cycling tank
- Thread starter eclipse12
- Start date
nacl-man
Member
Originally posted by beaslbob
shock
I agree it prob died from a spike after you put the LR in. Most likely it was the 60 pounds of LS that did it. That's an awfull lot of stuff to add all at once. No matter how well you transport LS or LR there is gonna be some dieoff, which will start a new cycle in your tank if you don't cure it first.
How long has your tank been up?
nacl-man
Member
Originally posted by eclipse12
a week. I just added the water and salt 4 days ago. I added the live sand and rock last night.
yeah you are gonna have to wait for the tank to cycle.
Previously posted on SWF.COM:
Once you fill your tank with water, if you let it sit there running not much will happen for weeks on end. Therefore you must start the cycle or challenge it by introducing ammonia. Ammonia is introduced by fish, dead raw shrimp, live rock, live sand or even adding a few drops of ammonia from a bottle, or even what they call cycle in a bottle. With the ammonia present the first stage bacteria start to form, these bacteria will start to break down the ammonia into nitrites; this takes about a week or so. Ammonia is the most lethal. At about 0.5ppm any corals will close up and eventually die, at 0.5 to 1.0 the fish will exhibit irritation and the ammonia will impair the fish’s bloods ability to carry oxygen.
As the nitrites build up the second stage bacteria will start to form in order to breakdown the nitrites into nitrates. This stage takes about three weeks or so. The ammonia drops to 0 as the nitrites are in full swing. Nitrites are the 2nd most lethal.
As the nitrites breakdown into nitrates depending on your system and set up you will be left with the nitrates and must find a way to lower them.
A lot of corals can actually use nitrates and can thrive on say 0.5 ppm or less. Nitrates at 30 ppm will cause fish to slow their growth process, impair the immune system, and have reduced energy.
By now the nitrates are growing and the ammonia should be at 0, and the nitrites will eventually be 0.
To lower the nitrates, most aquariums will use a DSB (Deep Sand Bed) to process the nitrates into a harmless gas that will rise up and escape the water column. Water changes will also lower nitrates. There are also nitrate sponges, but with the price of the nitrate sponges the benefits of a water change are a much better way to go in my opinion. Nitrates are the least toxic in the cycle.
By the end of the cycle the ammonia=0, nitrites=0, nitrates=low as in less than say 10 ppm. When you believe the cycle has ended it is time in my opinion to do a 30-40 percent water change.
I saved that because it was the quickest / easiest definition of a cycle that I have seen posted here before.
moopiespoo
Member
Adding lr and ls from an established tank basically just kick starts a cycle, it will end up being a shortened cycle. What are your water parameters?
birdy
Active Member
if you add small amounts (I would say 5lbs or under) of rock a couple weeks apart you should not see a spike in an established tank. your problem was that the tank water was new, and when you added all that stuff it caused a spike in the water, once the tank has cycled you can add small amounts of LS and LR without a spike or it would be a very small spike that wouldn't harm anything.
moopiespoo
Member
I wouldn't recomed adding that much live rock at once to much for your bio to handle. Like birdy said 5 lbs or so at a time is good just make sure it is cured. There is usually some die off in lr. If you want to cycle your tank adding 70lbs would be ok.