cycling a tank

I

ibrat82

New member
Hi Guys

So I have a reefer 450 and I'm starting to cycle the tank. I was recommended by my lfs to add atm colony and ghost feed the tank to get it cycling. Now I've been testing the tank daily for ammonia but it's not present. When I looked into atm colonies website and look deeper into the product I'm reading that it cycles your tank a lot quicker and the bacteria in the product gets rid of ammonia in a matter of days. Am I reading this correctly? If so why was I told to ghost feed the tank? If I'm ghost feeding the arm colony bacteria is just getting rid of the ammonia how am j supposed to get it to 3ppm to get nitrites?

Was I told to do the wrong thing? Does this atm colony even work?
 
You can go to the store and buy a bottle of pure ammonia (make sure it is pure, no aditives, if you shake it and there are bubbles then it's no good). Add the ammonia to the tank till you reach 2-3ppm ammonia and tge cycle is going. The bacteria your adding will help cycle the tank faster and the ghost feeding feeds the bacteria.
 
This is a perfect example of why you should just let a new tank cycle naturally, it seems everyone is always second guessing when they add bottled bacteria, has it cycled? Why no ammonia reading? Should I see Nitrites by now? I have zero Nitrates, why?

I'll tell you why, you have no patience or penchant for learning the process.

To the OP, this is in no way an assault on you or your post, just this topic in general.

I really have no answer for you other than if you do what Shifty suggested, you should get an ammonia reading, at least, right away.
 
Literally on my way back home from my lfs with live rock and live sand and 60 gallons of saltwater and everything else and I'm gonna put it in their and let it do its thing and wait and while this takes awhile wether it's two weeks to a month that's what it is in the meantime I'll research more on exactly what corals I can get with the species of fish I want to put in I agree with patience imo I'll be happier waiting and getting what I'll truly be happy with
 
This has nothing to do with patience! I was told to use the colony stuff by my lfs if I choose to not use any live rock. I chose to not use live rock due to unwanted pests ( in case it happens ) . I didn't care if I waited 2 weeks or 2 months to get my tank going. Now that I've already used the colony stuff and after 2 days no signs of ammonia even with ghost feeding every day a few decent flakes . Should I wait it out or use the liquid ammonia method to get it going?

Pet Detective said:
This is a perfect example of why you should just let a new tank cycle naturally, it seems everyone is always second guessing when they add bottled bacteria, has it cycled? Why no ammonia reading? Should I see Nitrites by now? I have zero Nitrates, why?

I'll tell you why, you have no patience or penchant for learning the process.

To the OP, this is in no way an assault on you or your post, just this topic in general.

I really have no answer for you other than if you do what Shifty suggested, you should get an ammonia reading, at least, right away.
Click to expand...
 
I will never understand why people think its so productive to lash out with condescending, I'm a know it all, response to questions asked by those who are new to the hobby, or don't quite grasp the basic chemistry/time line of marine aquariums as a hobby. Jesus Christ the OP was simply asking when he can see a spike in ammonia. Sad, very, very, sad.
 
Either method will work, continuing to ghost feed or adding pure ammonia. Adding the pure ammonia will give you quicker results, you will likely need to wait at least a week perhaps two weeks before you see ammonia by ghost feeding. If you decide to add pure ammonia, use pure ammonia without surfactants (available at most hardware stores, I got mine at Ace Hardware) or perfumes. To be sure the ammonia does not contain surfactants shake the bottle and if it bubbles up like dish soap it has surfactants in it, pure ammonia will not have bubbles. To raise 100 gallons of water from 0 to 2 ppm ammonia you would need to add 0.8 grams (8 ml) of standard 10% pure ammonia.
 
thegrun has a beautiful, perfect, textbook example of how one should have responded to the OP questions. Gee isn't that funny how that works.
 
CODE3EMT said:
I will never understand why people think its so productive to lash out with condescending, I'm a know it all, response to questions asked by those who are new to the hobby, or don't quite grasp the basic chemistry/time line of marine aquariums as a hobby. Jesus Christ the OP was simply asking when he can see a spike in ammonia. Sad, very, very, sad.
Click to expand...


I agree it happens all too often.
 
Thank you Thegrun.

I think I might go the ghost feeding way, even if it takes longer. How often should I feed the tank and how much?

thegrun said:
Either method will work, continuing to ghost feed or adding pure ammonia. Adding the pure ammonia will give you quicker results, you will likely need to wait at least a week perhaps two weeks before you see ammonia by ghost feeding. If you decide to add pure ammonia, use pure ammonia without surfactants (available at most hardware stores, I got mine at Ace Hardware) or perfumes. To be sure the ammonia does not contain surfactants shake the bottle and if it bubbles up like dish soap it has surfactants in it, pure ammonia will not have bubbles. To raise 100 gallons of water from 0 to 2 ppm ammonia you would need to add 0.8 grams (8 ml) of standard 10% pure ammonia.
Click to expand...
 
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