Kessil

Jeff's 75 gallon Reef Tank Build

Vincerama2 said:
Yeah, listen to what Flagg said. When Ammonia and Nitrites are zero, you'll know your ANN cycle bacteria is up and running. Check it now, and Ammonia should be above zero.

Typically there is enough dead stuff on the rocks to spike ammonia, and ironically you need some otherwise the ammonia eating bacteria can't thrive, and produce nitrite for the nitrite eating bacteria.

Some people put in some fish food flakes just to kick start the cycle. Some people even put in some ammonia!!

V
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When I did my first cycle that's exactly what I did. I got some dr. Tim's amonia chloride so that I could control exactly how much I wanted in the tank. Unlike if you throw a shrimp or fish food in.
 
my ammonia and nitrates are zero. Somehow, the kit I bought doesn't have a test for nitrites. It seems I'm ready? I'm buying the skimmer this afternoon and i'm told it takes a week to break in?
 
Nitrates are the third byproduct of nitrogen cycle. Waste/food decomposes to produce ammonia, then nitrosomonas convert ammonia to nitrites, and then nitrobacter converts nitrites to nitrates. In a new tank that is currently cycling the only way to get rid of nitrates is to do a water change.

So you should be seeing some nitrates in your system if it has cycled and you haven't done a water change. Did you test for and see an ammonia spike? If you didn't, then there wasn't anything to feed the nitrosomona bacteria to get the cycle started.
 
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+1. If you haven't done any water change, your ammonia and your nitrates cannot both be 0. Chances are your cycle hasn't started yet.

You can dose ammonia (make sure it has no additives) to 2ppm then monitoring till it hits 0, then monitor nitrites then nitrates. Once ammonia is 0 AND nitrites are 0 then you are essentially cycled. Will show some nitrates.


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It took my tank about 4 weeks to cycle. People post about it only taking them a week. The only way I could see that happening is with rock that's already live.
 
Flagg37 said:
It took my tank about 4 weeks to cycle. People post about it only taking them a week. The only way I could see that happening is with rock that's already live.
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My 12G tank took about 9 days to cycle, but you are correct that I started with live rock.
 
Vhuang168 said:
+1. If you haven't done any water change, your ammonia and your nitrates cannot both be 0. Chances are your cycle hasn't started yet.

You can dose ammonia (make sure it has no additives) to 2ppm then monitoring till it hits 0, then monitor nitrites then nitrates. Once ammonia is 0 AND nitrites are 0 then you are essentially cycled. Will show some nitrates.


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Click to expand...

If you don't want to dose ammonia, you could also put in a piece of raw/frozen shrimp from the grocery store or feed the tank a little fish food daily until you see ammonia.

Also, I'd consider investing in a nitrite test to confirm what's going on in tank cycling.
 
I've had fish in Since Saturday. All levels tested great. I'm getting a slight bit of green algae on the return head and the suction cup on the powerhead. Is that something that needs to be treated, or a normal part of the process? I run my LED for about 12 hours a day. I also have a lot of micro bubbles from the return now
 
You will get algae. It may plague you and then die off, or not. It's just part of the experience.

If you left a glass with water in it on your patio, somehow, it will get algae. Heck, I've got algae in the clear plastic hot/cold water knobs in my bathroom!


V
 
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