Cycling question

[bavass]

The weekend of March 16th i tore my tank down and started over. All new sand all new dry pukani 11days later my ammonia has spiked at 2ppm and dropped to zero and i have nitrites now. Is that normal or to quick? I have been adding MB7 daily as instructed on bottle. To start the cycle i used some freeze dried krill that i had from feeding anemone rather than use shrimp. It has all but gone now not much left of the krill. I placed more in last night and will retest tonight when i get home

 

[dmolavi]

Funny you ask that...I was going to ask a similar question. I started on Sunday the 24th with BRS dry rock, but live sand. My ammonia had a similar low spike (at least lower than I thought) even though I have a cocktail shrimp in there, and my nitrites are off the chart.

I'm guessing the live sand for me, and the MB7 for you, is what's getting the cycle started quickly. I think I'm going to wait out the full 4 weeks even if things zero out, just to make sure the rock is good.

BTW, I'm going to be in Harrisonburg sometime in June/July. Small world

Edit to add: I am still reading non-zero ammonia in the tank, even with the nitrites. I haven't added any bacteria besides what was already in the sand. (AragAlive)

 

[bavass]

yea I am going to wait the full 4 weeks do a 100% water change like BRS suggests then add an anmonia source and see what happens. I knew the MB7 would help the bacteria I didn't think it would do it that quick. But, if I remember from many years ago when I cycled the tank the nitrites took the longest to hit zero. Harrisonburg is about 30min from me.

 

[dmolavi]

Once the nitrites drop off, will we see a rise in nitrAtes, or will those also be zero (from the live rock)?

I'm trying to figure out the best way to keep nitrAtes under control once this is established.

 

[bavass]

Yes nitrates will rise its the end cycle. Once my trites hit zero i am going to do a big water change to remove the nutrients. At that point i will start running my lights and start adding a cleanup crew if there is no ammonia after water change. That way the clean up crew can start prepping my sand bed i will leave them in there for a few weeks then start adding fish. I will probably add a nori sheet or two till i see some algae so the CUC doesnt starve

 

[cmonicarl]

I'm new to this hobby, so once a tank cycle occurs (amonia spikes, nitrates, nitrites zero) then we can start doing water changes? I filled my tank with water from LFS (allpets emporium). Doesn't doing water changes affect the stability of the tank? We do water changes to get rid of the "dirty" water in a tank right?

 

[bavass]

ammonia spikes drops to zero, nitrites spike drop to zero, nitrates rise and need to be removed via skimmer, water changes, and bacteria. Water changes are not olny done for removal of nutrients but also to replenish all the minerals in the salt that get used up in the tank. When a tank cycles there are is all kinds of die off on rock and sand. I am doing the water change to remove any of that I can. I have nothing alive in my tank so a big water change will no affect stability. Once I have life in my tank then I will do small weekly or biweekly water changes. Probably about 10% each week. When doing water changes I always use my own RO/DI water a lot cheaper than buying it from a LFS plus I know when my filters are changed. My water is always as close to m tanks water as I can get so there is no change in stability

 

[cmonicarl]

So when my measly 15 gallon tank cycles I should do a big water change? Should I keep using the lfs water? I have a friend that can get me deep sea water on a monthly basis because he fishes often. Thanks for the info..

 

[cmonicarl]

Also, is it ok to store water be it from the lfs or from the ocean or does it go bad after a certain time?

 

[bavass]

its up to you where you get water. I like using my RO/DI water beacuse I know whats in it or not in it. As far as I know as long as you circulate the water with power head or airstone it should last awhile.

 

[dmolavi]

I just had a chat with Brandon at BRS about this...

me: i started a cure of your dry Fiji rock on Sunday, in a bed of AragAlive sand. I dropped a raw shrimp in the tank to get the ammonia built up, and i'm already seeing *massive* nitrites in the tank.
me: is it normal after just 5 days to see nitrites off the chart, or is that because of all the BB in the sand?
Brandon: sounds like your off to a really good start
Brandon: not normal, but not unheard of either
Brandon: id consider it a good sign
me: sweet..
me: should I still wait the 4 weeks like you recommend in your video, or just until everything zero's out?
Brandon: really its the test kits you want to go by, but a little extra time never hurts anything

 

[bavass]

I just had a chat with Brandon at BRS about this...

Nice thanks!

 

[dmolavi]

I think i'm getting even more anxious...knowing that it could be sooner than 4 weeks. But, since I have some business travel during that time, I think I'll wait anyway, that way my wife doesn't have to feed a brand new tank while I'm gone.

 

[bavass]

Best to be patient let it do its thing. I am hoping i still have zero Ammonia when i get home after dropping a bunch of Krill in last night.

 

[bavass]

Ammonia is .5 so I am glad I added another Ammonia source evidently I was not finished the first stage even though I have Nitrites and zero Ammonia. If I had enough bacteria built up 24 hours later after adding a bunch of Freeze Dried Krill the Ammonia should be at zero I would think. But either way all I will do by this is let it do its thing and strengthen the bacteria population.

 

[Phranque]

I think you're on a good pace...... Mine was completely cycled in 12 or 13 days with Real Reef rock. I left the shrimp in for another few days just to be sure, but the only thing I saw was nitrates continuing to rise.......

 

[bavass]

I went with all dry Pukani from BRS so it is going to take me longer I assume even with the MB7