Reef nutrition

Dr Tims fishless cycle

Hmm maybe I mixed up his screen name I thought it was him but there was a long r2r thread on this topic bottled bacteria vs live rock on cycling and what was claimed to be in the bottles by the manufacturers...I'll try and look it up...I wasn't trying to start a debate or knocking down any products just tossing my own observations fyi..
 
I did 4 drops per gallon as directed the first time. I was a little skeptical when it came to the second dose on day 3. So I went with a half dose(2 drops per gallon). The ammonia has been steady at 4ppm since. Nitrite is off the chart Nitrate is around 20-40 ppm.

I have a running nano that I can transfer a bit of rock from to the new tank but not much.

Should I do a 25% WC then put a rock from the nano in the tank? Or would that be counter productive?
I watched a YouTube video of Dr Tim and he suggested 1 drop of ammonia for each gallon....not 4 drops per gallon! (~1:20 on video)

 
It’s been updated since that video.
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All you guys trying to cycle a aquarium with bottled stuff. Go old school. Throw a frozen shrimp into the aquarium. Come back a few months later. Bamn. It’s cycled.
Or you can do it the expensive way. Play around with the cycle. Add fish and coral. Watch it die. Then in a few months. Damn. It’s cycled.
 
The number of drops isn't a constant, because it depends on what type of ammonia you're dosing. Different kinds have different strengths.

My understanding is the best way is you buy an ammonia test kit, and you dose a known amount of salt water with some of what you are using. You then measure ammonia, and from then on you can just do the math to figure out how many drops to add to a given volume.

If you use Dr Tim's drops it should be 1 drop though, since they use a controlled strength.
 
Update:
After adding the live rock from my nano, the cycle has resumed! It’s been two days and after testing the first day I saw a 2ppm drop in ammonia. Today the test results are down to .50ppm. Nitrites are off the chart and Nitrates 10-20ppm. I’m not to interested in exact results because I’m using a cheap API test kit for the cycle.
Now to just wait for the Nitrites to come down over the next several days.

Thanks for all the advice everyone!
 

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Update:
After adding the live rock from my nano, the cycle has resumed! It’s been two days and after testing the first day I saw a 2ppm drop in ammonia. Today the test results are down to .50ppm. Nitrites are off the chart and Nitrates 10-20ppm. I’m not to interested in exact results because I’m using a cheap API test kit for the cycle.
Now to just wait for the Nitrites to come down over the next several days.

Thanks for all the advice everyone!
Glad to hear that some live rock fixed your cycle!
 
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