Cycling process tips help

[csoutherland]

Other then buying supplements and dropping in food to the tank, are there any ways of making the cycling process go by faster?

 

[csoutherland]

It is a 75 gallon reef by the way

 

[TheTodd]

Live rock and/or live sand add beneficial bacteria and can speed things up a bit.

Adding beneficial bacteria, like Dr Tim's One & Only speeds things up a lot. Before my 240g cracked, I had a mix of all of the above and my tank cycled in less than a week. I could dose with ammonia up to 3-4ppm and it was back to zero well within 24 hours.

Having a big crack in your glass slows things down, so I advise against that.

 

[csoutherland]

Other then live rock. That's just a given

 

[TheTodd]

Adding bacteria is really the only way. You can start with base rock, pool sand and a shrimp or dosing ammonia. That will take the longest. Starting with live rock/sand will speed it up a little. Adding BB speeds it up more. Its just a process to create BB...it will take as long as it takes (usually 4-6 weeks) if you start with nothing "live". Adding BB by way of live sand, live rock or bottled BB just kinda kick starts the process.

 

[csoutherland]

Give me a beneficial bacteria that you think is good for me. Keep in mind I started my 75 gallon reef tank 4 days ago

 

[TheTodd]

I only use Dr. Tim's One & Only. Read up on them at their site and it just sounds like they know what they are doing versus the other companies. I have used their product three times now and it worked, as they say it will. They have Reef and FOWLR (not sure what the difference is).

If you are going to order from them, mention that you saw that they had a 30-33% discount about a month ago and ask when are they going to do that again. They might just give you the discount. That is what they did for me this last time... They had a weekend deal that I did not see until Monday morning. I started to order, because the discount still showed, but it would not give me the discount at the end. I stopped my order and they contacted me a day later asking why I did not complete the order. I explained and they said they would discount it. They did.

 

[Jerinanyon]

Live sand. It cycled my tank within a week. My cousin has a 90gal that he cycled using a piece of frozen shrimp from the grocery store and hung it on a string in his tank for a While. It took a Long time but his tank is SWEET