Cycle information?
- Thread starter FishFolk
- Start date
This might seem like a stupid question but whats the best way to take water out of the tank for the water change?
Saltliquid
New member
Varied amonias easy!
Varied amonias easy!
Go to the shops or a sea food place and get some marinara, a small hand full of varied life form pieces!
Put it in a bucket of fish tank salt water or fresh from the ocean.
Have the water moving (air stone)in the bucket.
After 5 days pour the water through some material to get out the particles.
Take out a bucket of water from your tank and pour in the ammonia rich bucket.
You get a very good start, PH buff for a few days after that!
(Put the bucket in the shed, where ever, while it smells.)
To syphon water out use clear pvc pipe (you can buy from a hardware store) to a bucket and pour the same amount back in.
remember salt does not evaperate,just water.
You can use this to syphon off the bottom of the tank,just water or even your live rock if it has stufff on it!
If you do a water change or move your live rock or any thing,PH buff your water.!!!!!!!
Varied amonias easy!
Go to the shops or a sea food place and get some marinara, a small hand full of varied life form pieces!
Put it in a bucket of fish tank salt water or fresh from the ocean.
Have the water moving (air stone)in the bucket.
After 5 days pour the water through some material to get out the particles.
Take out a bucket of water from your tank and pour in the ammonia rich bucket.
You get a very good start, PH buff for a few days after that!
(Put the bucket in the shed, where ever, while it smells.)
To syphon water out use clear pvc pipe (you can buy from a hardware store) to a bucket and pour the same amount back in.
remember salt does not evaperate,just water.
You can use this to syphon off the bottom of the tank,just water or even your live rock if it has stufff on it!
If you do a water change or move your live rock or any thing,PH buff your water.!!!!!!!
Last edited:
rort
Active member
i use vinyl tubing to syphon the water out. They sell special syphons that will allow you to dig into the sand and clean that out.
As liquidg said just put it into a bucket. BUT make sure that the water you put in the tank has the same params as the water IN your tank. Temp wise as well!!!
And you need to top off your tank with RO or RO/DI throughout the week and inbetween water changes to keep the salinity at the same level
As liquidg said just put it into a bucket. BUT make sure that the water you put in the tank has the same params as the water IN your tank. Temp wise as well!!!
And you need to top off your tank with RO or RO/DI throughout the week and inbetween water changes to keep the salinity at the same level
djlindo2001
New member
The shrimp method worked for me.
Red Firefish
New member
I respectfully disagree with the idea that an ammonia spike is somehow necessary to have a successful bacterial population in a new tank. Assuming you're using cured live rock, you will be fine to begin stocking the tank slowly with clean-up animals, corals, and a modest sized fish. Here's my thinking:
Back when we used artificial media to grow bacteria (undergravel or wet/dry filters), we needed an ammonia source to feed an essentially sterile environment. This was usually done with damselfish, which may or may not have survived the process. The bacteria slowly reproduced by feeding on this produced ammonia.
However, once live rock became the backbone of biological filtration, the "cycle" didn't occur anymore in the sense of bacterial colonization. We go to all the trouble to bring live rock in because it already has all of this bacterial content. The curing process, in which all of the associated sponge/algae/animal matter that doesn't make the trip dies off, is enough to ensure that sufficient bacterial mass stays viable to maintain biological filtration.
So, if you're curing your own rock, wait for the curing to be finished- you'll have more than enough ammonia to go around. If the rock is cured already, avoid the dead shrimp or other deliberate ammonia source and just add animals slowly enough that the ecology in the tank can support them- you'll see no detectable ammonia if the rock is really cured properly. Stocking slowly is something you should do anyway for the sake of building up biodiversity, which is perhaps how we should think of "cycling" in a modern reef aquarium. Good luck!
Back when we used artificial media to grow bacteria (undergravel or wet/dry filters), we needed an ammonia source to feed an essentially sterile environment. This was usually done with damselfish, which may or may not have survived the process. The bacteria slowly reproduced by feeding on this produced ammonia.
However, once live rock became the backbone of biological filtration, the "cycle" didn't occur anymore in the sense of bacterial colonization. We go to all the trouble to bring live rock in because it already has all of this bacterial content. The curing process, in which all of the associated sponge/algae/animal matter that doesn't make the trip dies off, is enough to ensure that sufficient bacterial mass stays viable to maintain biological filtration.
So, if you're curing your own rock, wait for the curing to be finished- you'll have more than enough ammonia to go around. If the rock is cured already, avoid the dead shrimp or other deliberate ammonia source and just add animals slowly enough that the ecology in the tank can support them- you'll see no detectable ammonia if the rock is really cured properly. Stocking slowly is something you should do anyway for the sake of building up biodiversity, which is perhaps how we should think of "cycling" in a modern reef aquarium. Good luck!
I agree strongly with Red Firefish.
If you're using liverock, either fresh or from someone's tank, you'll be set for the nitrogen cycle.
In a 15g tank, you're not going to be able to really do much in the way of cycling anyway, there's no point to building up a large nitrobacter population (more than is already in/on the liverock) because you can't heavily stock your tank because it's too small anyway.
I say with liverock in it, start putting in corals, and maybe a fish. You shouldn't have much in a 15g tank anyway. Maybe 3" worth of small fish anyway. You can't skim on a 15g tank because it's too small a water volume to produce any worthwhile skimmate, so you'll just have to focus on water changes and a light bioload.
Start planning out now what you want to put in the tank, and then you should VERY SLOWLY start stocking the tank, waiting a few weeks between each addition, so the tank can keep up with the demands of a new inhabitant and it's feeding and such. Be sure to be doing weekly or bi-weekly 10% or more water changes! That combined with low stocking levels, and you can have a rockin' tank in no time.
If you're using liverock, either fresh or from someone's tank, you'll be set for the nitrogen cycle.
In a 15g tank, you're not going to be able to really do much in the way of cycling anyway, there's no point to building up a large nitrobacter population (more than is already in/on the liverock) because you can't heavily stock your tank because it's too small anyway.
I say with liverock in it, start putting in corals, and maybe a fish. You shouldn't have much in a 15g tank anyway. Maybe 3" worth of small fish anyway. You can't skim on a 15g tank because it's too small a water volume to produce any worthwhile skimmate, so you'll just have to focus on water changes and a light bioload.
Start planning out now what you want to put in the tank, and then you should VERY SLOWLY start stocking the tank, waiting a few weeks between each addition, so the tank can keep up with the demands of a new inhabitant and it's feeding and such. Be sure to be doing weekly or bi-weekly 10% or more water changes! That combined with low stocking levels, and you can have a rockin' tank in no time.
PharmrJohn
New member
I am a believer in the single yellow-tail Damsel method. I have started three tanks that way (Yeah....I know. Not many), but it does work fine. Nice looking fish too if you want to keep it.
Sisterlimonpot
Premium Member
it's probably diatoms and it's a part of a new tank and it will go away on its own.
Sisterlimonpot
Premium Member
You’re opening a door that you don't want to open. Cycling a tank with fish is inhumane and frowned upon.
Sisterlimonpot
Premium Member
Go for it. Have you decided on the fish you want to put in there?
Sisterlimonpot
Premium Member
yellow tail might be too aggressive in a 15 gal
