Cycling New Tank

[blane1983]

ok great chris. thanks for all your help

[allan]

If you're interested I could give you a pound or two of live rock rubble from my fuge.

[RICKY81]

Ok I am getting a better understanding now. My sand is from lfs (texas tropicals), the rocks were once in an established tank but were out of water for 2 weeks (my fault). Before I put the rocks in my tank I put them in a tub with a ph and ran that for a week with daily water changes. Then I put them in my tank. I do water changes on the tank every two days. I also put a small rock in the from an established tank ( i crushed it up and sprinkled it on my rocks) What are your opinions on all of this?

ok ok.... if i am understanding this correctly ur tank is fairly new and u are trying to cycle the whole nitrogen cycle, but what i don't understand is why you are doing water changes so early in the process... to my understanding, first throw in a shrimp or two like mentioned earlier, let it cycle, then after the shrimp decays, then ur ammonia should start spiking, and will eventually start your cycle, these could take anywhere from 4-6 weeks normally, but could take a little longer.....

i don't think u need to be doing any water changes at this time, it would be ok if ur tank was already established with fish and coral in it and u are adding Live Rock to the tank, then doing water changes would prevent and spike in ur water levels, but if there is absolutely nothing in it, just let it cycle, and make sure that u have a good filter and a protein skimmer to filter all that junk out.

if u need more information u can try to google Nitrogen Cycle for saltwater fish.

[dmweise]

If you toss in a dead shrimp it will take a week or two to cycle. If you don't then it will take a bit longer. If you live in Austin you are welcome to swing by for a cup of sand from my tank.

[blane1983]

the reason im doing water changes is due to the fact that I used rock that was out of water for two weeks. I figured there would be a lot of decaying matter because of this and so I assumed water changes would help cure the rock. Am I wrong in thinking like this?

[dmweise]

Nope, you're thinking properly. I wouldn't do the water changes though. If anything the decaying matter will help cycle the water.

[blane1983]

olk i will put 1 table shrimp and leave it alone for a while. Ill keep this updated (I'm sure I'll have more questions) Thanks

[Aqua-Dome]

Blane, unless you already have, please do not put table shrimp in your tank. Your tank is cycled. LIVE ROCK OR LIVE SAND instantly cycles a tank, as evidenced by your zero ammonia and nitrite. Anytime you add a fish the tank takes a short time to accomodate the new load, that's why adding slowly is important. This is no different for your tank than it is a six month old tank. Don't waste your time by RE-cycling your tank with a decaying ball of dead animal. Continuing your current water change schedule is a good safeguard IN CASE OF a spike, which is VERY UNLIKELY unless you add 10 fish at once. Add ONE fish, make sure it does fine for a week, keep testing parameters, and go from there...

[recoiljpr]

Blane, unless you already have, please do not put table shrimp in your tank. Your tank is cycled. LIVE ROCK OR LIVE SAND instantly cycles a tank, as evidenced by your zero ammonia and nitrite. Anytime you add a fish the tank takes a short time to accomodate the new load, that's why adding slowly is important. This is no different for your tank than it is a six month old tank. Don't waste your time by RE-cycling your tank with a decaying ball of dead animal. Continuing your current water change schedule is a good safeguard IN CASE OF a spike, which is VERY UNLIKELY unless you add 10 fish at once. Add ONE fish, make sure it does fine for a week, keep testing parameters, and go from there...

I respectfully disagree.

I think he's showing no ammonia because there isn't enough life dying off to cause a large cycle. Without enough of a decaying biomass, the tank will sit in the status it's in. With just the decaying bacteria to go, the bioload is so small, it's cycled to handle the biomass it's at now. You add a fish and there will be no more then enough bacteria to handle it. As we are finding out, sand plays a small part, the huge ammonia processing comes from live rock. Considering the live rock was "dead" the bacteria have to repopulate.

Nitrifying bacteria are only a part of the cycle, how can a tank be considered cycled without going through the diatoms, green algae, etc? That shows a maturing tank because the organisms are reaching a state balance. Without that being reached, adding life will throw the tank for a whirl.

I'm always up for learning more, so if you have any research that helps support your view, please feel free to link it here, i'd love to read it. I am not saying the above statement sarcastically either, if it's out there i'd like to read it. The vast majority of literature out there (combined with the experiences of most people on this board and others) show that it takes a long while to cycle a tank. There are products out there that claim to help speed up a cycle, and that's partially true. But that only is with the ntirifiying bacteria. It does nothing for the other life, etc in the tank (algaes, pods, etc).

[Big_Pun]

from my expierence i think starting a new there always goin to be alot of cycling everytime you add new stuff, i setup a 8g bio cube for my sis i was able to get sand and live rock all cured for a yr or more transfered it straight to the tank let it sit a month then added 1 fish and some cleaning crew and that started another cycle got lots of algae for a couple weeks and then finally after 2 weeks that ended. so as bill said be patient and take it slow. your on the right track and there is no exact formula to cycle, just let it happen and be ready for stuff to happen.