Cycling tank question

V

Vadafallon

New member
So i am on Day 5 of doing a fishless cycle with Dr. Tim's one and only and Ammonia. I am kinda over this voodoo i think. No nitrites, no Nitrates, just Ammonia. With that being said.. I am going to take live rock from my other tank to seed the bacteria since i am not sure one and only did anything, then add some hermits and call it a day. I might even get a piece of rock from my LFS to mix up the bacteria some. Sound like a plan to speed up the process?

I read about people doing these quick cycles and it seems like this could take forever if i continue on this path.
 
IME the best/fastest way to cycle a tank is introduce as much cured live rock as possible. The more cured live rock in the tank, the less bacteria that has to grow naturally because it is already in the rock. My rule of thumb is to use a 50/50 mix of dry rock and cured rock and by doing this I haven't had a cycle last more than a week.

I don't believe in those quick cycling additives.
 
I just thought i would give it a try and i am not impressed. I am going to take a bunch of rock from my old tank and add it tonight. That is how i did my last one, no idea what i was thinking with trying Dr. Tim's. I read a lot of reviews and people seemed to believe it worked but so far the only thing i see is the ammonia i am adding to my tank.
 
How long do you think i will need to leave the live rock in the tank once the cycle is done? I have done aquascaping with the dry rock and i want a minimal look.
 
Vadafallon said:
So i am on Day 5 of doing a fishless cycle with Dr. Tim's one and only and Ammonia. I am kinda over this voodoo i think. No nitrites, no Nitrates, just Ammonia. With that being said.. I am going to take live rock from my other tank to seed the bacteria since i am not sure one and only did anything, then add some hermits and call it a day. I might even get a piece of rock from my LFS to mix up the bacteria some. Sound like a plan to speed up the process?

I read about people doing these quick cycles and it seems like this could take forever if i continue on this path.
Click to expand...

How much of Dr. Tim's did you add initially?
What kind of and how much ammonia are you adding?
How are you testing your nitrite?
What is your ammonia level?

IMHO, nitrifying bacteria additives are not voodoo, but are not necessary either. I am using the Red Sea Reef Maturation Pro kit which basically has nitrifying bacteria, ammonia and a few other things to do a fishless cycle. I am on day 11 and am right where I should be.

Personally I would not be in any kind of hurry, some of the best advice I have gotten is nothing in this hobby happens fast.
 
Yeah i know about being patient and all that, and i am but i would expect to see something by now. I have followed the directions to the T.. and the ammonia is from Dr. Tim's too. It all came in a pack and i added the whole bottle of the one and only just like it said.

I added my sponge from my other tank today and i am going to add some of my live rock to speed things a long. I don't see that as rushing really though.
 
ssick92 said:
IME the best/fastest way to cycle a tank is introduce as much cured live rock as possible. The more cured live rock in the tank, the less bacteria that has to grow naturally because it is already in the rock. My rule of thumb is to use a 50/50 mix of dry rock and cured rock and by doing this I haven't had a cycle last more than a week.

I don't believe in those quick cycling additives.
Click to expand...

Adding live rock is the same as adding nitrifying bacteria which is the usual main component in many of the quick cycling additives. I like the additives because I had a few pests with my last tank and did not want to introduce anything with live rock.
 
On a side note, my last tank i cycled with my own live rock and it happened super quick. I should have stuck with that lol.
 
I would expect to see nitrites by now. When i was reading up on this people were seeing nitrites within the first couple days and i got nothing. So now i a doubting that anything is going on.
 
Vadafallon said:
Yeah i know about being patient and all that, and i am but i would expect to see something by now. I have followed the directions to the T.. and the ammonia is from Dr. Tim's too. It all came in a pack and i added the whole bottle of the one and only just like it said.

I added my sponge from my other tank today and i am going to add some of my live rock to speed things a long. I don't see that as rushing really though.
Click to expand...

Adding live rock will definitely help establish a bacteria base, no argument from me. I was asking about the nitrite because some of the tests are not specific enough to determine between 0 and 5 ppm. My api test kit is not very sensitive. I was just curious. Once you have nitrate though you KNOW you have both of the denitrifying bacteria.

Good luck
 
Started my 80 with just some matrix media I had in my biocube, and pure ammonia. Completely all dry rock. The entire cycle took about 2 weeks.

While I don't believe in bacteria in a bottle, I've read good things about Dr. Tim's one and only.
 
I thought about using one of those products when I was setting up my 10g nano, but ended up just grabbing 8 lbs of established rock and I never even had a cycle.
 
This may be a dumb question but should i run power heads during my cycle? Never thought about it until now. lol. Oh and skim or not to skim?
 
texdoc77 said:
Adding live rock is the same as adding nitrifying bacteria which is the usual main component in many of the quick cycling additives. I like the additives because I had a few pests with my last tank and did not want to introduce anything with live rock.
Click to expand...
That is the theory yes, but I don't know how the bacteria in the bottle can stay alive without anything to feed on while it is sitting on the shelf. If the bacteria ends up dying before being introduced to the tank, then it is essentially the same as putting dead/decaying matter in the tank to kick off the cycle.

Freshness of the bottle is probably a large factor and part of the reason why some see better results than others.



Sent from my SM-N920V using Tapatalk
 
Vadafallon said:
This may be a dumb question but should i run power heads during my cycle? Never thought about it until now. lol. Oh and skim or not to skim?
Click to expand...
I run my power heads but do not skim during cycling. The thought on this is all across the board. You will get responses from all schools of thought and in reality it probably doesn't make much difference either way.

Sent from my SM-N920V using Tapatalk
 
My 60 cube is still setup and i have 2 mp10s and 1 mp40 on it. I will probably go ahead and move my MP40wqd to the new tank to keep the flow rolling. I probably wont add a skimmer until i move things over.
 
ssick92 said:
That is the theory yes, but I don't know how the bacteria in the bottle can stay alive without anything to feed on while it is sitting on the shelf. If the bacteria ends up dying before being introduced to the tank, then it is essentially the same as putting dead/decaying matter in the tank to kick off the cycle.

Freshness of the bottle is probably a large factor and part of the reason why some see better results than others.
Click to expand...

I think you are spot on and I've wondered how the bacteria stay alive as well. I suspect they start with some ammonia in the bottle that cycles through the bacteria, but yes, it's not sustainable forever.
 
It is probably not a bad idea to run the skimmer while you're cycling, especially if it is a brand-new unit. This will give it time to break in so that it will be working properly when you start to stock your tank!
 
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