What now?

[Laurie K]

Hi there,

My husband, son and I are excited to enter the reefing world after twenty plus years as a family with various freshwater tanks. We have done a lot of research and have found this site very helpful, so thank you! We have a question and I know we sound like such newbies, but please bear with us lol.

Our tank has been all set up and running for a week. We have a Red Sea Reefer 350 tank, 90g incl sump; Life Rock by Caribea (we know it's not live but it apparently has some bacteria sprayed on it); Nature's Ocean Live Bio-Active Aragonite Sand (1 1/2-2" depth); heated to 75F, salinity 1.023; Ni 0; Na 0; Amm 0 (All readings have been consistent for 5 days)

What now? (Yep, that's our question)

Do we just wait? There seems to be much (conflicting) discussion about this online. There are so many variables, which we understand (using live vs dry rock, etc). One local fish store says we need to add Start-up by Probodia. Another wants to sell us "media that cycles tanks faster." One online forum suggests adding increments of ammonia, another says to add some fish food and another even suggests adding a couple cocktail shrimp to get things started. What the heck?

We just don't know what to do now or if we should be even doing anything at all. And if things start to happen, what should we be looking for? (Okay, I know that's a second question)

Any input would be greatly appreciated!

Cheers,

The Newbie Reefers

 

[Mal11224]

Welcome to R2R. Nice time to start a tank thread. There are various ways to begin a cycle in a tank. You can use a shrimp to start the cycle or use bio spira or Dr Tims one and only to start the nitrifying process. Of course you will need to test ammonia, nitrites and nitrates daily to check your progress. Good luck and enjoy!

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

Welcome to reef2reef! And Reefing.

There is Bactria on the rock. You don't need to add.
You just need to wait.

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

Welcome to R2R. Nice time to start a tank thread. There are various ways to begin a cycle in a tank. You can use a shrimp to start the cycle or use bio spira or Dr Tims one and only to start the nitrifying process. Of course you will need to test ammonia, nitrites and nitrates daily to check your progress. Good luck and enjoy!

Look at the life rock product specs.

 

[ciscomania]

i would raise your salinity to 1.025-1.026 if you plan to keep any corals.
First, I would buy any over the counter start up bacteria and add it to the tank and personally I like to add ammonia instead of ghost feeding(putting food in the tank without fish) to start cycle to speed up the process. And then give it about 10-14 days and start testing for your ammonia,nitrite, nitrate.

 

[GoVols]

Laurie,

Welcome to our Reef 2 Reef family and hope you feel at home and welcomed

 

[GBRsouth]

All those things that have been suggested for adding, are either to add a source of ammonia (either ammonia itself or food products that will break down into ammonia) or sources of bacteria to begin processing the ammonia and nitrite. It's all about having bacteria present to breakdown ammonia into nitrite, and another type of bacteria to breakdown nitrite into nitrate. As the numbers of bacteria grow, the ability of the system to support life grows.

Keep testing ammonia, nitrite and nitrate levels during this time to know when this cycle is completed. (Ammonia and nitrite levels will rise and later fall to zero before the cycle is complete.) Usually this will take six weeks to two months but can vary. Introducing one of the sources of bacteria in a bottle or not will be one of the time variables.

 

[PatW]

You can put saltwater and dry rock into a tank and add say 2 ppm ammonia. The bacteria for the nitrogen cycle are pretty much everywhere. They will find the tank, multiply and cycle it. If you add the bacteria, things will go faster but it will cycle eventually. It might take 3 or 4 weeks but it will happen.

The results you gave showed 0 ammonia. Did you add a source of ammonia? You have to do that to start the cycle. One can often buy bottled ammonia at the LFS. It takes so many drops per tank volume to get the ammonia to the right level to cycle the tank.

If you did add an ammonia source and your test read 0, something is wrong. The test was bad or you performed it wrong. I think there are you tube videos for every test known to humans, so you can find it and see if you did it right.

The suggestion of increasing your salinity to 1.026is a good one if you want corals.

Also, I would suggest setting up a quarantine system and quarantine your fish before adding them to the tank. Getting a disease into your tank is a major pain for the aquarist and it is worse for the fish. There are good discussions of quarantine on these boards. Heck, you can even use a 5 gallon bucket with an air stone. It is better to use an inexpensive aquarium but the cost of the quarantine is low. Having healthy fish is a joy.

 

[Lovemyreef2015]

Welcome to R2R

 

[KJ]

Welcome to R2R!!!
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/the-supreme-guide-to-setting-up-a-saltwater-reef-aquarium.138750/

 

[Laurie K]

Thank you, everyone, for your quick responses! We are still trying to figure out the best way to encourage cycling to start (or to just let it happen). We appreciate each and every suggestion...and we will likely have more questions as we work our way through this whole process. Super excited about this...it's the best Christmas gift to ourselves ever! Thanks again

 

[GoVols]

Thank you, everyone, for your quick responses! We are still trying to figure out the best way to encourage cycling to start (or to just let it happen). We appreciate each and every suggestion...and we will likely have more questions as we work our way through this whole process. Super excited about this...it's the best Christmas gift to ourselves ever! Thanks again

Would you like to have a pair of clownfish in your new reef?

 

[Reef-junky]

i would raise your salinity to 1.025-1.026 if you plan to keep any corals.
First, I would buy any over the counter start up bacteria and add it to the tank and personally I like to add ammonia instead of ghost feeding(putting food in the tank without fish) to start cycle to speed up the process. And then give it about 10-14 days and start testing for your ammonia,nitrite, nitrate.

+1

 

[Reef-junky]

Would you like to have a pair of clownfish in your new reef?

You giving away clown fish?

 

[GoVols]

You giving away clown fish?

Welcome to Reef 2 Reef

No, I'm not giving away clownfish but is perfectly okay to cycle a new tank with clownfish if you want to keep them for the long haul.


.

 

[domination2580]

Welcome to Reef 2 Reef

No, I'm not giving away clownfish but is perfectly okay to cycle a new tank with clownfish if you want to keep them for the long haul.


.

I sense a hint of sarcasm..

 

[GoVols]

I sense a hint of sarcasm..

Donination,

I just was answering a question in full on a cycling thread.
Not sure where @Reef-junky was coming from?

A lot of reefer's bash others for cycling a tank with damsels and I have no problem with that method.

 

[domination2580]

Donination,

I just was answering a question in full on a cycling thread.
Not sure where @Reef-junky was coming from?

A lot of reefer's bash others for cycling a tank with damsels and I have no problem with that method.

Interesting enough, it's all what the person feels comfortable with. A good thing about the hobby, everyone has their own way...and everything has a variety of answers...lol. I'm not for the live fish method unless u really start it off good with bacteria and having prime on hand. Just to be able to control how the ammonia effects the fish. Seachem prime is a additive for if the ammonia levels are above 0. You add it to detoxify the ammonia. So essentially it makes it safe for the fish....but what @GoVols mentioned is another way. It's all a personal comfort...[emoji4]

 

[GoVols]

Interesting enough, it's all what the person feels comfortable with. A good thing about the hobby, everyone has their own way...and everything has a variety of answers...lol. I'm not for the live fish method unless u really start it off good with bacteria and having prime on hand. Just to be able to control how the ammonia effects the fish. Seachem prime is a additive for if the ammonia levels are above 0. You add it to detoxify the ammonia. So essentially it makes it safe for the fish....but what @GoVols mentioned is another way. It's all a personal comfort...[emoji4]

Are you still using Comp 1+ 2+ 3+ ?

 

[domination2580]

Are you still using Comp 1+ 2+ 3+ ?

I have not been using it since I'm not home everyday to add it and I'm to broke to afford even a jebao doser...