Author Topic: help with cycling (Read 555 times)

antb100 · « **on:** February 26, 2012, 08:14:00 pm »

Hi every one, i set my tank up just over a week ago its 180l.
So i got just over 20kg of live rock and i was told it wasnt cured so i took it home and put it all in after a couple of days started testing for ammonia got a reading of 0ppm. So i carried on testing and still got 0ppm so i added 2 king prawns to try give it a boost and the ammonia only went to 0.25ppm so then i started testing for nitrites to they have been at 0ppm to but tested for ammonia and nitrites yesterday and they both read 0ppm but my nitrates are going up slowly. And the live rock is full of life and i have water pumping round the live rock and i have a skimmer.

My question is with uncured live rock(i think it was cured) surly i should see an ammonia spike. But even with the rotting prawns theres no ammonia and i even added 2 more prawns today. I know things dont happen quick and have no intention in rushing just thinks its a bit weird. Thank in advance for any help

jackiemcg34 · « **Reply #1 on:** February 26, 2012, 09:15:09 pm »

hi

there is a link to the left <<<< about fishless cycling

you need to be buying ammonia, pure unscented from B+Q ebay homebase etc and measuring it to your tank volume to get your cycle going

arcticfox · « **Reply #2 on:** February 27, 2012, 10:46:05 am »

Quote from: jackiemcg34 on February 26, 2012, 09:15:09 pm

hi there is a link to the left <<<< about fishless cycling you need to be buying ammonia, pure unscented from B+Q ebay homebase etc and measuring it to your tank volume to get your cycle going

Jackie this is slightly different due to it being marine.

If you saw a Ammo spike with prawns added then cycle has started, Now u stat NitrA is going up so the cycle is not complete. You dont get a massive spike like you do in trops due to the way the chemistry work as 0.50 ammo is enought to wipe out a tank.

I would monitor for the next few weeks and keep checking all stats and record and post here so we can see whats happening.

HTH

jackiemcg34 · « **Reply #3 on:** February 27, 2012, 08:41:25 pm »

oh sorry OP and thanks AF

antb100 · « **Reply #4 on:** February 27, 2012, 10:18:11 pm »

Hi just tested for ammonia and nirites ammonia is at 0.25ppm due to the 2 prawns i added last nyte. Nitites are still reading 0ppm. Should i remove the prawns now or leave them in?

oh and thanks artic i will keep u informed.

arcticfox · « **Reply #5 on:** February 28, 2012, 12:24:23 am »

I would remove tbh if u have added 2 already. What is your nitrA reading

matthew1983 · « **Reply #6 on:** February 28, 2012, 03:06:16 am »

the "good bacteria" that your looking for is in the live rock even though its not mature if its live there is a bacteria colony there so you wont see as bigger spike as you would in a tropical tank in a tropical tank your creating the bacterial colony, if you look at your live rock as the filter then its like setting up a tropical tank but using a filter from a cycled tank you wont get the massive spike cos the rock deals with, give it a few weeks doing your weekly water changes and if your readings are good your good to go when i set up my marine i used live rock not mature never got a spike after 2 weeks my readings were still fine so i started adding corals 1 by 1 and i never had any issues the thing you want to really look at is making sure the flow of water around the live rock is good thats one of the most inportant things to get right if you have dead spots in the tank you will get major probs

antb100 · « **Reply #7 on:** February 28, 2012, 11:14:56 am »

I removed the prawns this morning before work lol. I will test for ammonia nitrite and nitrates tonight when i fininsh work will post the results later thanks.

jackiemcg34 · « **Reply #8 on:** February 28, 2012, 09:09:33 pm »

thanks Matthew, that makes sense even to me

antb100 · « **Reply #9 on:** February 28, 2012, 09:57:20 pm »

Hello got my results ammonia. about 0.25. nitite 0.25 nitrate 10ppm.
Should i do water changes whilst cycling? thanks

matthew1983 · « **Reply #10 on:** February 29, 2012, 03:44:28 am »

i would still do water changes because the living organisms in the rock are using the nutriants and oxygn in the water if you dont do water changes and the nitrate/nitrite levels get too high the bacteria in the rock will start to die off and you will just end up with a very expensive chunk of stone rather than the pretty and funtional rock u have the smallest rises in a marine tank can be massively problematic (the ocean is a massive quantity of water so even the biggest enviromental change has little to no impact on the chemestry of the sea water) this means that where the tropical fish can tolerate relatively large changes in temp, levels, current etc or marine freinds have specific needs and the smallest change can leave the tank in a real mess i once left the light on over the weekend by mistake when i went away and came back to a massive cyano bacteria outbreak that killed half my livestock

antb100 · « **Reply #11 on:** February 29, 2012, 08:32:28 am »

Thanks matt.

antb100 · « **Reply #12 on:** February 29, 2012, 09:22:37 pm »

Tonight my readings are 0ppm ammonia 0nitrites and 10ppm nitrate

arcticfox · « **Reply #13 on:** March 01, 2012, 11:20:01 am »

I would not do a WC while cycling as that's defeating the point of the cycle I.e to get the bacteria colonies doing there jobs. Once tank has been stable at 0/0 ammo and nitrI for a few days to a week then start weekly water changes but even then not totally nessesery just good practice.

Now your tank is 0/0 leave it a week or two and get some CUC in there as long as stats stay 0/0

antb100 · « **Reply #14 on:** March 01, 2012, 02:16:26 pm »

I was thinking of letting the creatures reproduce for a couple of months would the CUC eat them? and should i do a big water change before i add livestock? thanks artic

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Author Topic: help with cycling (Read 555 times)