Let's talk about Cycling!
- Thread starter spanko
- Start date
sweatervest13
Active Member
So after reading this I only have one question.... When will the cycle end in my tank???
JK!!!
Very well written Spanko!!! I have a neighbor who adds straight ammonia to his tanks (fresh water) to get them going. I am setting up a new 125g soon and was thinking about doing this but after reading your post I think that I am just going to go with the old shrimp in the nylon.
Thank you for taking the time to write this.
JK!!!
Very well written Spanko!!! I have a neighbor who adds straight ammonia to his tanks (fresh water) to get them going. I am setting up a new 125g soon and was thinking about doing this but after reading your post I think that I am just going to go with the old shrimp in the nylon.
Thank you for taking the time to write this.
florida joe
Well-Known Member
Ok Henry I will forgive you this one time BUT the next time you post something I send you in a PM please ask for permission anyway
meowzer
Moderator
Quote:
Originally Posted by florida joe http:///forum/thread/386044/let-s-talk-about-cycling/20#post_3389530
Ok Henry I will forgive you this one time BUT the next time you post something I send you in a PM please ask for permission anyway
good one Joe
Originally Posted by florida joe http:///forum/thread/386044/let-s-talk-about-cycling/20#post_3389530
Ok Henry I will forgive you this one time BUT the next time you post something I send you in a PM please ask for permission anyway
florida joe
Well-Known Member
oh lois you always say i have a good one
meowzer
Moderator
Quote:
Originally Posted by florida joe http:///forum/thread/386044/let-s-talk-about-cycling/20#post_3389539
oh lois you always say i have a good one
But lately been missing you
edit...had to rephrase
Originally Posted by florida joe http:///forum/thread/386044/let-s-talk-about-cycling/20#post_3389539
oh lois you always say i have a good one
edit...had to rephrase
spanko
Active Member
Quote:
Originally Posted by Florida Joe http:///forum/thread/386044/let-s-talk-about-cycling/20#post_3389530
OK Henry I will forgive you this one time BUT the next time you post something I send you in a PM please ask for permission anyway
You know my friend if I were to copy anything you have written I would certainly mention you as a contributor. As for this thread, I am sure somewhere in there is something we may have discussed in the past as I have enjoyed all of our bantering heretofore.
But in the meantime, if you wish to share in any cudos I may get for this diatribe and verbose article, welcome in as you are indeed a friend!!
Originally Posted by Florida Joe http:///forum/thread/386044/let-s-talk-about-cycling/20#post_3389530
OK Henry I will forgive you this one time BUT the next time you post something I send you in a PM please ask for permission anyway
You know my friend if I were to copy anything you have written I would certainly mention you as a contributor. As for this thread, I am sure somewhere in there is something we may have discussed in the past as I have enjoyed all of our bantering heretofore.
But in the meantime, if you wish to share in any cudos I may get for this diatribe and verbose article, welcome in as you are indeed a friend!!
2quills
Well-Known Member
Quote:
Originally Posted by meowzer http:///forum/thread/386044/let-s-talk-about-cycling/20#post_3389541
But lately been missing you
edit...had to rephrase
Too late, I already saw it and I'm going to tell everybody.
Originally Posted by meowzer http:///forum/thread/386044/let-s-talk-about-cycling/20#post_3389541
edit...had to rephrase
Too late, I already saw it and I'm going to tell everybody.
meowzer
Moderator
Quote:
Originally Posted by 2Quills http:///forum/thread/386044/let-s-talk-about-cycling/20#post_3389569
Too late, I already saw it and I'm going to tell everybody.
...careful....we are getting off topic....we sure don't want that to happen
Originally Posted by 2Quills http:///forum/thread/386044/let-s-talk-about-cycling/20#post_3389569
Too late, I already saw it and I'm going to tell everybody.
Q
quik z06
Guest
Quote:
Originally Posted by bugsman http:///forum/thread/386044/let-s-talk-about-cycling#post_3389380
This is my first saltwater tank. It all started when my son and family bought me a 6 gallon fluval tank, small piece of live rock and set up this tank for me as a birthday present back in January 2011 (they have a 150g tank). I knew nothing about fish tanks of any kind. About a month or so after setting up this tank, the lights prongs disintegrated from the salt water(lights were not sealed in) - who knew - not me - and the son does not live close. I set up 2 daylight bulbs until I could figure out what to do. Went to the LFS and found a 29g Biocube tank that I put on layaway. Well 2 months went by and finally got it out of layaway. All this time the 6g tank is still working with those 2 daylight bulbs. Of course the rock grew algae but nothing really serious. By this time I've done some reading and been on the forums here and elsewhere. I proceeded to set up the 29g tank. It has metal halide lighting, wavemaker, etc. all with it. I bought more live sand, scrubbed the piece of live rock used good salt and good water and set it up. Have a test kit and tested, more reading, more confusion - about a week later I realized I needed more live rock and our LFS handles cured rock, so I added another piece, 2 weeks goes by, everything looks good with the exception of some Aipstasia showing up which I got some Joe's juice and killed them. I go back to the LFS store and they suggest that now would be the time to add a CUC, so I go home with 5 snails and 5 hermit crabs all of which are alive and well and have been for 2 weeks. I got on the forum again because in testing, my ammonia was 0, my nitrite was 0, my nitrates were 0, salinity 1.024, ph 8.0 I thought something wasn't happening because I've not seen any of the ammonia or nitrates/nitrites spike at any time - it's very curious.
Someone here told me to ghost feed which I haven't gotten back to the fish store (tomorrow) so I can get some food; so after this long story, my question is, would the CUC still be alive if something was wrong in the tank??
I'm now planning on adding more live rock when I go back to the LFS tomorrow, probably another 20 lbs. of their cured rock (have about 12 or 15 lbs in there now) - will this upset the CUC?? After this, I plan to wait another couple of weeks or whatever it takes before I add anything else. My other question is, I basically want a reef tank with maybe a fish or two - what would be the best to add first??
Also, I have no protein skimmer on this tank yet, should I ? Thanks for the help.
What do you mean by you scrubbed the live rock? Did you take it out and wash it off ad removed all the good bacteria/stuff? Other than that Im curious as to what he should do as well. Im in the same boat. new tank set up with live sand and live rock and added some dried dead rock and have yet to see any spikes.
Originally Posted by bugsman http:///forum/thread/386044/let-s-talk-about-cycling#post_3389380
This is my first saltwater tank. It all started when my son and family bought me a 6 gallon fluval tank, small piece of live rock and set up this tank for me as a birthday present back in January 2011 (they have a 150g tank). I knew nothing about fish tanks of any kind. About a month or so after setting up this tank, the lights prongs disintegrated from the salt water(lights were not sealed in) - who knew - not me - and the son does not live close. I set up 2 daylight bulbs until I could figure out what to do. Went to the LFS and found a 29g Biocube tank that I put on layaway. Well 2 months went by and finally got it out of layaway. All this time the 6g tank is still working with those 2 daylight bulbs. Of course the rock grew algae but nothing really serious. By this time I've done some reading and been on the forums here and elsewhere. I proceeded to set up the 29g tank. It has metal halide lighting, wavemaker, etc. all with it. I bought more live sand, scrubbed the piece of live rock used good salt and good water and set it up. Have a test kit and tested, more reading, more confusion - about a week later I realized I needed more live rock and our LFS handles cured rock, so I added another piece, 2 weeks goes by, everything looks good with the exception of some Aipstasia showing up which I got some Joe's juice and killed them. I go back to the LFS store and they suggest that now would be the time to add a CUC, so I go home with 5 snails and 5 hermit crabs all of which are alive and well and have been for 2 weeks. I got on the forum again because in testing, my ammonia was 0, my nitrite was 0, my nitrates were 0, salinity 1.024, ph 8.0 I thought something wasn't happening because I've not seen any of the ammonia or nitrates/nitrites spike at any time - it's very curious.
I'm now planning on adding more live rock when I go back to the LFS tomorrow, probably another 20 lbs. of their cured rock (have about 12 or 15 lbs in there now) - will this upset the CUC?? After this, I plan to wait another couple of weeks or whatever it takes before I add anything else. My other question is, I basically want a reef tank with maybe a fish or two - what would be the best to add first??
Also, I have no protein skimmer on this tank yet, should I ? Thanks for the help.
What do you mean by you scrubbed the live rock? Did you take it out and wash it off ad removed all the good bacteria/stuff? Other than that Im curious as to what he should do as well. Im in the same boat. new tank set up with live sand and live rock and added some dried dead rock and have yet to see any spikes.
spanko
Active Member
Quote:
Originally Posted by Quik Z06 http:///forum/thread/386044/let-s-talk-about-cycling/20#post_3389602
What do you mean by you scrubbed the live rock? Did you take it out and wash it off ad removed all the good bacteria/stuff? Other than that Im curious as to what he should do as well. Im in the same boat. new tank set up with live sand and live rock and added some dried dead rock and have yet to see any spikes.
Have you tested for any nitrate? Do you have any?
Originally Posted by Quik Z06 http:///forum/thread/386044/let-s-talk-about-cycling/20#post_3389602
What do you mean by you scrubbed the live rock? Did you take it out and wash it off ad removed all the good bacteria/stuff? Other than that Im curious as to what he should do as well. Im in the same boat. new tank set up with live sand and live rock and added some dried dead rock and have yet to see any spikes.
Have you tested for any nitrate? Do you have any?
bugsman
Member
The cured rock I purchased from my LFS appeared to be doing fine, however, I've noticed it is now turning white in areas and the CUC stays on it most of the time. Will someone tell me what's going on and what I need to do about it??
In answer to the above questions, I have tested for nitrate and nitrite and both are 0 - what I meant about the original small piece of live rock - it had been in a bad environment for a bit and was growing some nasty algae. I scrubbed it in the water it was in with a nylon brush to remove some of it. In fact, that rock is doing great in the new set up.
In answer to the above questions, I have tested for nitrate and nitrite and both are 0 - what I meant about the original small piece of live rock - it had been in a bad environment for a bit and was growing some nasty algae. I scrubbed it in the water it was in with a nylon brush to remove some of it. In fact, that rock is doing great in the new set up.
spanko
Active Member
The rock has been out of water for a time and has been subjected to light while out of the water. Plus it is in a new environment where the lighting it is under and water parameters are different from what it was in. My guess here would be that you are seeing the coralline algae bleach. No worries here as over time with proper water parameters and lighting it will color back up. As for the CUC being on the the rock most of the time this is a good thing. They are doing what they were purchased to do. That is clean up whatever is on the rock that they are having a taste for.
bugsman
Member
Thanks Spanko, I feel better now. I finally got back to the LFS and bought some cured live rock and some dry rock. I rearranged the aquarium and now plan to have it sit for a week or so like this. I do have a couple of questions though. I keep reading about 1 to 1.5 lbs of rock per gallon of water - (I have a 28 gallon) - There is no way I can seem to fit that much rock into mine without it being up against the back wall, Right now I have the 3 large pieces of rock in there for a total of about 20 lbs and it looks really good without it looking jammed in - will that be enough or will I run into problems later? (I'll post a picture some time today). Second question is, I keep get mixed advice about a protein skimmer. I keep leaning towards getting one - what;s the opinion out there?
spanko
Active Member
Seems like I just addressed this somewhere else but okay. Rock is going to be different. Heavier rock will be more dense and therefore more compact where more porous rock will be lighter and less dense.
So, think it in terms of a brick and a sponge the same size as a brick. The brick will weight a lot more than the sponge. If we do this with rock we buy for the tank, we can get a lot more rock weight buying dense rock but not as much volume as if we were to buy more porous rock.
The goal should be to purchase the more porous rock as it gives us more surface area for the bacteria to grow on.
IMO A protein skimmer can not be a bad thing in a tank.
So, think it in terms of a brick and a sponge the same size as a brick. The brick will weight a lot more than the sponge. If we do this with rock we buy for the tank, we can get a lot more rock weight buying dense rock but not as much volume as if we were to buy more porous rock.
The goal should be to purchase the more porous rock as it gives us more surface area for the bacteria to grow on.
IMO A protein skimmer can not be a bad thing in a tank.
bugsman
Member
Thanks again and now that you mention it, I believe I read what you just wrote some where else. I'll try to do better searches next time. Here's the photo:
The new rock from yesterday is on the right, the rock on the left is the one that is turning white and the one on top is the original rock that I cleaned and added to this tank about 3 or 4 weeks ago.
The new rock from yesterday is on the right, the rock on the left is the one that is turning white and the one on top is the original rock that I cleaned and added to this tank about 3 or 4 weeks ago.
