Fish-in Cycle CUC?

[Mattyfelts]

So I have a nano 10 gal that I started cycling with some lr... The only problem being a purple dottyback hitchhiked home with me and now I'm stuck doing a fish in cycle! My question is should I put a small cuc in now due to fish waste and what should I feed a purple dotty back??

 

[Mattyfelts]

So I have a nano 10 gal that I started cycling with some lr... The only problem being a purple dottyback hitchhiked home with me and now I'm stuck doing a fish in cycle! My question is should I put a small cuc in now due to fish waste and what should I feed a purple dotty back??

Actually i just saw the purple dottyback eat some of the new life spectrum : marine sinking pellets so i believe that will be okay.

Although i have anotehr questions, is it normal for them to dig? it has dug out a whole cave/ tunnel under some LR. i will post a picture shortly, she seems to sleep/hide in it.

 

[Mattyfelts]

So the purple dottyback is eating the new life spectrum : marine pellets so that is good.

Now I am curious, is it normal for them to dig out a cave or hole and sleep/ hide in it? Here is a picture to show what I mean

 

[edwardclaxton]

Don't get a clean up crew they will have a rough time through the cycle. Most inverts can handle high levels of nitrates. If I were you grab some Prime at the lfs and go by the directions so the ammonia spike won't kill him. It's going to be hard on you because you don't want to do water changes during your cycle only after your Nitrites and ammonia has both gone down and you only have Nitrates. Then you will want to do a water change to bring them down.

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[Mattyfelts]

Don't get a clean up crew they will have a rough time through the cycle. Most inverts can handle high levels of nitrates. If I were you grab some Prime at the lfs and go by the directions so the ammonia spike won't kill him. It's going to be hard on you because you don't want to do water changes during your cycle only after your Nitrites and ammonia has both gone down and you only have Nitrates. Then you will want to do a water change to bring them down.

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Okay i should be able to go buy some tomorrow or the next day, and yeah ill hold off on a water change for a while, maybe just top offs until the nitrates arise?

and so what CUC would you recommend once trates show up?

 

[edwardclaxton]

After the ammonia and Nitrites are zero and your Nitrates are spiked then you will want to start bringing that down through water weekly changes. After you have gotten the Nitrates down pretty close to zero then you are ready for your inverts. I'm not exactly sure in amounts you would need but look into these
Dwarf cerith snails
Nassauris snails (not from ebay)
Turbo snail maybe 1
Asteria snail
And a few blue legged hermit crabs

Check out reefcleaners.org and look at your tank size or can email them and they will send you a list that you will need. You don't have to buy them but you will know and have a pretty good idea.

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[edwardclaxton]

Also a note blue legs will kill larger snails for there shells as they grow so have a few shells available for the wouldn't be a bad idea. I wish I could do away with them but they are very effective.

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[BigRedsReefs10]

With a fish in cycle you have to do wc's. IMO i would do one when ever ammonia got above .25 ppm

 

[Mattyfelts]

Alright so now I have conflicting opinions. Anyone else wanna chime in?

 

[edwardclaxton]

But doing wc in your tank is going to take longer to cycle. Maybe take the fish to a friend or to the local fish store.

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[Mebbid]

But doing wc in your tank is going to take longer to cycle. Maybe take the fish to a friend or to the local fish store.

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I don't know why people have started saying this all of a sudden. It's just a trend that has been starting up over the past 2 months.

If you have live stock in a cycling tank then you NEED to do water changes. The length of the cycle means absolutely squat at this point. Any ammonia in the tank at all above 0.00ppm is more than enough to feed bacteria and continue the cycle.

 

[carey]

Agree with the above poster, you must do water changes if you have fish or livestock in the tank. The ammonia level will eventually kill the fish most likely so you have to change the water to keep the ammonia below .25 preferably.

 

[Mattyfelts]

I don't know why people have started saying this all of a sudden. It's just a trend that has been starting up over the past 2 months.



If you have live stock in a cycling tank then you NEED to do water changes. The length of the cycle means absolutely squat at this point. Any ammonia in the tank at all above 0.00ppm is more than enough to feed bacteria and continue the cycle.

So water changes and the ammonia out off by the fish, etc will help the bacteria.

 

[Mebbid]

So water changes and the ammonia out off by the fish, etc will help the bacteria.

During a cycle you won't realistically be able to get the water below .125ppm ammonia (50% water change at .25ppm) The bacteria will feed off of that ammonia in the water until there isn't any free ammonia to be found. Another bacteria will do the same with nitrite.

 

[Mattyfelts]

During a cycle you won't realistically be able to get the water below .125ppm ammonia (50% water change at .25ppm) The bacteria will feed off of that ammonia in the water until there isn't any free ammonia to be found. Another bacteria will do the same with nitrite.

Alright thanks a lot. How much does live rock speed up a cycle really also?

 

[BigRedsReefs10]

There really is no time table on a cycle, it just kinda takes as long as it takes.

 

[Mebbid]

Alright thanks a lot. How much does live rock speed up a cycle really also?

It depends, if the live rock is cured then you could see no cycle at all or a tiny one that should end quickly. I bought cured live rock and didn't have a cycle at all. If it's live rock that was allowed to dry out then there are more issues.

Since you got a live fish as a hitch hiker on your live rock then I would assume your cycle should be over with in short order.

 

[Mattyfelts]

It depends, if the live rock is cured then you could see no cycle at all or a tiny one that should end quickly. I bought cured live rock and didn't have a cycle at all. If it's live rock that was allowed to dry out then there are more issues.



Since you got a live fish as a hitch hiker on your live rock then I would assume your cycle should be over with in short order.

All my live rock was wet when I took it out and out it in the bag. It never even had enough to dry out. There about 6-8 lbs of live rock so far and maybe 2 lbs of dry rock. Hopefully it'll be over soon haha. Thanks a lot again

 

[Mebbid]

All my live rock was wet when I took it out and out it in the bag. It never even had enough to dry out. There about 6-8 lbs of live rock so far and maybe 2 lbs of dry rock. Hopefully it'll be over soon haha. Thanks a lot again

I would actually suggest that you take out the dry rock as that might be what is causing your ammonia readings. Since the live rock that you received came with a fish included (holy crap how did it survive) it should be well cycled. I got huge ammonia readings after putting dry rock in a tank of water.

 

[Mattyfelts]

I would actually suggest that you take out the dry rock as that might be what is causing your ammonia readings. Since the live rock that you received came with a fish included (holy crap how did it survive) it should be well cycled. I got huge ammonia readings after putting dry rock in a tank of water.

Okay I'll take out the dry when I get home. Should I get more live? And yeah that's what I thought. Here's the story, so I was leaving with all my live rock in a bag and I was waiting to enter traffic, so I was like " well let's look at this pretty stuff" and then I was like woah that's a pretty bright purple in the corner and I looked carefully and it was my purple dottyback in about 2-3 inches of brown water between rocks so I held the bag so that the dotty back would be in water and I drove home quick and immediately threw it in the water and well it's lived so far!

It's because the rock has a couple deep holes that it was hiding in and when it was taken out the fish was still in it! So lucky me!