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An update for all - the cycle is brewing. Some spikes in ammonia and nitrites so I've been relegated to heavier PWC's daily. I know it will slow the cycle but I'm trying to be mindful of the critters at this stage. They all look healthy and the snail has become pretty active. I diluted...

Hello all. I'm not new to aquariums (thanks plenty to this Forum community!), but I am starting my first reef. I've been handling a freshwater 10g aquarium for about a year, and now have taken interest in starting up a Nano Reef in my living room. I frequent Aquatic Wildlife and I trust them...

BTW, I found the attached an interesting summary: Auto vs Hetero Bacteria. Of course, it's aimed at selling a product, but I think the science between hetertrophic and autotrophic bacteria sounds logical.

Hey eco - a couple of questions came to mind last night as I thought about your response. contain heterotrophs which are not the true nitrifying bacteria. Problem is they can perform nitrification for a time giving the appearance of a cycled tank, just to die off and crash your bio-filter in...

Thanks eco. Kinda figured that would be the case. I tried keeping the filter and heater going periodically with a generator during the storm, but it wasn't constant. There were periods where the filter wasn't running at all for as much as 12 hour stretches. As for the testing, it's the API...

Well, thanks to Irene it looks like I'm back to square one. pH = 7.4, Ammonia = 1.0 ppm, NO2 = 0, NO3 = 0 Redosing the Ammonia. These setbacks are driving me nuts. I know most here are not big fans of the use of "helpers" in the process, but I'm really toying with the idea of introducing an...

Just chiming in from Connecticut. Basically same deal as Long Island. Mixed emotions about Gloria in '85. It really messed things up, but it's also the reason I met my wife :) This one does look like it will be a bit worse than Gloria. We already have a higher water table from all the rain...

pH 7.4, Ammonia .5ppm, NO2 <.25ppm, NO3 5ppm.

Went one better Alex. Bought a generator today. Ok, so I really bought it because I work from home and can't be without a computer. But the tank will get a side benefit :)

Ammonia .50ppm, NO2 .50ppm, NO3 5.0ppm. Kinda weird not to see the NO2 spike, but then again I'm recycling what was once an "almost cycled" tank. Honestly, I don't think I can complain here. Redose and check again in the morning. Bad news is Hurricane Irene. Right now were on a direct path...

And we march on... Ok, now maybe making some progress. Ammonia .50ppm, NO2 .50ppm, NO3 0. Redosing to help the bacteria along....

Ok, now maybe making some progress. Ammonia .50ppm, NO2 .50ppm, NO3 0. Redosing to help the bacteria along. Hopefully building a stable filter this time!

Right now daily alex. Consistently at about 8 or 8:15 AM each day.

Oh no panicking here. Just patiently waiting for those pesky bacteria to GET BACK TO WORK!!!! :lol:

Very funny, LG! I'm not panicking just yet. Need to see what happens with conversion over days, not hours. Just thought it was odd.

Ok, really weird experience. Ammonia dropped to 0, but NO2 and NO3 are also both 0. Redosing the ammonia back up to 4ppm. We'll see what happens next....

No worries eco. It's always good to reset the stats anyway. Just before leaving for vacation, the tank was showing ammonia dropping, NO2 through the roof and no NO3. Put in a 4ppm dose of ammonia, some food and a raw shrimp as we would be away for a full week. Returned from vacation and...

So now I've caved to my inner sane voice. Fish back to the LFS, and fishless cycling round 2. So now, is it simply a matter of the same original process? Add ammonia, monitor and wait for the bacteria to do their thing? Since the biofilter crashed, does this impact the time it will take for...

I listened to a couple of podcasts (Aquarimania and the Aquarimax podcast) where they interviewed Brett and Wayde. While this was clearly the guys making the rounds to promote the show, there was some good info provided. In the interview on Aquarimania, it sounded like they have QT tanks at...

Let the "I told you so's" begin.... Long story short - too much fish, too little tank. Lost a couple of danios - ammonia started spiking again. Fish back to the LFS, ammonia back in the tank. Back to fishless cycling for a while. Sorry to the fish an sorry to you all for not listening better :(

Had a long convo with the LFS about it. Their experience is they don't grow to much bigger than 1.5" and don't produce a huge bioload. I'm trusting their advice so far. If it doesn't work out, it'll be time to find a different LFS!

Thanks bruinsbro. I appreciate the advice, but I'm going to try to make a good home for the danios for now. After a visit to my regular LFS, I ended up adding harlequin rasboras. They've grown on me each time I see them. I know they stay high like the danios, but they seem to like to test the...

So here's the basics. I am dealing with my first tank. It's a 10g kit from that large box store no one wants to mention. Currently it has the tank itself, a full hood, a Top Fin heater and the included HOB filter. Inside is standard aquarium gravel (red and black mixed), a lava style rock...

Thanks for the info. I think to keep the stocking topic from diverting form the original concern on this thread, I'll start a new one to focus on the stocking issue.

You may not consider yourself a stocking expert, but your advice is very helpful. Maybe at this point I'll go with the Glofish to complete the danio school, then add raspboras, barbs or the pygmy corys. Only concern I have on the corys is I have a standard gravel substrate. Won't that surface...