Cycling tank

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Tim Richmond

New Member
Hi all

Iam cycling a new reef tank and iam a week in and my ammonia leaves have gone from 0 to 1 and back down to 0.25 I still don’t have any readings for nitrite ... what can be happering ?? Iav checked this over and over again.. iav been cycling with bacter.gen.MD ..

Any help would be great ...
 
Uncle99

Uncle99

Well-Known Member
what size of tank?
Live rock amount?
Maybe there is just to low of a load right now?
Need more info....
 
T

Tim Richmond

New Member
Hi

It 190lt and got 20kg of 7 year old mature live rock .. there is 2 cubes of brim shimp been in there ... is there any thing else ??
 
Uncle99

Uncle99

Well-Known Member
Sorry, I am not familiar with the bacter.gen.md method so I will leave this to someone else in the group. It took me 8 weeks to cycle my tank the first time as the bacteria grew to sufficient size to handle the first inhabitants, then slowly, added more inhabitants over a year allowing the bacteria to catch up. Sound like you got some good live rock which may have a sufficient beneficial bacteria population to export your current organic compounds, which is very small. My understanding of cycling is for new tanks with little or no bacteria, in your case it seems you are doing a transfer instead. Anyways, hopefully one of the more experienced in the group can address your issue further.
 
T

Tim Richmond

New Member
nanoreefing4fun said:
What is this exactly ??? I am guessing... it could be your answer



:rbwwelc:to RS ! Start a tank thread & share you tank with us !
Click to expand...
The Continuum advantage.
BacterGen•MD is a breakthrough in microbial cultures and is specifically designed to establish anaerobic bacteria populations in denitrators and anoxic zones (those zones that are depleted in dissolved oxygen), such as internal pores in live rock and to establish anoxic slime layers within all zones, even within zones otherwise saturated with oxygen. BacterGen•MD does this by developing layers of bacterial slime to prevent oxygen availability to anaerobic microbes thereby encouraging denitration by conversion of nitrates to nitrogen gas. Whereas most competing products are designed primarily for freshwater aquariums, and most don't do much to address nitrate reduction, BacterGen•MD will quickly generate effective anoxic zones and encourage beneficial denitrifying bacterial populations in seawater. Whereas competing products may increase the production of toxic hydrogen sulfide in the system, and denitrators, particularly those utilizing alcohol or sugar for fuel are known for hydrogen sulfide production, BacterGen•MD is non-sulfur fixing and will reduce hydrogen sulfide levels.
 
nanoreefing4fun

nanoreefing4fun

Well-Known Member
RS STAFF
ahhh... I am guessing it is masking your test results,,, I see post like this a lot while cycling and using "additive helpers"

from their website...
Follow addition protocol immediately for direct addition of both BacterGen•MD and Reef Micro•Fuel. Denitrator will still require time to fully cycle, although this time will be greatly reduced.

See what others advise...
I have always cycled a tank "old school" no additives... just a rotting deli shrimp( prawn)

Start testing and watching... the Ammonia will raise then drop, followed by the Nitrites raising and then dropping, then the Nitrates will soar - once the ammonia & nitrites are gone, then do water changes to reduce nitrates.

Ammonia > Nitrite > Nitrate

Tank Cycled

CyclingGraph.gif
 
Uncle99

Uncle99

Well-Known Member
It probably works great but I am with the old school voters for cycling.
In my younger days had every known chemical additive, supplement, balancer, updated available for which manufactures made outrageous claims. Fact was some helped and some did nothing but rack my pocket. In the last 10 years, back to the keep it simple program and the results have surpassed the need for speed'em up processes.

That being said, there are quite a few ways to cycle the tank, and each person has a different take.
 
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