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First Time Cycling HELP!

Hallowhead

Hallowhead

NJRC Member
Howdy again all,

My brother cycled his 65 gallon tank ~6 years ago and I am not entirely sure I remember the full process. I will lay out my current thought / plan and if you can comment and advise I'd appreciate it.

I am starting the innovative marine 30 gallon long... the physical tank is ~gallons with a 10 gallon sump behind.

Step 1. Fill tank with mixed salt RO/DI water.
Step 2. Fill tank with live sand (~30 pounds of sand) Let sand settle
Step 3. Fill tank with ~15 pounds of live rock. I don't want THAT much rock.
Step 4. When all has settled kick pumps on.
Step 5. Throw store bought shrimp in to bring ammonia for cycling. Remove after one day?
Step 6. Wait.....
 
diana a

diana a

Staff member
NJRC Member
Moderator
Once at zero for nitrates and ammonia you can add snails. When you add the fish, do one. Wait a few days...then add two. You need the system to be able to support it.
 
H

harthag12

Nothing wrong with bottled ammonia, just make sure it's unscented / no additives. Ace hardware had some powerful clean ammonia. It will let you dose to a certain level so you can observe how quickly it's going down, redose to the same level ect till it can be cleared in 24 hours.
 
N

nightmarepl

NJRC Member
Hallowhead said:
Howdy again all,

My brother cycled his 65 gallon tank ~6 years ago and I am not entirely sure I remember the full process. I will lay out my current thought / plan and if you can comment and advise I'd appreciate it.

I am starting the innovative marine 30 gallon long... the physical tank is ~gallons with a 10 gallon sump behind.

Step 1. Fill tank with mixed salt RO/DI water.
Step 2. Fill tank with live sand (~30 pounds of sand) Let sand settle
Step 3. Fill tank with ~15 pounds of live rock. I don't want THAT much rock.
Step 4. When all has settled kick pumps on.
Step 5. Throw store bought shrimp in to bring ammonia for cycling. Remove after one day?
Step 6. Wait.....
Click to expand...

i just cycled mine 3 weeks ago? mine went like this step 1 sand step 2 rock step 3 water less stuff to settle imo step 4 once for settle 1 day kick pumps and wave maker on step 5 add biospira live bacteria " speed the process up " next day i added matrix stones in then got myself a cheap damsel to help the process 1 snail 1 hermit tanks fully cycled almost done with the uglies atm
 
Sponge

Sponge

I agree with above, small added advice...
Do not take shrimp out after a day. Leave it in. Personaly I leave it in a filter sock so I don’t have to try and scavenge the broken down pieces later. I also Phamtom feed at the same time. There is nothing wrong with using ammonia. Little trick is to shake the bottle. If it does not foam up or make little bubbles your good if it does keep it away from your tank. I do not start the cycle with ammonia. I add it After the cycle phase is complete (which can take 6 to 8 weeks) unless you add biological to the water to speed it up. However. After my tests tell me the cycle is complete I add one - two drops of ammonia per gallon and test one hour later. If no ammonia is present. You are good to go. Also. No lights during the cycle. In fact. In my opinion. No light until a week after first fish. This will help but not prevent some of the ugly stage
 
N

nightmarepl

NJRC Member
Sponge said:
I agree with above, small added advice...
Do not take shrimp out after a day. Leave it in. Personaly I leave it in a filter sock so I don’t have to try and scavenge the broken down pieces later. I also Phamtom feed at the same time. There is nothing wrong with using ammonia. Little trick is to shake the bottle. If it does not foam up or make little bubbles your good if it does keep it away from your tank. I do not start the cycle with ammonia. I add it After the cycle phase is complete (which can take 6 to 8 weeks) unless you add biological to the water to speed it up. However. After my tests tell me the cycle is complete I add one - two drops of ammonia per gallon and test one hour later. If no ammonia is present. You are good to go. Also. No lights during the cycle. In fact. In my opinion. No light until a week after first fish. This will help but not prevent some of the ugly stage
Click to expand...
i wasnt showing ammonia after day 5? pretty much all my tests are in check getting some ugly algae on the rocks but i think its safe to start stocking already atleast clean up crew already have my goby and shrimp in there no issues
 
N

nightmarepl

NJRC Member
Sponge said:
Five days is to soon unless you had precycled live rock or media
Click to expand...
well my tank is up for about 3 weeks now pretty sure its cycled i added bacteria and matrix media done multiply tests dont see any ammonia or nitrates or nitrites rest is pretty much solid
 
Sponge

Sponge

nightmarepl said:
well my tank is up for about 3 weeks now pretty sure its cycled i added bacteria and matrix media done multiply tests dont see any ammonia or nitrates or nitrites rest is pretty much solid
Click to expand...

Awesome. That added beneficial bacteria really helps. Best of luck. Please keep in mind that when a tank is first cycled. It is on the edge of a crash. As time goes on the bacteria population grows and grows. So be patient and add fish slowly. And corals even slower. In time the bacteria load will be huge and will matter much less. :)
 
Hallowhead

Hallowhead

NJRC Member
Sponge said:
I agree with above, small added advice...
Do not take shrimp out after a day. Leave it in. Personaly I leave it in a filter sock so I don’t have to try and scavenge the broken down pieces later. I also Phamtom feed at the same time. There is nothing wrong with using ammonia. Little trick is to shake the bottle. If it does not foam up or make little bubbles your good if it does keep it away from your tank. I do not start the cycle with ammonia. I add it After the cycle phase is complete (which can take 6 to 8 weeks) unless you add biological to the water to speed it up. However. After my tests tell me the cycle is complete I add one - two drops of ammonia per gallon and test one hour later. If no ammonia is present. You are good to go. Also. No lights during the cycle. In fact. In my opinion. No light until a week after first fish. This will help but not prevent some of the ugly stage
Click to expand...

I fear the shrimp getting stuck and broken into 1 thousand pieces. Leaving it in the filter sock is a good idea. Does this create a bad smell? When do you take it out than? 5 days? 1 week? So your test is if it doesn't handle the ammonia over a couple hours it still needs to cycle more? No lights at all? What about less intense whites? Do you do water changes during cycle? Clean sand?

AND DO NOT CYCLE WITH A LIVE FISH. ITS CRUEL AND UNNECESSARY
please :)
Click to expand...

Don't worry I don't plan on it! Allows me to breathe a little with just spending so much to set it up :)
 
N

nightmarepl

NJRC Member
Sponge said:
Awesome. That added beneficial bacteria really helps. Best of luck. Please keep in mind that when a tank is first cycled. It is on the edge of a crash. As time goes on the bacteria population grows and grows. So be patient and add fish slowly. And corals even slower. In time the bacteria load will be huge and will matter much less. :)
Click to expand...
yah ill be adding my full clean up crew this week watch the levels and hopeflly add the last of my fish towards the end and slowly work on the corals dont want to nuke the tank
 
Hallowhead

Hallowhead

NJRC Member
Sponge said:
AND DO NOT CYCLE WITH A LIVE FISH. ITS CRUEL AND UNNECESSARY
please :)
Click to expand...

Sponge said:
Awesome. That added beneficial bacteria really helps. Best of luck. Please keep in mind that when a tank is first cycled. It is on the edge of a crash. As time goes on the bacteria population grows and grows. So be patient and add fish slowly. And corals even slower. In time the bacteria load will be huge and will matter much less. :)
Click to expand...

Can someone link me to this "good bacteria" that I can add to speed it up?
 
jgraz

jgraz

As someone above mentioned, leave the shrimp.in.putting it in for 1 day will do absolutely nothing. It needs to decompose.
Put it in and leave it alone. It will pretty much turn to mush in a couple of weeks.
I'm at the same point. Ready to cycle and will be adding the shrimp, 4 of them tonight. They will just eventually disappear.
By then the cycle will be rolling and I'll add without fear.

Sent from my SM-G935V using Tapatalk
 
Sponge

Sponge

britewell factor 7 and doctor Tim’s are well known and tested. Britewell is much cheaper
I leave shrimp in for two plus weeks until it starts to break up. Also if you put carbon in the sock with the shrimp there will be no smell.
I phantom feed during the whole cycle and yes after the cycle is complete a large water change. I do fifty percent. Some may say that’s a little aggressive. And yes. No lights. As long as you can. I even cover my glass too avoide stray light. You need to understand that early on there is a battle going on in your tank. And every conceivable thing in that water is fighting to win. Different kinds of algae diatoms. Bacteria’s etc etc. and at different stages different ones have an advantage. Very few of us want algae and most algae needs light. So help your tank win the battle and keep all light out as long as possible. You can minimize and almost avoide the ugly stage if you can wait long enough. And I know people don’t want to hear it but the complete cycle war can take four months. So you have a choice. Wait it out for four months or deal with problem algae for six or more months. In the end just enjoy your tank. Wether ugly phase or pristine tank it’s all an adventure that you should embrace and enjoy.
 
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