fully cycled in 15 days?
- Thread starter BigJay
- Start date
BigJay
Well-Known Member
well when its my tank not my little girls or the wifes I can do it my way. Which probably will mean a fish free enviroment or at most 1" per 30g. I am really torn on a fully running reef or a reef ready. I like to actually be the one who hand picks each and every rock stacking exactly like I want it. Its a toss up between money savings and enjoyment.
Even though it sounds wierd I think buying someones already up and running takes 90 percent of the fun out of it. If you don't face any challenges you might as well do freshwater. Those 2 hour trips to the fish store when you look like a physco just staring at rock the whole time is a lot of the fun for me.
plus at 4 dollars a gallon I can't afford the bottled live water on a big tank.
SoccerBum474
Member
good thinking bigjay...im trying to cycle my 12 gallon in less time then you...little experiment..im using 100% live black beach sand with the water 50% from an existing tank and 50% new water, i do a gallon daily water exchange between the 12g and my 50g and i have about 2 lbs of rock from the established 50g and all of my filter materials (Live rock rubble, small sponge..etc..)are from my established 10g and im also running some carbon..it seems to be working very well and one of the live rock pieces has some macroalgae so i think that will bea big help with the nitrates and nitrites..
Just a note for other readers... doing Water Changes DURING a cycle does NOT speed it up.. it actually "Softens" the cycle and slows it down.
The macro may help with some nutrient uptake but it will have little to no effect on the actual cycle. That's two totally different processes.
Trust me when I quote this... "Nothing GOOD happens quick in the reef!" Slow and stable is the way to go. You may seem to win initially but I'd be almost willing to bet the "short cuts" will come back to haunt you sooner than later.
Good luck either way.
The macro may help with some nutrient uptake but it will have little to no effect on the actual cycle. That's two totally different processes.
Trust me when I quote this... "Nothing GOOD happens quick in the reef!" Slow and stable is the way to go. You may seem to win initially but I'd be almost willing to bet the "short cuts" will come back to haunt you sooner than later.
Good luck either way.
BEELZEBOB
Well-Known Member
yea, it may have cycled w/ its current bio load...
but the point of uncured LR and/or a dead shrimp is that it creates an EXCESS BIO-LOAD.
so then your tank doesnt mini cycle every time you add a fish, or feed.
your tank has cycled yes. but the population of nirtifying bacteria is probably not sufficient to start stocking your tank.
id still get a deli shrimp, remove your current livestock, put in as much LR as you want to have total, not a lil bit at a time, and let it cycle again.
sorry.
but the point of uncured LR and/or a dead shrimp is that it creates an EXCESS BIO-LOAD.
so then your tank doesnt mini cycle every time you add a fish, or feed.
your tank has cycled yes. but the population of nirtifying bacteria is probably not sufficient to start stocking your tank.
id still get a deli shrimp, remove your current livestock, put in as much LR as you want to have total, not a lil bit at a time, and let it cycle again.
sorry.
SoccerBum474
Member
thanks but here the story with my 12g tank i was a reef about 2 weeks ago..but i was having a leak so i took all the contents and put them in a cheap 10aga tank. i had cc so i took that out and replaced it with some black live sand...i know that the new sand will create a spike but since im using filter materials that already have the built-up bacteria and the live rock im using is from clean established tanks shouldnt that speed up the process? my chronicle link is in my sig...i dont plan on adding any type of fish until about october anyways..but from now until then i want to move all my 10g contents (5 toadstools, frogspawn, 20+ mushrooms, brown polys, chili coral...and w/e else)back into the 12g...would i be fine if i got my parms dont to 0 then added all my coral back into the tank?
lcstorc
Well-Known Member
Without any fish you don't have a bio-load so you should be fine. The problem is you will need to cycle before you add the fish and you won't want to cycle with the corals in the tank.
Anytime you add to the bio-load you need to give the bacteria a chance to catch up. Your first fish will certainly be a strain.
Anytime you add to the bio-load you need to give the bacteria a chance to catch up. Your first fish will certainly be a strain.
BigJay
Well-Known Member
If you have an excessive load but you don't support that load ie your tank stabalizes for 2 months then you add another fish you should still get a mini spike.
SoccerBum474
Member
since im not goign to have any fish in there for another 3 months cant i increase the corals food load and wont that increase my bio-load. i have 1000's of bristle worms so the excess food wont do to much damage
SoccerBum474
Member
welll i plan on adding a small true perc or a blackandwhite perc in early october and another in late october and thats all i want in the tank..maybe a shrimp or crab but nothing more...my parms for my tank r on my chronicle right now would it be safe to add my remaining rock and coral back into my 12g tonight?
freezerrat
Member
An earlier post said the water had not cylcled yet. What does the water have to do with the cycle? Other than being a carrier for the pollutants. Established rock plus new water equals minimal cycle. That is what I see here. I did the same thing with my 24g aquapod and never had a real cycle. On the other hand I have 20# of rock for a new setup in a tub with a skimmer and a powerhead. It's been there at least a month and is still throwing of large ammounts of ammonia.
I've only been here a short while but I've seen this type of advice before. It is really overkill INHO. If established rock is tranprted in water for one ststem to another in short order there won't be any dieoff significant enough that the system won't be able to handle. How many times have people moved there entire system and not had everything die as some on this site make it seem is inevitable?
I've only been here a short while but I've seen this type of advice before. It is really overkill INHO. If established rock is tranprted in water for one ststem to another in short order there won't be any dieoff significant enough that the system won't be able to handle. How many times have people moved there entire system and not had everything die as some on this site make it seem is inevitable?
SoccerBum474
Member
im with you freezerrat... i think im goign to do a small water change and then move my corals ove tonight.....it will be an experiment ill post my parms before i move the coral and rocks and ill check the water again tomorrow morning so see if there is a change for the better or worse...
freezerrat
Member
As for advice about creating "excess bioload" during cycling to build up nitrifying bacteria. It makes sense, BUT, when the "excess" is gone wouldn't the "excess" bacteria die off from a lack of food?
Don't get me wrong, I'm not trying to say anyone is wrong. I just think very skeptically, particullarly since most everything you hear has a contradictory opinion somewhere else. This is why it took my a year of wanting a tank to actually getting one. And why now I'm sitting on a tank in the garage because........ WHO KNOWS WHO'S RIGHT?? Make a mess of a small system I'm out hundreds of dollars, do it to my 90 and I'll be out thousands.
Don't get me wrong, I'm not trying to say anyone is wrong. I just think very skeptically, particullarly since most everything you hear has a contradictory opinion somewhere else. This is why it took my a year of wanting a tank to actually getting one. And why now I'm sitting on a tank in the garage because........ WHO KNOWS WHO'S RIGHT?? Make a mess of a small system I'm out hundreds of dollars, do it to my 90 and I'll be out thousands.
lcstorc
Well-Known Member
You are reporting Nitrites so that shows that you are cycling.
I agree that if the same LR is moved and kept in water you will have a minimal cycle and in fact just did this successfully when I moved my tank. I was referring to the increased bio-load caused by adding the first fish to the tank not the corals and the fact that there are still nitrites in the tank. IMO you don't want to add anything until the nitrites are gone and corals until the nitrates are minimal.
I agree that if the same LR is moved and kept in water you will have a minimal cycle and in fact just did this successfully when I moved my tank. I was referring to the increased bio-load caused by adding the first fish to the tank not the corals and the fact that there are still nitrites in the tank. IMO you don't want to add anything until the nitrites are gone and corals until the nitrates are minimal.
SoccerBum474
Member
okay will do then...i moved all my live rock from tank to bucket of water to new tank so there was barely anycontact with air so there shouldnt be much of any die-off... and i just found two snails cruising around the tank probably sneeked in on the LR they look fine, bristle worms are acting normals and featherdusters are all out as well...looks like the tank is happy but ill keep testing until the parms are all 0 then add my coral...thanks everyone for clearing this all up..
freezerrat
Member
This question will really show my newbie-ness. Other than water changes and a the non-oxygen requiring bacteria (I forget the term), how are nitrates removed? I know there are chemical remedies, but are there any other ways?
freezerrat
Member
other than outragiously expensive equipment?