mikemc75
Aquarium Advice Activist
- Joined
- Mar 9, 2014
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- 165
Is there any way to jumpstart a sw tank cycle ?
Is there any way to jumpstart a sw tank cycle ?
How should I start ? Ordered live rock. Not looking to put fish or coral in. Just want to start right. Can get. Cycled water and or media. But not shore what way to go or what's the best way to go
What's the "right " way depends on your ultimate goal. What do you plan putting in this tank? Live rock (if it hasn;t been cured) will produce some ammonia in your tank. Make sure you have a good test kit to keep tabs on PH, ammonia, nitrites and nitrates so you can actually see the rise and fall of ammonia and nitrites and the rise of nitrates. If the rock is cured and there is nothing to die off on the rock, you may need to add some life to the tank just so that the beneficial bacteria in the live rock have some ammonia source to feed off of.
I'm old school and believe that the right way is the slow, natural way. But in today's hobby, faster ways are available and they are not necessarily wrong ways. The bottom line is you need to establish a bacteria bed to support the life you are adding to the tank. Whatever method(s) you use to get to that point is the "right" way and you may need to adjust your plans or schedule depending on which way you use. Trying to skip this is the only wrong way.
I strongly suggest you do some research on setting up and, more importantly, maintaining a marine fish tank. Once you know what to do and why to do it, you should feel more confident with your tank.
Hope this helps
Not to quibble but I was an importer of live rock from around the world. It DOES matter whether it was cured or not as we sold both cured and uncured rock. Uncured rock can pollute a tank to such a degree it could take months for the tank to settle. Then there was also the stink factor. ( We used a separate warehouse for our uncured rock due to this. ) Cured rock would be good to go immediately.It's doesn't matter whether the rock is cured or not when it comes to producing enough ammonia for the cycle. Either way you have to add an ammonia source to get your ammonia up to at least 4ppm.
Not to quibble but I was an importer of live rock from around the world. It DOES matter whether it was cured or not as we sold both cured and uncured rock. Uncured rock can pollute a tank to such a degree it could take months for the tank to settle. Then there was also the stink factor. ( We used a separate warehouse for our uncured rock due to this. ) Cured rock would be good to go immediately.
The point was ( and is) that it doesn't matter how high the ammonia level goes for a tank to cycle. If there is enough BB in the tank from the rock to support, say, 1 fish and after adding that fish, there is no ammonia or nitrite readings, then the tank is "cycled". If you added 4 fish and the ammonia spikes, the tank wasn't cycled for that load.
I'm not sure where or when the magic number of 4PPM came into play but a cycled tank/bed/ filter, system, whatever , is achieved based on the amount of ammonia that is being converted to nitrites then nitrates no matter how high it goes as long as it falls back to 0. A healthy setup is technically based on the eventual bioload of the living organisms that are present in the system with the BB bed growing as you add life to the tank. In mathematical terms, if you add ammonia so that you get a reading of 4 PPM and the amount of ammonia you added was equivalent to say, 2 damsels swimming , breathing , eating and pooping in the tank, if after the ammonia and nitrite levels go back to 0 ( and considered cycled by today's standards) and you then add 20 more damsels making a total of 22 damsels now in the tank, the tank will recycle as you have added too much load for the bacteria bed to handle. It may not take as long to recycle, or be as deadly the second time around, but it will happen. This was why I pointed out that the eventual load is the determining factor. This is why "old school" thinking and practices of slow and steady vs fast and furious created better more stable environments. Not to say that fast & Furious doesn't create the same thing eventually, there are just too many cases of disasters from this methodology. Once again, this is why I suggested getting more knowledge of how a marine ( and even freshwater) system works so as to not have the need to ask "Which way is better? "
The bottom of the line is - IMO all rock, cured, not cured, or base, while cycling an ammonia source should be added. No matter what. It doesn't matter whether you soft cycle, hard cycle, cycle with a bacteria in a bottle product like Dr. Tim's, an ammonia source should be apparent to make sure the rock has been populated well with beneficial bacteria.
Ok so I'm new to this. It's been a week into my cycle and I've got nothing. I've been ghost feeding with fish food and frozen shrimp. My ammonia went to .25 the other day and today zero. Very little traces of anything else. I've got a 75 gal tank with about 40lbs of live rock and 60lbs live sand. I know a cycle could take a long time.. So should I just keep waiting???? I really am in no rush cause I wanna do it right. But I'd like to know if I am doing it right!? Lol thank you
If the ammonia levels are allowed to reach toxic levels, then yes the hard cycling may kill off beneficial organisms on the liverock other than bacteria. Some may survive.Will raw shrimp cycling hurt live rock ???