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How to actually start the reef..
- Thread starter Anthonyjiz
- Start date
What's that? Please explain haha
Note before wall of text: soft cycling is a time consuming process. If you don't have it, skip the wall.
The concept of soft cycling is simple, to keep as many sessile inverts and plants already on the rock alive during the cycling process by keeping the ammonia at a minimum. The key to a good soft cycle is high quality, fresh live rock, good lighting on a regular cycle, strong filtration (skimmer and running carbon are sometime necessary), regular water testing and very frequent water changes. Before you even think of soft cycling a tank you need to make sure you have the resources at your disposal to correctly soft cycle a tank. Do you have the money for high quality rock? Do you have a place to get the rock from? Do you have accurate test kits for NH3/NH4, NO3, NO2? Do you have plenty of salt and water on hand for water changes? Do you have enough storage space to store premixed salt water for water changes (sometimes as large as a 100%)? Do you have enough time to do daily water changes, test the water, monitor the tank, empty skimmer cups for up to 3 weeks? If you answered "No" to any of these a soft cycle is probably not right for you.
For those of you who did answer "Yes" to all the questions lets go over what preparation should be done for a soft cycle. The most important part of a soft cycle is the quality of the rock you start with since you can only maintain the animals that initially come in on the rock. Using very white or drab rock with almost no life entirely defeats the purpose of a soft cycle. Once you get the live rock it is important to go over it thoroughly before you add it to your tank. Remove any dead crabs, worms, sponges, etc. from the rock. Determine which face of the live rock is up and identify where potential corals are and make sure they are facing towards the light. I would also leave as much macro algae, even potential pests, on the rock as possible as they can metabolize a significant amount of free nitrogen and carbon into their tissue. Its best to point strong flow going parallel across the face of the live rock so as to remove as much debris as possible and get it into the water column where it can be removed mechanically or neutralized chemically. Skimming is also going to be to be crucial to success (at least IMO) as it is perhaps the easiest method to remove dissolved organics from the water column. Remember to tune your skimmer to maximize the amount of skimmate that is pulling, keeping a constant watch to ensure the skimmer is running as efficiently as possible.
Now comes the hard part, keeping as little nitrogen in the water as possible. Nitrogen in the form of ammonia and nitrite will readily burn many of the animals that are intended to be saved by a soft cycle. The water in the tank must be monitored constantly and appropriate action must be taken based on these results. Water should be tested once if not two or three times daily. During the first couple days you should expect to see a spike in ammonia and large water changes (between 50-100%) should be preformed according to test results. It is important to set-up a water standard as far as temp, salinity, PH and alk are concerned and adhering to these standards for any new water entering the tank, so as not to shock the animals any further. Testing should continue and water changes done accordingly until nitrATES are registering near zero for a few day. There is absolutely no time table that can be set for a soft cycle as it is largely dependent on you filtration system, quality of live rock, and time spent in transit.
The concept of soft cycling is simple, to keep as many sessile inverts and plants already on the rock alive during the cycling process by keeping the ammonia at a minimum. The key to a good soft cycle is high quality, fresh live rock, good lighting on a regular cycle, strong filtration (skimmer and running carbon are sometime necessary), regular water testing and very frequent water changes. Before you even think of soft cycling a tank you need to make sure you have the resources at your disposal to correctly soft cycle a tank. Do you have the money for high quality rock? Do you have a place to get the rock from? Do you have accurate test kits for NH3/NH4, NO3, NO2? Do you have plenty of salt and water on hand for water changes? Do you have enough storage space to store premixed salt water for water changes (sometimes as large as a 100%)? Do you have enough time to do daily water changes, test the water, monitor the tank, empty skimmer cups for up to 3 weeks? If you answered "No" to any of these a soft cycle is probably not right for you.
For those of you who did answer "Yes" to all the questions lets go over what preparation should be done for a soft cycle. The most important part of a soft cycle is the quality of the rock you start with since you can only maintain the animals that initially come in on the rock. Using very white or drab rock with almost no life entirely defeats the purpose of a soft cycle. Once you get the live rock it is important to go over it thoroughly before you add it to your tank. Remove any dead crabs, worms, sponges, etc. from the rock. Determine which face of the live rock is up and identify where potential corals are and make sure they are facing towards the light. I would also leave as much macro algae, even potential pests, on the rock as possible as they can metabolize a significant amount of free nitrogen and carbon into their tissue. Its best to point strong flow going parallel across the face of the live rock so as to remove as much debris as possible and get it into the water column where it can be removed mechanically or neutralized chemically. Skimming is also going to be to be crucial to success (at least IMO) as it is perhaps the easiest method to remove dissolved organics from the water column. Remember to tune your skimmer to maximize the amount of skimmate that is pulling, keeping a constant watch to ensure the skimmer is running as efficiently as possible.
Now comes the hard part, keeping as little nitrogen in the water as possible. Nitrogen in the form of ammonia and nitrite will readily burn many of the animals that are intended to be saved by a soft cycle. The water in the tank must be monitored constantly and appropriate action must be taken based on these results. Water should be tested once if not two or three times daily. During the first couple days you should expect to see a spike in ammonia and large water changes (between 50-100%) should be preformed according to test results. It is important to set-up a water standard as far as temp, salinity, PH and alk are concerned and adhering to these standards for any new water entering the tank, so as not to shock the animals any further. Testing should continue and water changes done accordingly until nitrATES are registering near zero for a few day. There is absolutely no time table that can be set for a soft cycle as it is largely dependent on you filtration system, quality of live rock, and time spent in transit.
Diatoms will burn out unless you replace them through water changes. Is your source water/salt free of silicates? There is commercially available silicate remover. Diatoms are a dusty brown algae. Not usually able to smother. Dinoflagelletes are also silicate fed. This is a stringy snotty looking algae with bubbles so that the strands tend to float. Cyano is fed by PO4 and possibly encouraged by bulbs that have shifted to the wrong color spectrum like PC bulbs.
I wouldn't encourage soft cycle without a stong understanding of saltwater aquarium keeping.
I wouldn't encourage soft cycle without a stong understanding of saltwater aquarium keeping.
let's skipp the soft cycle =D
I'm going to be using straight faucet tap water.. I have a fridge but it gives off really cold water and it would take like 2 hours to fill up
30gallons.. Litteraly lol
so I shouldn't be worried about much right? I know diatom blooms are naturall
Phyl said:
I'm going to be using straight faucet tap water.. I have a fridge but it gives off really cold water and it would take like 2 hours to fill up
30gallons.. Litteraly lol
so I shouldn't be worried about much right? I know diatom blooms are naturall
Before you even dream of corals you need to find something better than "tap water" to use. At the very least I'd have your TDS tested before you use it. We have water that's pretty good at around 60TDS, but others on the forum have a TDS closer to 400. 60 water isn't the end of the world, but 400 is going to give you some serious algae consequences when you turn the lights on.
Here is excellent video tutorials:
http://lafishguys.com/
Watch every video and especially Episode 51 part 1, 2 and 3.
You can buy RO water at a .50c per gallon at PetsPlus. You can also buy saltwater premixed for 0.89c a gallon at PETCO. They also sell natural sea water. I use it for my water changes.
They also claim that when you use natural sea water for your new tank you don't have to cycle it or it takes less time.
http://lafishguys.com/
Watch every video and especially Episode 51 part 1, 2 and 3.
You can buy RO water at a .50c per gallon at PetsPlus. You can also buy saltwater premixed for 0.89c a gallon at PETCO. They also sell natural sea water. I use it for my water changes.
They also claim that when you use natural sea water for your new tank you don't have to cycle it or it takes less time.
Tazmanian Cowboy,
Do you have fish in your tank yet? If not, seed the display tank with Harpacticoid copepods. These guys would munch away bacteria and stay fast on glass and rock (won't get sucked in pumps/powerheads) so the population would only increase in the absence of natural predators.
You can find them here: http://www.oceanpods.com/index.html. They are $25 + shipping per bottle and Dr. Rhodes answers the phone calls herself. I did talk to her but before I could get in order the stuff, my tank had a cyano bloom. It was then that I noticed that I already had all sorts of copepods in my tank that cleared the cyano within 2 weeks.
Sand sifting cucumbers are good diatom eaters. DO NOT GET SAND SIFTING STARFISH !! The latter kills of beneficial bacteria in your sand.
Do you have fish in your tank yet? If not, seed the display tank with Harpacticoid copepods. These guys would munch away bacteria and stay fast on glass and rock (won't get sucked in pumps/powerheads) so the population would only increase in the absence of natural predators.
You can find them here: http://www.oceanpods.com/index.html. They are $25 + shipping per bottle and Dr. Rhodes answers the phone calls herself. I did talk to her but before I could get in order the stuff, my tank had a cyano bloom. It was then that I noticed that I already had all sorts of copepods in my tank that cleared the cyano within 2 weeks.
Sand sifting cucumbers are good diatom eaters. DO NOT GET SAND SIFTING STARFISH !! The latter kills of beneficial bacteria in your sand.
I know someone who used to work at petco and said they dont use ro water for their salt water or fresh for that matter. just quoting what he said. dont know first hand.
I would not use it!
If your going to use nsw go down to the ocean and get it.
I would not use it!
If your going to use nsw go down to the ocean and get it.
Just My 2 cents but I read for a year while I built my tank setup and Im still going a little crazy a year after that.
Don't forget that adequate water movement within the tank itself will help eliminate dead spots in the tank preventing the growth of unwanted diatoms, cyano or algae. Also, keeping your lighting closer to the blue spectrum only (like actinics if you have them) during the first 4 weeks of cycling will inhibit nuisance algae from growing. Keeping the lights on a timer so that you aren't tempted to keep the lights on for longer than normal will help as well. Having a concistent light cycle is key.
So am I suppose to use my 175 watt 20k MH at all during the cycle or what? Bc it's pretty strong, and how long? I might get a 30breeder or 40b, not positive yet guys!
If you have actinics then only use that. You can leave the MH off for now. Better to let the nutrients burn out without the lights to inspire algae growth at this point. When you do start up the MH phase them in an hour or so a week until you're up to 6 hours.