Cycling a tank

[Crypt]

Heya,

Back again with some questions,

1) Is it ok to run the cycling process w/o the chillier running?

2) Is it ok to speed up the cycling process (provided the necessities are all ok)?

3) For a 3ft tank, of LS is around 30+ is it too high?

[kthc]

Heya,

Back again with some questions,

1) Is it ok to run the cycling process w/o the chillier running?

2) Is it ok to speed up the cycling process (provided the necessities are all ok)?

3) For a 3ft tank, of LS is around 30+ is it too high?

30+ is definitely too high.... typo right, wanted to type 3+ is it :eyebrow:

[Ah-lim]

1)Yes.

2)Best not to. Juz stick with the usual. From past experiences, the longer cycling of the tank, the more stable your water is. So your coral dun mysteriously die, your LS dun die out of no reason....etc.

wait lah..

3) 30+ LS too much. Half that amount and depend on wat kind of fishes ya keeping.

[Crypt]

30+ is definitely too high.... typo right, wanted to type 3+ is it :eyebrow:

haha bro..not typo la, just curious and after much thought, yahh 30+ is too much...

1)Yes.

2)Best not to. Juz stick with the usual. From past experiences, the longer cycling of the tank, the more stable your water is. So your coral dun mysteriously die, your LS dun die out of no reason....etc.

wait lah..

3) 30+ LS too much. Half that amount and depend on wat kind of fishes ya keeping.

thankxx for ur reply bro, will take the neccessity to ensure that cycling process is up to requirements, no cheating, hehe..

[Solo77]

from the book...if you want to confirm when can add LS, for new setup, your NO will go up and after the cycling process completed...the NO reading should be 0...... be patience which i did not follow and suffer...hehe. All the best.

haha bro..not typo la, just curious and after much thought, yahh 30+ is too much...

thankxx for ur reply bro, will take the neccessity to ensure that cycling process is up to requirements, no cheating, hehe..

[wil_lee76]

from the book...if you want to confirm when can add LS, for new setup, your NO will go up and after the cycling process completed...the NO reading should be 0...... be patience which i did not follow and suffer...hehe. All the best.

IMO,getting the readings might not that be accurate! depends on what testkits you used!

What i do is normally, i will go beyond the cycling period. Bear in mind that a month is a standard practices. But sometimes, different tank different cycling period. So the best, go beyond..and rem be damnz patience!

[Morpheous]

When u add livestocks, do it progressively, and quarantine always...

[Crypt]

heya guys,

thankxx for the replies

Some more clarifications ,

1) Can cycling also be done w/o turning on the Skimmer and Fr (will only turn on at the 3rd or 4th week of cycling stages as no livestock are added during process)??

2) Is refugium the best for a sump tank?

Thankxx for the help guys

Damn newbie here, read alot but am still unsure of alot of things...

[Solo77]

IMO, the answer should be yes if you are not adding any LS. If the water has live rock without LS, turning on the skimmer will not have nothing much to skim off the water. For the FR, it depends on what you intend to remove or reduce. If for PO, if you let the water run and do not introduce light, algae unlikely to grow. For FR, you can decide to put phos remover or carbon or both or just have phos in your FR and place carbon and bio home or ball in your sump. Nevertheless, it will be good to turn on. Think there is no hard and fast rules. Some ppl will put rocks to reduce the NO in your tank, some will have refugium, mangrove, etc. The water also plays a part - RO/DI or NSW or just tap water which left for weeks and has all the remover solutions added to the water.

Hope to hear from senior reefer to share their experience and professional advice. : )

heya guys,

thankxx for the replies

Some more clarifications ,

1) Can cycling also be done w/o turning on the Skimmer and Fr (will only turn on at the 3rd or 4th week of cycling stages as no livestock are added during process)??

2) Is refugium the best for a sump tank?

Thankxx for the help guys

Damn newbie here, read alot but am still unsure of alot of things...

[Solo77]

one more thing to add....i am super super newbie....hahaha...hence my opinion can be ignored and corrected by senior reefer....hehe....hopeing to learn more also. : )

[wil_lee76]

IMO, the answer should be yes if you are not adding any LS. If the water has live rock without LS, turning on the skimmer will not have nothing much to skim off the water. For the FR, it depends on what you intend to remove or reduce. If for PO, if you let the water run and do not introduce light, algae unlikely to grow. For FR, you can decide to put phos remover or carbon or both or just have phos in your FR and place carbon and bio home or ball in your sump. Nevertheless, it will be good to turn on. Think there is no hard and fast rules. Some ppl will put rocks to reduce the NO in your tank, some will have refugium, mangrove, etc. The water also plays a part - RO/DI or NSW or just tap water which left for weeks and has all the remover solutions added to the water.

Hope to hear from senior reefer to share their experience and professional advice. : )

solo bro, we are here to learn and share our experiences. So need not to worry much!

Basically, diff reefers have diff thoughts and ways...some trial and run....and it works... ok, personally...what i did while cycling... I dun use market prawn to speed up the process, i dun purchased instant bacteria or startup solutions to kick start...i believe in natural ways, so sometimes it takes a longer period!

OK, during cycling period, I will run my rowas & carbon to prevent any builds up of unnecessary chemicals. Skimming depends on certain pple, but i would suggest you to test run your skimmer to check for any faulty parts & bubbling into main tank., so at least during cycling period you can adjust your settings & configurations. Now let the tank cycle w/o lights or sometimes, run the lights. These period is a good time to do sorts of adjustments.

OK, come to what to put in the sump...do u believe that i don't place anything in my sump? YES. i Don't place bioballs, corals chips, ceremic cones etc etc. what i put is only a piece of white filter foam for collection of waste...and small pieces of live rocks and I let my skimmer do the job. So where's the biological system? I believe all lies in the rocks in my main tank and in the sump.

Thats how my previous system runs...and now having a 24gall tank..im not running a skimmer and nothing is behind my compartments only a piece of white filter foam!

Hope these helps!

[Ah-lim]

Feeling bored, so drew a sump pics. Simple one with wats inside.

[Underwater]

Can learn from Bro Ah-Lim, with many fishes and yet 0 nitrates. Amazing....the power of LR.

[wilfran]

Hi All

can i use life rock during cycling period ? i just up grade from a 3 to 4 footer..

please advice

[Crypt]

Heya all,

Thankx for all ur replies and it is indeed a great help for me ..and yet further clarifications needed

1) I intend to use Natures Ocean Live Aragonite Black Sand as the sand base in the main tank, and as for my sump refugium i'm using normal sand grade 0 & 1 9inches, will it have any effects to the tank waters or anything?

2) During cycling stages, does the refugium need to be completely setup or during cycling stages i can set it up?

3) Can anybody clarify during cycling stages what are the additives that u guys normally add to ensure water parameters are acceptable and sustainable for NO2,NO3 etc..? What are the brands used?

[dfstan]

not sure about how long cycling required to be using the argonite live sand. most important is to ensure that your NO is zero before adding in any livestock. live sand or not, ensure NO=zero. however, i presume using live sand should reduce the cycling time.

[jythong]

not sure about how long cycling required to be using the argonite live sand. most important is to ensure that your NO is zero before adding in any livestock. live sand or not, ensure NO=zero. however, i presume using live sand should reduce the cycling time.

I was told can add LS after 5 days of setting up my tank with aragonite live sand and rocks. The packaging for the live sand even say can add fish immediately.

For my tank, ammonia, nitrite and nitrate remained 0 for the first 5 days...maybe live sand really accelerates the process significantly. I will continue to monitor the parameters.