Will instant cycle set me up for disaster ?

[Angel_V_the_reefer]

Hey guys !


Will instant cycles such as Bio-Spira set me up for a journey full of problems ie. nuisance algae and imbalance ?

how important is it to cycle a tank , and what’s the difference between an instant cycle and a cycle such as the BRS 4 month cycle ?

i am curious whether or not it is important to let my tank go ham with algae in order to establish a strong bac population.

i am looking to set up a new system. Currently my 4 hammers and pair of clowns are in a holding 10 B that is a soon to be Coral QT, so I have time to cycle !

 

[Slocke]

Can you get cycled rock from another tank, an LFS or friend?
or some bio filter from someone
That plus bottled bacteria is good in my opinion

 

[EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal]

Hey guys !


Will instant cycles such as Bio-Spira set me up for a journey full of problems ie. nuisance algae and imbalance ?

how important is it to cycle a tank , and what’s the difference between an instant cycle and a cycle such as the BRS 4 month cycle ?

i am curious whether or not it is important to let my tank go ham with algae in order to establish a strong bac population.

i am looking to set up a new system. Currently my 4 hammers and pair of clowns are in a holding 10 B that is a soon to be Coral QT, so I have time to cycle !

Establishing the nitrogen cycle and avoiding algae are two completely different things. To make the tank safe for fish and inverts, ammonia must be converted quickly into nitrate (this is the "cycle" most people talk about in reference to brand new tanks). Algae will be present -- diatoms first, then gha/dinos, and probably cyano -- in new tanks that are started with little or no true live rock. It can't be avoided without causing further problems down the road.
Nothing good happens fast in this hobby... Be patient

 

[Uncle99]

Hey guys !


Will instant cycles such as Bio-Spira set me up for a journey full of problems ie. nuisance algae and imbalance ?

how important is it to cycle a tank , and what’s the difference between an instant cycle and a cycle such as the BRS 4 month cycle ?

i am curious whether or not it is important to let my tank go ham with algae in order to establish a strong bac population.

i am looking to set up a new system. Currently my 4 hammers and pair of clowns are in a holding 10 B that is a soon to be Coral QT, so I have time to cycle !

Cycle….is critical…..otherwise fish die quickly through suffocating ammonia.
The instant cycle is fine with bottled bacteria, gone are the days of ghost feeding for months.
But the “cycle” is just a starting point, months are needed to build population and diversity of other organisms which feed the system or consume its load.
Keep close track of Nitrate, Phosphate and Alk during the first year, keep them stable and this helps to speed the maturity process.

 

[Angel_V_the_reefer]

Can you get cycled rock from another tank, an LFS or friend?
or some bio filter from someone
That plus bottled bacteria is good in my opinion

So I am a very precarious person when it comes to this. I don’t like to add anything living to my reef unless I QT. I have had bad experiences adding algae from frags and corals !

i have always used bio spira to instant cycle my reef. I have never had the uglies but I have had Dino’s before in a year old reef !

 

[Angel_V_the_reefer]

Establishing the nitrogen cycle and avoiding algae are two completely different things. To make the tank safe for fish and inverts, ammonia must be converted quickly into nitrate (this is the "cycle" most people talk about in reference to brand new tanks). Algae will be present -- diatoms first, then gha/dinos, and probably cyano -- in new tanks that are started with little or no true live rock. It can't be avoided without causing further problems down the road.
Nothing good happens fast in this hobby... Be patient

Wouldn’t keeping nutrients stable from the start prevent most of these problems however ? I would think so, but I may be wrong

 

[Angel_V_the_reefer]

Cycle….is critical…..otherwise fish die quickly through suffocating ammonia.
The instant cycle is fine with bottled bacteria, gone are the days of ghost feeding for months.
But the “cycle” is just a starting point, months are needed to build population and diversity of other organisms which feed the system or consume its load.
Keep close track of Nitrate, Phosphate and Alk during the first year, keep them stable and this helps to speed the maturity process.

This is a good statement! Luckily I’ve always had easy cycles, so I’ve never had this problem. I have had lots of trouble keeping nutrients low, however

 

[EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal]

Wouldn’t keeping nutrients stable from the start prevent most of these problems however ? I would think so, but I may be wrong

Algae is a normal part of marine ecosystems. You will have algae in any healthy tank, and in a new setup you should be prepared to wait out the normal blooms and outbreaks until the tank becomes more mature.

 

[Dr. Reef]

Few years ago I conducted a massive study here on r2r. It's called bacteria in bottle myth or fact.
We studied 9 or 10 different brands.
Fritz turbostart 900 wins in every way possible.
Bio Spira and Dr Tim one and only are runner ups.
Rest I found might be hetrotrophic ammonia sludge removers.
We use instant cycles in our qt tanks in between bleaching tanks.
Never had any issues. I use fritz turbstart 900.
Bleach the tank. Air dry for 24 hrs rinse and reset. Fill up the tank and use 2 to 3 times the amount recommended and release fish.
Algae is normal phase of every tank cycle that likely can't be avoided.

 

[TheCatKeeper]

fritz turbo start 900. end of story

 

[brandon429]

every single cycle I've set up remotely over the last 3-4 years and logged in work threads confirms what Dr. Reef says above. I have zero failed cycles the entire time, all were bottle bac cycles. failed cycle= an intented bioload could not be kept, and things died.

all animals collected in after pics from our bottle bac setups were actively feeding, posturing, acting normal all day long. the tank was as healthy as it could be even with multiple fish feedings in place...that's cycled. I've seen zero display tank cycle fails on the increasing seneye readings we're getting from bottle bac + fish on day one cycles.

willingness to hand remove the uglies vs just sit there and watch them take over makes up a large percentage of the tanks who never get lost to invasion.

the large percentage of reef tanks that do get lost to invasion chose to do nothing when X invasion began. well maybe an ID thread was made but that still no actual removal work.

 

[92Miata]

There are two major differences between bottle-bac cycling, and the long way BRS-style.

1. Bottle bac is done about 6 weeks quicker. That's time you can't get back - and maturing time is very valuable. The bottle bac tank will have coralline showing up when the BRS tank is still cycling. It'll be ready for corals earlier.

2. Bottle bac doesn't leave you with ridiculously high nitrates, and no phosphates - like continually dosing ammonia does. Highly imbalanced nitrates and phosphates are a recipe for pest 'algaes'

 

[Angel_V_the_reefer]

Algae is a normal part of marine ecosystems. You will have algae in any healthy tank, and in a new setup you should be prepared to wait out the normal blooms and outbreaks until the tank becomes more mature.

I agree ! I’m not new to the hobby but I am curious why there are so many hobbyist that still cycle for months if there are bottled bac that instant cycle, I have had no trouble with instant cycles.

 

[Angel_V_the_reefer]

Few years ago I conducted a massive study here on r2r. It's called bacteria in bottle myth or fact.
We studied 9 or 10 different brands.
Fritz turbostart 900 wins in every way possible.
Bio Spira and Dr Tim one and only are runner ups.
Rest I found might be hetrotrophic ammonia sludge removers.
We use instant cycles in our qt tanks in between bleaching tanks.
Never had any issues. I use fritz turbstart 900.
Bleach the tank. Air dry for 24 hrs rinse and reset. Fill up the tank and use 2 to 3 times the amount recommended and release fish.
Algae is normal phase of every tank cycle that likely can't be avoided.

Amazing I will check it out ! I’m definitely eager to learn the different products and bacterias available to us ! I’m sure I’ll learn a lot I don’t know! Will come back and give you my thought s

 

[Angel_V_the_reefer]

every single cycle I've set up remotely over the last 3-4 years and logged in work threads confirms what Dr. Reef says above. I have zero failed cycles the entire time, all were bottle bac cycles. failed cycle= an intented bioload could not be kept, and things died.

all animals collected in after pics from our bottle bac setups were actively feeding, posturing, acting normal all day long. the tank was as healthy as it could be even with multiple fish feedings in place...that's cycled. I've seen zero display tank cycle fails on the increasing seneye readings we're getting from bottle bac + fish on day one cycles.

willingness to hand remove the uglies vs just sit there and watch them take over makes up a large percentage of the tanks who never get lost to invasion.

the large percentage of reef tanks that do get lost to invasion chose to do nothing when X invasion began. well maybe an ID thread was made but that still no actual removal work.

That’s a big one! I believe manual removal in any algae invasion is critical. I let bryopsis take over in my previous reef by taking too long to act.

although, I do have to say that when I acted and got rid of most it came back even stronger!

is there a thread you know of that explains the right way to manual remove to effectively battle nuisance algae ? I know there’s a lot but I am definitely trying to prevent as much problems in any future build

 

[Angel_V_the_reefer]

There are two major differences between bottle-bac cycling, and the long way BRS-style.

1. Bottle bac is done about 6 weeks quicker. That's time you can't get back - and maturing time is very valuable. The bottle bac tank will have coralline showing up when the BRS tank is still cycling. It'll be ready for corals earlier.

2. Bottle bac doesn't leave you with ridiculously high nitrates, and no phosphates - like continually dosing ammonia does. Highly imbalanced nitrates and phosphates are a recipe for pest 'algaes'

Yes this is why I prefer instant cycle !

it allows me to WC once I see my nitrates rise, preventing high amounts of nutrients and unwanted algae issues.

mod course algae is natural and it doesn’t bother me, but when numbers get high, no one enjoys bushes of GHA or turf algae !