Anyone tried starting a reef tank without cycling?

[[V]tEc]

When i started my first 2ft tank, i was not aware of cycling tank. i set up the tank at night with live rocks from reefer and nsw with new sand. following day, i added 4 clown fish and 2 small tangs. 2 days later i went iwarna to get some corals. till today, my 1st coral is still in my tank. tank was running for 4 mths b4 i decommed n upgrade to my 3ft. none of the fish die.

so to say, it is possible to start a tank without cycling n yet not crashing it right?

[Kian Wee]

When i started my first 2ft tank, i was not aware of cycling tank. i set up the tank at night with live rocks from reefer and nsw with new sand. following day, i added 4 clown fish and 2 small tangs. 2 days later i went iwarna to get some corals. till today, my 1st coral is still in my tank. tank was running for 4 mths b4 i decommed n upgrade to my 3ft. none of the fish die.

so to say, it is possible to start a tank without cycling n yet not crashing it right?

I did that for my RSM. Semi dead rock cos the reefer gave me semi moist rock left dry for 1 day. Leather coral, clown, damsel as the leather came with the live rock. Ammonia was like 1-5 ppm in the first week!!! The leather did not look too good initially.

2.5 years on, the tiny leather coral is huge, the damsel is the big bully and the clowns happily resides in the 1.5 year old anemone.

Started a 4G pico recently. Mantis shrimp is the immediate residence. One live rock from my RSM, NSW, mix of live and dead sand. Mushroom in on third day and all alive except 2 mushroom took flight. Ammonia almost zero from start. Nitrite spike a little then less than 1 week 0ppm. Nitrate still struggling. Things are growing all over in 1 month.

[MOssrope]

When i started my first 2ft tank, i was not aware of cycling tank. i set up the tank at night with live rocks from reefer and nsw with new sand. following day, i added 4 clown fish and 2 small tangs. 2 days later i went iwarna to get some corals. till today, my 1st coral is still in my tank. tank was running for 4 mths b4 i decommed n upgrade to my 3ft. none of the fish die.

so to say, it is possible to start a tank without cycling n yet not crashing it right?

it is very much possible.

cycling ensures the stability and pretty sure the corals you gotten were the hardy kind.

but u had live rocks and nsw to help out.. some poeple's only filtration are live rocks and water changes.. so yeah.. not cycling also depends on the startup equipments and additions imo.

[dnsfpl]

threw in 1/2 piece of market prawn to start the cycle in my office tank

from day 1 to day 10, no change in water parameter

cheers

[yikai]

yes possible, although not advisable. i started my current 3ft tank with live rocks only and addition of bacteria. after 1 week, added fish but no corals. till this day everything is A ok.

but not advisable that is.

[hotsoup]

Let's us make it simple: to cycle a new tank means to introduce bacteria. How abt if I start a new tank with live rock and NSW, do I still need to cycle the tank? very subjective answer

[TayHongSiang]

i can share from my personal experience, since i just started a 120G tank....if you used NSW, your water parameters tends to stabilise faster and better....and less algae growth....my tank is now in its 12th day of cycling, and no sign of algae at all....i have 2 clowns, 2 sally lightfoot crabs, a sand-borrowing shrimp, 2 small anthias, 1 cucumber, 1 purple queen anthias...(one died yesterday) and so far they are going strong....except for the purple queen anthias which has been hiding and not coming out to feed...and i have no skimmer and chiller running.....i feed 2 times a day...

In addition to that, most of my rocks have been left in the pail for almost 2 weeks before i start my tank and i'm using normal sand...and i only dose API brand of bacteria....not those high end solid brands of bacteria which cost you a few bucks per drop....

So, from my opinion, NSW makes a big difference in expeditating the cycling process and stabilising yr tank quickly and depending on yr size of your tank....

And one last thing, you can call iwarna to supply you NSW straight to your home w/o messing up yr living room and floors and back-breaking process of carrying jellycans or packets of NSW.

[poomoon]

i can share from my personal experience, since i just started a 120G tank....if you used NSW, your water parameters tends to stabilise faster and better....and less algae growth....my tank is now in its 12th day of cycling, and no sign of algae at all....i have 2 clowns, 2 sally lightfoot crabs, a sand-borrowing shrimp, 2 small anthias, 1 cucumber, 1 purple queen anthias...(one died yesterday) and so far they are going strong....except for the purple queen anthias which has been hiding and not coming out to feed...and i have no skimmer and chiller running.....i feed 2 times a day...

In addition to that, most of my rocks have been left in the pail for almost 2 weeks before i start my tank and i'm using normal sand...and i only dose API brand of bacteria....not those high end solid brands of bacteria which cost you a few bucks per drop....

So, from my opinion, NSW makes a big difference in expeditating the cycling process and stabilising yr tank quickly and depending on yr size of your tank....

And one last thing, you can call iwarna to supply you NSW straight to your home w/o messing up yr living room and floors and back-breaking process of carrying jellycans or packets of NSW.

+ 1 ... NSW, live sand, live rocks ... but still better to at least run it some and let it stabilize.

[arcanehacker]

Did you state what that coral was? Must be those hardy brown or green kind..

If its hardly species, then its like many others who basically put a damsel in on the very first day (With or without intention of cycling). Most will probably survive through..

[demonsori]

U may think of it as a quarantine period too...many sponges on LR, esp from LFS die-off easily in the tank..its starts off slowly, and hard to realise... one more thing is pests... i thought i got rid of all 6 hairy crabs 3 yrs ago but now find a few still...latest addition of LR were properly inspected so shld be from my own old rocks...best way check for pests is in unstocked tank..maybe rocks were cleaned of aiptasia by fish/ livestock in previous owners tanks...bits and particles still in pores of LR...if u epoxy a nice blasto to rock then 2 weeks later see it surrounded by 8-10 aiptasia then more hard to eradicate...inject kalk/lemon juice blasto will bleach abit or burn..water not stable hurt coral sure gone in 3 days

when fish start disappear, corals start falling face down n die then sad... got missing corals due to crabs...take ur time n not rush--although i did ! rushing in this hobby will cause u more heartache, think 2 weeks is quite a reasonable time...better than not cycling right ?

now no discipline, when start stocking up and visiting lfs will have its negative effects like buying an unknown (to u) coral and have it sting ur lovely corals... or a fish that nips ur LPS to death... even fish has individual personality to observe n choose from a tank ( whether it was previously a bully or being bulied etc ) ... there are also things like ich that still survive for a period in the tanks on LR/ LS without fish...add fish before the parasites die-off will not show immediately...when ur fish start feel stressed, then the problem surfaces...

no hurry IMO...i used to buy corals with plenty of LR / filter plumbed in, fish added 2nd day, when started setup no cycling lost quite alot of stuff..filter (natural on LR/hangon/canister) needs to be adjusted gradually...like acclimatising fish ? bacteria cant process ANN-cycle fast enough to cope overnight..even small spike of ammonia will stun inverts/shrimps first...as unconditioned and diff parameter water used for WC-- unstable n sudden fluctuations have high risk of/ cause loss of LS or lower their immune system in the long run..

[TayHongSiang]

Get quality cured liverocks free from apitasia and pests....i always inspect the rocks and choose them myself....

Or cure them further when you bring them back by putting them in an empty pail for 3-4 days or more....all the pests and worms will come out....

a bit of lemon juice is enough to kill a thumb size apitasia...and will not hurt yr corals around it..i have just killed a few 2 days ago...use a syringe to target kill...spray right into the mouth...within mins...will close up and melt...

first week of cycling, dun one shot add a few fishes...esp the big ones....start off with one or 2 to get the cycling process going....and dose bacteria on 1st day and 2nd day...then one more time on 7th day, follow by 14th day....after one week, add the cleaners like snails, crabs....etc....2nd week and third week, dun stock up any fishes or livestocks....

[[V]tEc]

juz to add on, my current 4ft due to my renov delay did not undergo cycling too....day 1 move in tank, put in sand, scape with my live rocks that were out of water for more than 12 hrs. 3 hrs later iwarna deliver nsw. by the time my tank was running, it was ard 6pm. went for dinner, went to old house to catch 2 fishes to throw into 4 ft tank. after that everyday i will throw in 2 3 fishes. by end of 1st wk of setting up my tank, i have abt 2 fishes with all my corals inside. n my corals not those brown stuff. 7 days later, i added 5 tangs together. after running the tank for close to 3 mths now, everything is doin well except for NO3 abit high at 20.

[TayHongSiang]

juz to add on, my current 4ft due to my renov delay did not undergo cycling too....day 1 move in tank, put in sand, scape with my live rocks that were out of water for more than 12 hrs. 3 hrs later iwarna deliver nsw. by the time my tank was running, it was ard 6pm. went for dinner, went to old house to catch 2 fishes to throw into 4 ft tank. after that everyday i will throw in 2 3 fishes. by end of 1st wk of setting up my tank, i have abt 2 fishes with all my corals inside. n my corals not those brown stuff. 7 days later, i added 5 tangs together. after running the tank for close to 3 mths now, everything is doin well except for NO3 abit high at 20.

Means you have a good skimmer loh...only good and effective skimmer plus NSW will allow you to do that...haha

NO3 around 20 is still ok....if u r not keeping SPS and sensitive fishes...

[Vlamingi_cont]

When i started my first 2ft tank, i was not aware of cycling tank. i set up the tank at night with live rocks from reefer and nsw with new sand. following day, i added 4 clown fish and 2 small tangs. 2 days later i went iwarna to get some corals. till today, my 1st coral is still in my tank. tank was running for 4 mths b4 i decommed n upgrade to my 3ft. none of the fish die.

so to say, it is possible to start a tank without cycling n yet not crashing it right?

This shld be ur luck bah... I cycled tank for 1 wk and still crashed...