Early stages of cycling

[imaginal]

Hi All,

So I've had my tank for about 3 weeks but didn't start the cycling process until a few days ago. I added about 30lbs of dry live rock to a 40 gal tank, then the 100mL bottle of bio spira to the tank. I'm starting to see a bunch of green algae and a few spots of purple taking root. Salinity at 1.022 and temp at 78, Ph is around 8.1. Running a power filter with carbon but will have my protein skimmer in about a week. 2 power jets moving things around. Light is only on about 4 hours while I'm home staring at the tank and reconsidering rock placement.

The LFS guys say that I need this to run for a while, they will test the waters, then I need to add snails and hermit crabs to make sure everything is ok. Their advice seems sounds, but I'm open for other suggestions. I've read that I should start with a fish during this process, and other posts saying I should wait weeks. Should I buy the nitrite and amonia test kits and track my own process or do it by feel and take the LFS opinions? What about snails being the first additions?

 

[Derbird]

One of the best investments you can make is a good set of test kits. It is invaluable to be able to see what is going on in your tank even when your LFS is closed.

*the following is my opinion, there are many out there*

The standard cycle is ammonia will spike, then drop as nitrites spike, then drop as nitrates spike. You may see several spikes and drops of these but after nitrates spike then drop to say 40 (this will vary from tank to tank) and you can read no ammonia or nitrites your tank has cycled.

Now cycled dose NOT mean stable. You can start adding hardy fish and coral but slowly. You will need to let your system adjust to the larger bioload. Nothing good ever will happen quickly keeping a reef tank.

You can add hermits and snails after algea takes over your tank. I have had some come on my live rock and make it through the cycle. Just be sure you have enough for them to eat.

And for my favorite rant Please, please do not put a fish, even a damsel in your tank to cycle it. They may be able to live through the prossess but it still is harmful to them. They will be exposed to toxic levels of harsh chemicals that I can only imagine is fishy hell. You can put a raw shrimp for the seafood department in the sand and let it rot to jump start the cycle, or you can pretend you have a fish and put a pinch of food in every few days to do the same job. You just need something rotting to make the ammonia to kick start the cycle.

Oh and your numbers look pretty good. If your going with a tropical reef you might raise your salinity to 1.024 - 1.026

Sorry to write so much but I hope it was helpful

 

[Ratfish]

As some one that's only been in the hobby for a little over a year here are somethings I remember I wish I knew/or would help. Second on getting test kits. API kits work fine, (there is a kit with ammonia, nitrate, nitrite & pH), all you need in beginning. but be sure to get either a pipette or preferably a syringe marked in ml. The lines on API tubes are not 5ml, not even close. You don't need to test every day. About every 3-4 days. If you go longer you may not know where in the cycle you are. It is best not to add anything during the cycle. This will give you time to do research on livestock, check compatibilities and see how your tank runs, dial in timers and make sure all your equipment runs. Better to be choosy on critters than to plop something in. Once the cycle is over then, hardy livestock can be added. You can add snails and hermits once the cycle is over. technically your tank will be balancing itself out for many weeks to come but snails and hermits are hardy once Nitrite levels drop to no reading.

Hermits are pretty hardy, I prefer red legs. Not as active as blue legs, but the don't usually bulldoze and close up my zoas or other corals. Sometimes I will peek in the tank and see a bunch of corals closed and sure enough one of the blue legs is barreling over everything.

My favorite snails are trochus and astrea. good cleaners. watch out because nature wasn't too kind to astreas. They are unable to right themselves if they fall over so place them by hand so they latch on. I had one that fell down into my overflow in my 90gal. poor guy.

There are plenty of other cleaners, do some research on behavior, what they clean/eat and where they clean: substrate, glass, rocks... pick a diverse crew that covers all the bases and one that works for the rest of the tank.

Hope that helps. Always things you'd wish you'd knew looking back. My best advice it to look stuff up, ask and have a plan.

 

[TJL]

All great advice/info ^above^ just take your time and research your desired livestock before purchase and you will be set to enjoy your Reeftank.

Cheers, Todd

 

[Liratram76]

This exactly where I am more or less. Have just out five hermits in the tank. They stir it up! It's pretty exciting.

 

[TJL]

(imaginal) Let me know when you'd like to try some 'Starter Corals' I'd be happy to give you some to get things going. (Liratram76) You as well since I'm literally just up the hill from you. Shoot me a pm if/when interested for a visit.

Cheers, Todd

 

[Solov]

I agree on the fish. Besides there's another lesson to be learned here - I still have Velvet Damsel that was one of my "starter" guys. It now lives alone (it outlived some, made my clown suicide) because it will not tollerate anyone else in her tank, not even corals. It's a sad 20G , which i cannot shut down now 'cause she needs somewhere to live. And it's been 10 years, 6 of which have been like that.

So make your tank stable, decide what you actually want, research compatibility and proceed with caution!

 

[imaginal]

All excellent advice. I appreciate the assistance. I've been using the elos pH and liking that brand well enough. I'll pick up amonia/nitrite tonight. Nitrate/Phosphate I'll probably wait until I'm a little closer. Once a tank is cycled, I've heard there is really no more need for amonia/nitrite testing as both should be zeroed out. Do you periodically still check these variable, or is it pretty much just a waste at some point?

TJL: Thanks for the offer! I figure I have a few months before I'm ready for coral, but that is definitely where I would like to go. I keep myself awake at night with the t5/metal hallide/LED choices. That is a question for a different thread.

 

[Solov]

Once a tank is cycled, I've heard there is really no more need for amonia/nitrite testing as both should be zeroed out. Do you periodically still check these variable, or is it pretty much just a waste at some point?

Yes, if you have enough rock you should never have amonia (and subsequently nitrite) problems... unless you kill everything at once and let it rot or something :spider: Nitrates and phosphorus will be your best friends from 6weeks on Refugium/GFO/Bio pellets are all good solution for those.

 

[imaginal]

Ok. Ammonia and nitrite tests purchased and used. Temp 78. Salinity 1.023. pH 8.1. Ammonia .1 (elos nh3/4) Nitrite .2. A few questions. How often should I be testing to see changes in these numbers? Is daily overkill? My best guess is that ammonia is on the decline and nitrites on the rise, but time should tell. Also, I added bio-spira to the tank on day 0 because someone said it could speed things up and round out deficiencies in the live rock. Will this end up throwing my results off? Also, when I see both of these values dropping to 0, nitrate should start rising. Would there be any reason to continue to monitor ammonia/nitriate after 0 readings? How about after adding my first specimen? Questions, questions, questions...

 

[Derbird]

I would continue to check the ammonia and nitrites for a while after the first "0" reading. Some people get a few more spikes, some don't.

Testing daily might be overkill. But when I first started my tank I couldn't help but check it every day after work