Cycling Question
- Thread starter BlackGhost
- Start date
just get live rock and wait for the ammonia to go up and come back down to 0 that's really all there is to the cycle then you hit all these algae cycles (well at less i did) but that's just when you get out brakes of different types of algae then you get coraline. I probbly missed something but there are lots of people here that will it.
Good luck!
Nick
Good luck!
Nick
the cycling is probably covered in Wayne's sticky at the top of the page. but in a simplistic list....
get your tank set up and test drive it for leaks etc. with fresh water.....empty it
place your live rock provided that it is really live rock that may already be cured, even cured live rock will start your cycle.
place this where you want it on the bare bottom.......ensure it's stability and make sure it isn't tippy as you don't want it crashing down months later.
place your substrate....sand around the stable live rock......and slowly add the saltwater you made up a couple of days previously that is now been circulating and is at the right salinity 1.023 to about 1.025 ........placing a dinner plate on the sand will help reduce the ensuing sandstorm that will no doubt follow. Expect it to be cloudy for a few days until the bacteria start to weigh down the particulates in the water....it will clear....believe me.
start measuring your ph & ammonia......you should start to see some ammonia from any die off from the rock......you may not see a lot if you have truly cured live rock.....once the ammonia starts to decline start testing for nitrites........this should spike up and then gradually come down to zero.
depending how high your ammonia goes you may need to do a water change to keep from killing anything more on your rock.....but if it is cured you may not. Run your skimmer etc during this process.....once everything tests out at zero you are pretty much cycled.....this process may take up to 6 weeks.....be patient....do not try to rush this by adding damsels or other fish it isn't a good idea and you will definitely regret it later when you try to get them out.......
oh and btw...welcome tothe salty side of life....
get your tank set up and test drive it for leaks etc. with fresh water.....empty it
place your live rock provided that it is really live rock that may already be cured, even cured live rock will start your cycle.
place this where you want it on the bare bottom.......ensure it's stability and make sure it isn't tippy as you don't want it crashing down months later.
place your substrate....sand around the stable live rock......and slowly add the saltwater you made up a couple of days previously that is now been circulating and is at the right salinity 1.023 to about 1.025 ........placing a dinner plate on the sand will help reduce the ensuing sandstorm that will no doubt follow. Expect it to be cloudy for a few days until the bacteria start to weigh down the particulates in the water....it will clear....believe me.
start measuring your ph & ammonia......you should start to see some ammonia from any die off from the rock......you may not see a lot if you have truly cured live rock.....once the ammonia starts to decline start testing for nitrites........this should spike up and then gradually come down to zero.
depending how high your ammonia goes you may need to do a water change to keep from killing anything more on your rock.....but if it is cured you may not. Run your skimmer etc during this process.....once everything tests out at zero you are pretty much cycled.....this process may take up to 6 weeks.....be patient....do not try to rush this by adding damsels or other fish it isn't a good idea and you will definitely regret it later when you try to get them out.......
oh and btw...welcome tothe salty side of life....
At a base level the most interesting thing about live rock is that it comes with a full suite of filter bacteria - that's the main point of liv rock, the bacteria.
So no, you don't need to add anything. You jsut need to make sure that if you get lots of dieoff you keep ammonai levels under control by skimming, water changes, whatever, so you keep your hitchhikers alive.
So no, you don't need to add anything. You jsut need to make sure that if you get lots of dieoff you keep ammonai levels under control by skimming, water changes, whatever, so you keep your hitchhikers alive.
Exactly.....and this suite of bacteria will spread into your sandbed and multiply within your system to a specific load which is balanced. This balance can and will be altered with every addition of fish as they too disrupt the balance until it finds it's way again. Every time you add anything which as I stated must be done slowly so that your system has time to adjust to the additional bioload that you are adding. Add too much or something dies etc it will spike your ammonia (fish waste etc) and your existing bacteria population needs to grow to accomodate the extra and convert it to nitrite then nitrogen, in simple terms.....the cycle in a closed system is the most important aspect of the hobby.......understanding how all these things come into play greatly increases your success later.....
