Hello everybody,
this great thread pushed me to join this wonderful forum.
I'm currently cycling my very first reef tank so it's perfect material for me!!!
I took the liberty to type out a step-by-step footnote version of the original thread. Hopefully you'll help me fix it until we have it down to a sort of "cycling cheat sheet".
Here it goes.
1) Keep all lighting off, keep skimmer off, add flake food and/or dead shrimp;
a) Observe an ammonia spike.
b) Wait for the following to happen: ammonia goes up, ammonia goes down, NO2(nitrite) goes up, NO2(Nitrite) goes down, NO3(nitrate) goes up.
2) Don't let NO3 levels go too high. When NO3 =< 20 is a good number.
a) Hook up skimmer (skim wet);
b) Use Carbon and/or Phosban;
c) Turn on refugium lights and put some macro algae in there (chaeto?);
d) DO NOT turn on lighting in main display tank;
e) Add some of the clean-up crew;
f) Do water changes to keep NO3 below 20 at all times, below 10 is much better;
g) Add more of the clean-up crew every week;
h) When NO3 levels are 0 with the CUC in there feeding and creating waste (about a week or two typically) add a hardy fish or coral (perhaps more for advanced hobbyists);
NOTE: during step 2 keep algae and chemistry in check (watch for blooms, PH, temp, ammonia, NO2, NO3, Alk and so on...) do water changes as needed. ( I would say 10% every 2 or 3 days if needed)
3) Slowly start cycling in your lights in increments of 30 mins to an hour every 2 days.
a) Keep everything, particularly algae growth under tight control if possible.
b) Add new elements (corals, fish...) every few weeks up to 30 days or so.
Hope this can help us make the process crystal clear, like we want our water.