good since ! I would be more then happy if the flag is green to add a clean up crew and some hardy coral ! Why should one wait a bit longer for fish ? What’s that benefit? When the time comes on the fish I look to firstly add Nemo as my older daughters , wife and my 4 year old son would love seeing him !!
To answer quotation on the algae , I thought I saw a video on it as you explain but this was during his cycle ! I’m gunna go in the deep sea here and say leave it alone and I think little air bubbles will also arise from it , thinking it’s oart of all the cycle ?! I do believe also my clean up crew will get after it ?!
A$AP-Reefer
Active Member
you can click on my profle picture and follow me! looking forward to seeing yours as well. followed you brotha!
brandon429
what, exactly, are you doing in your avatar
The algae reaction has many options and no single one is best
What’s best is envisioning an action before it’s required, and algae coming up is the real test for your investment. These rocks will either stay this clean, manually guided into compliance, or they won’t, based on the type of algae control you use. Find algae cure threads, pages long ones and see what patterns emerge in what works
You have one month lol clock is ticking ha but really it’s a nice clean sharp looking reef. The reason for fish isn’t due to bacteria limitation, it’s because the second you add a fish from the pet store to your tank, you are opting out of certain disease prevention protocols without considering the reasons opposite methods, delay methods that specifically add another month and a half before fish, exist.
Before adding fish we always recommend reading in the fish forum here on r2r the stickied links at the top regarding tank transfer, quarantine and fallow periods. This is minimum required reading before using fish in any marine tank, so very different from freshwater fish care yep, I found out in time.
After knowing the 76 day fallow method in and out from the fish disease forum here, then if you opt out and take another method that’s ok. But to forego even knowing the option (adding a fish before a certain 76 day time frame violates the method, there is a specific wait time after your tank cycles) means you have a 90% chance of losing all fish within the first six months. Clowns are a unique exception if that’s all you ever plan on keeping in the tank...no future plans for different types of fish. They’re pretty hardy alone but simply know the fallow tank protocol for fish care and decide.
Sorry it’s complicated but you’re getting reverse engineered info from a thousand lost reefs. They had no plan for algae, and or the plan didn’t change when the algae persisted, and they by and large opted out of quarantine/fallow options resulting in mass loss of fish.
Coral alone such as some mushroom corals and some zoanthids and some Xenia are no big deal or drain on your tank resources, and fish are. Even if you forego disease prevention, reef without fish a while for practice as the waste they bring will make your algae skyrocket. Be nimble with algae control before using fish, secret of the uninvaded.
As you take time studying before adding fish, you don’t have to reef with a barren scape. You can add a few easy corals after your large water change and take a week or two studying fish disease control this is perfect ordered timing for your system.
I’m against using fish too soon, but a cycle always follows a certain timelime depending on the type of rock used, your rocks and sand have nitrifying bacteria + a two week prep time- it’s ready.
What’s best is envisioning an action before it’s required, and algae coming up is the real test for your investment. These rocks will either stay this clean, manually guided into compliance, or they won’t, based on the type of algae control you use. Find algae cure threads, pages long ones and see what patterns emerge in what works
You have one month lol clock is ticking ha but really it’s a nice clean sharp looking reef. The reason for fish isn’t due to bacteria limitation, it’s because the second you add a fish from the pet store to your tank, you are opting out of certain disease prevention protocols without considering the reasons opposite methods, delay methods that specifically add another month and a half before fish, exist.
Before adding fish we always recommend reading in the fish forum here on r2r the stickied links at the top regarding tank transfer, quarantine and fallow periods. This is minimum required reading before using fish in any marine tank, so very different from freshwater fish care yep, I found out in time.
After knowing the 76 day fallow method in and out from the fish disease forum here, then if you opt out and take another method that’s ok. But to forego even knowing the option (adding a fish before a certain 76 day time frame violates the method, there is a specific wait time after your tank cycles) means you have a 90% chance of losing all fish within the first six months. Clowns are a unique exception if that’s all you ever plan on keeping in the tank...no future plans for different types of fish. They’re pretty hardy alone but simply know the fallow tank protocol for fish care and decide.
Sorry it’s complicated but you’re getting reverse engineered info from a thousand lost reefs. They had no plan for algae, and or the plan didn’t change when the algae persisted, and they by and large opted out of quarantine/fallow options resulting in mass loss of fish.
Coral alone such as some mushroom corals and some zoanthids and some Xenia are no big deal or drain on your tank resources, and fish are. Even if you forego disease prevention, reef without fish a while for practice as the waste they bring will make your algae skyrocket. Be nimble with algae control before using fish, secret of the uninvaded.
As you take time studying before adding fish, you don’t have to reef with a barren scape. You can add a few easy corals after your large water change and take a week or two studying fish disease control this is perfect ordered timing for your system.
I’m against using fish too soon, but a cycle always follows a certain timelime depending on the type of rock used, your rocks and sand have nitrifying bacteria + a two week prep time- it’s ready.
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My oh My - lol
I would agree having a plan would indeed help and I’ll use your guidance , 72 days seems so far out there :/ but I get it and will try hard to follow accordingly ! I have seen and come across Quarantine , drop method adding bag to water to become of same temp and then doing a slow drip cycle for the fish etc. I plan to use something ! I will look in to this forum for algae and prevention etc. you’ve delt me a great deal of knowledge and being new will take a few readings to sink in ! I do however get your main points on my rock and sand used and I’m very happy to learn I can move ahead some ! On a water change , you state large change , would a 15% on 36G tank be sufficient or should I do more ? I also for getting coral don’t have the accurate lighting yet to show them and help them grow I have just reg led light , but plan here soon to grab a light if I was to get a coral tomorrow per say would my light be a bad for it ?! I really like the GSP and have a small deal in it that it’s easy to care for and it grows pretty fast and will spread all over quickly but I tend to provide to one rock in the tank and that’s it , though bout the sand bed but don’t think I’m gunna ! I like the fact it looks like a sea grass in the tank Thank you for everything!!!
brandon429
what, exactly, are you doing in your avatar
There is no water change limit, small tank keepers change 90% weekly, your tank being larger in gallons is still the same biology. Therefore, 13 gallons, all 36 gallons, or back to back 36 gallon water changes, doesn’t matter it’s of no harm to flush out waste from any size tank. You just remake water and match it to temp and salinity of the prior, no other params need adjusting. You can use water changes to be exporting cloudy waste from the system, so that’s it’s always in tip top shape. You don’t have to accept any stage at which your tank looks invaded, old cycling threads say to await that condition. We say no, kill it out as part of the routine water changes you are doing. As the tank ages, you back off in maintenance but we never start that way in the successful nano reef. That’s not to say anyone can’t set up a bell curve hands off nano reef that crashes with cyano in 2021; it’s to say there are also ways of setting up nano reefs that ensure zero invasion, ever, and being able to access rocks outside of the tank for scraping is ok, and so is big water changes.
So in that lies the total secret to never being invaded. Every reef tank invasion you see online is the keeper running the tank the polar opposite of above. You starting that way, ensures you’ll never be invaded.
Be busy, trust your system allows for CPR- refreshing water change compressions and back off exchanges in time, after coral sets in. That is not the best way to reef, there are other ways. It’s just a fully guaranteed to work method if you are willing to see how others got invaded, then plan opposite.
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/the-official-sand-rinse-thread-aka-one-against-many.230281/page-18
It helps select among 20 different reefing options...the initially busy, hand guided, never invaded nano reef that only backs off water changes over time is the winner in all age contests. The oldest nano and pico reefs are exporters. They’re not full hands off practicers, that’s what large tankers do. Most every entrant into that tank rescue thread, the sand rinse thread, is a former hands off reefer.
Starting a nano reef as hands off is specifically what got them to the thread for invasion correction. The people who advise the method don’t do the cleanup :)
So in that lies the total secret to never being invaded. Every reef tank invasion you see online is the keeper running the tank the polar opposite of above. You starting that way, ensures you’ll never be invaded.
Be busy, trust your system allows for CPR- refreshing water change compressions and back off exchanges in time, after coral sets in. That is not the best way to reef, there are other ways. It’s just a fully guaranteed to work method if you are willing to see how others got invaded, then plan opposite.
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/the-official-sand-rinse-thread-aka-one-against-many.230281/page-18
It helps select among 20 different reefing options...the initially busy, hand guided, never invaded nano reef that only backs off water changes over time is the winner in all age contests. The oldest nano and pico reefs are exporters. They’re not full hands off practicers, that’s what large tankers do. Most every entrant into that tank rescue thread, the sand rinse thread, is a former hands off reefer.
Starting a nano reef as hands off is specifically what got them to the thread for invasion correction. The people who advise the method don’t do the cleanup :)
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