Cycling...

[sid101]

I havent been able to find a thread that shows me how to cycle a SW aquarium, i have talked to the guys in the fish shops but they have given me 3 diferent ways to cycle the aquarium and i really dont know wich one to use so i rather ask the pro's...

Maybe after everyone has given it's method we could do a new thread to get sticky status so everyone can get some into about it?:ssmile:

Go!:

[sid101]

Hello Hello? anyone?

[travie]

If you buy live rock fully cured, you can just let it sit in a tank with proper SG and good flow. Test every other day or so till ammonia and nitrite are zero, then you are done cycling.

If you buy dry rock, you need to cycle it buy adding ammonia to the tank. Threads can be found in the cycling forum on how to do this.
Or you can seed this dry rock with fully cured live rock or live sand, till the dry is fully seeded.

Test kits are needed either way to know where the cycle is.

[ILuvMyGoldBarb]

I've used both methods Travie mentioned. Both of them work great. The nitrogen cycle works the same way in SW as it does in FW. The only difference is you have anaerobic bactera performing de-nitrification as well in a SW tank providing you use Live Rock.

[sid101]

Hmm cant seem to find the "cycling" rooms...

[travie]

Cycling forum: http://www.aquaticcommunity.com/aquariumforum/forumdisplay.php?f=111

[AABatteries]

I'm using the method of using LR to seed some dead rock. I would've probably been near the end of my cycle if I had gotten all LR. Oh well, when your wallet is empty, what else can you do?

[kaianuanu]

i know what its like to have penny pinching parents

[rageybug]

Here is how I cycle and set up a new salt water tank. This is my preferred method (there are millions) and it has worked for me. It is a basic description as a more in depth description would take forever. This is the order I do it, feel free to do it your own way. I offer no gaurentees that this method will work for you, just my two cents!


Step #1
Put all salt water, substrate and live rock into the tank. Turn on your power head to add water flow and let it sit. At this point you will need to start testing for ammonia and nitrite levels. The ammonia should rise first, and then you will start getting nitrites. ***Nitrites are the go-between of turning ammonia into nitrates. Nitrates are a form of nitrogen that plants use for food, too much will cause a bunch of algae growth in your tank but that is for another thread! As nitrate levels get high, water changes will bring them back down.*** Do not proceed until you have zero ammonia and zero nitrite, This may take a week, it may take a month. It all depends on the amount of die off on the rock. As things die off, they will create waste in the water, causing the ammonia and nitrite to rise. This is perfectly normal. Test the water every few days and record your numbers. They should steadily go up until one day they drop off and eventually hit zero.

Step #2
Start adding your inverts/clean up crew (CUC) to the tank. Only add a few things at a time, like hermits one day, snails the next time, shrimp etc. Test the water for ammonia and nitrites each time you make an addition and do not proceed until you get zeros again. Once all of your inverts are in and you have no ammonia and no nitrites, you are ready for corals!

Step #3
This can often be the longest step mostly due to the huge cost involved. Just like step #2, only add one or two corals at a time. Again, test the water and only proceed if you have no ammonia and no nitrites. If you have all zeros and are ready for the next step, wait an aditional week or so to give the corals a chance to really settle in. Corals can be very difficult to keep so letting them settle in will only better their chances for survival.

Step #4
Adding your fish is the last step. Once again, always test your water before adding more stock. The live rock (LR) will have bacteria growing on it that takes care of the "filtering" of the tank. There will only be enough bacteria on the LR to clean up the bio-load (amount of waste) that is currently in the tank. When you add new stock, be it fish, coral or part of the CUC, it will cause the ammonia and nitrite levels to rise. The LR will need enough time to grow more bacteria to combat the increased bio-load. Once the bacteria has grown enough to handle the new bio-load, ammonia and nitrite levels should drop back down again. Now you are safe to add more.

Each time you add something new to the tank, the ammonia and nitrite levels will go up, the bacteria will multiply to handle the increased bio-load and then levels will drop again. Each time you add something new to the tank, it will cause a mini-cycle to happen. Always keep a "slow and steady" mind set if you want a healthy and stress free reef tank.











Okay, maybe that was more than two cents!

[sid101]

Thank you so much everyone!

Rageybug thank you so much dude you are always here when i have questions ^^.

[rageybug]

I'm happy to help!