Tank cycled???

[350gt]

I'm done listening to pet shops. Chris and ace have the best 100+ gallon tanks I have ever seen and Zack's 40 breeder is nice as well. Advice from people with tank that nice are people I'll listen too.

There are a few others, that have been around as long if not longer and have great looking tanks too. Paul who is featured this month is a tank that has been up for years and still looks great... but ace and chris are great brains to pick for info..

[SABOB]

Best advice I can give is look at how long individual giving advice has been in this hobby.Not to say some newbies don't have good advice but those that have been doing this successfully for a long time, have great advice.Some LFS and employees give good advice some dont."If it seems to good to be true....it usually isn't"


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[hobogato]

I think it's 1 in. I put 40lbs of new sand in my tank.

ah, ok. i thought you had decided to go deeper in the other thread.

Ok I think I'm going with a 2 in sb.

anything between 1" and 4" is asking for continuing trouble. be patient, it will take a while for the tank to settle in. you can expect several algae blooms including the diatoms you have now, cyano and hair algae. some tanks have heavier blooms than others.

[Reef Swimmer]

I don't know how many bags I need to make a dsb.

[Big_Pun]

i think your sand bed is fine as is, you will need to vacuum sand with shallow bed(i do). buddy take it slow learn your tank, every tank is diff. dont add any coral or fish for a lil bit. im sure you can get some rubble or sand from someone to help tank, but it seems like your in middle cycle so wait.

[footballdude2k3]

Personally if you want a dsb, I would or it remotely, less headaches if/when you need to change out the sand. The point of a dsb is to have it undisturbed because shifting the sand around can have bad affects on your tank.

[ramsey]

I never knocked it. All the many tanks Ive cycled, Ive never needed to use this. Who knows maybe I will try it.

I've used bio-spira to cycle several tanks because I'm impatient when it comes to cycling. What I will say is, the bacteria products absolutely work, but I'm not sure how much time they save over the long run. In my 38, I decided to add bacteria after about 3 days. The day after I had 0 ammonia and nitrite. However, I suspected I would have a diatom bloom and algae bloom, which I did. It took a couple of months for things to settle down in the tank. With that said, I'm not sure "quick cycling" my tank really saved time in the long run since you still have diatom/algae blooms that you'll have to wait out anyway.

What I like most about these products are that they're great for tank moves or an unexpected ammonia spike. I think they'd be great for a quick set up (like a frag swap) too, though properly seeded bio media would also work and is much cheaper.

Long story short, they work but I'm not sure they actually save you time if you're cycling a display tank.

[Reef Swimmer]

Not getting a sand sifter at all no snails either. Just hermits.

[ramsey]

Not getting a sand sifter at all no snails either. Just hermits.

I'd be careful with that for two reasons. First, they're not going to be able to clean the back of your tank (the glass) so you might end up with a wall of algae. If you can get to the back of your tank and scrap algae off the back from time to time, I guess it's not as much of a concern. They're also not as thorough when cleaning algae. Second, and this is just personal preference, I never trust a crab. I haven't had much problems with hermits besides them killing snails, but I've certainly had them with emerald crabs. Crabs in general are opportunistic so they may turn on you at any point. You don't really have this same risk with snails.

[jcnkt_ellis]

No sand sifters is a good idea, especially for a deep bed, as most sift the sand and eat the microscopic life that helps support the nitrogen cycle. However, there are some sand dwellers who are beneficial. Nessarius snails are detrivores who live in the top inch or so of the sand and they help bury organic waste into the sand bed so bacteria, et. al can do their work better. Also, certain cucumbers like tiger tails take in the top layer of sand but only digest microscopic algae and cyano off of it. Long story short, do your research and try to setup a complete ecosystem for the nitrogen cycle for best long term results. Predators are not needed as populations are kept in check by the size of the habitat, but everything else is somewhat necessary.