Dr Tims or Ghost Feeding

[Billybatz9]

Hey guys,

Was just wondering what the best way to cycle a tank with liverock that has no microorganisms (just coraline algae) and dry sand.

Dr Tims or Ghost Feeding. I dont want to go the shrimp route, because I heard it smells really bad after a while, and the tank is in my room.

 

[Teenreefer15]

Use seachem stability. seachem makes great products and I haven't heard anything negative about this product of theirs.

 

[Billybatz9]

Use seachem stability. seachem makes great products and I haven't heard anything negative about this product of theirs.

Do I need to buy ammonia alongside with this? Or just the stability by itself

 

[xaflatoonx]

here is what i did...

first get your salinity right.

Get Dr Tims or Instant ocean Bacteria bottle - made by the same guy - Dr Tim - he used to work for Instant Ocean.

Now calculate the amount of ammonia you need for the desired amount of ammonia level in your tank. I used Ace Hardwares Ammonia that is 10% concentration.. also my goal was to get the ammonia to 4ppm. Calculate as follows:

((water volume in Gallons x 0.003785) x desired Ammonia level in ppm))/Ammonia Concentration in liquid used - 10% or 0.1 in ACE

Pour in the bottle of Bacteria after shaking vigorously
Test for Ammonia/Nitrite every other day - starting 2 days after step 1.
When Ammonia and Nitrite go down to 0.25 - add another dose of Ammonia to bring it back up to 4ppm
Repeat the above process every time Ammonia and Nitrite are 0.25 UNTIL they are both converted to 0ppm within 24 hours
Your Cycle is complete at that time.
Check for Nitrates - and do enough water change to bring that back down to 0-20 ppm


you are good to go.

This will be done in about 2 - 3 weeks.

Also - RODI water - yes its important.

 

[Lucky Lefty]

I did the raw shrimp method, as I am trying to put as little additives in my tank as possible so I didn't like the idea of Dr tims or any other cycle solution.

I put the shrimp in a foot of a new stocking and tied a knot in it and now I had a shrimp pouch. He was our first tank inhabitant and we named him Bodybag.

I left him in there for 2 weeks I think, and saw all kinds of bugs and pods all over the stocking. Not once did my tank smell bad or rotten.

The stocking helped by not allowing the shrimp to make a mess and easy extraction.

If I were to start a new tank today, I'd do it the same way.

 

[myofibroblast]

Now calculate the amount of ammonia you need for the desired amount of ammonia level in your tank. I used Ace Hardwares Ammonia that is 10% concentration.. also my goal was to get the ammonia to 4ppm. Calculate as follows:

((water volume in Gallons x 0.003785) x desired Ammonia level in ppm))/Ammonia Concentration in liquid used - 10% or 0.1 in ACE

I recommend reading the label of the additive before plugging in the values. ACE Hardware janitorial strength ammonia, a commonly used reagent where available, contains 10% ammonium hydroxide, not 10% ammonium the last time I used it. Ammonium only makes up roughly 18/35 or 51.4% of ammonium hydroxide by mass. You will under-dose significantly if you assume you are putting in 10% ammonium.

That said, as long as you're putting in ammonium, there will be food for nitrification organisms.

Good luck!

 

[xaflatoonx]

^^ - myofibroblast is probably right... that formula still worked for me though - gave me the right amount of ppm in my tank... so if you use the Janitorial strength liquid .. use the 0.1 as your denominator and you should be good.

 

[Teenreefer15]

just the stability. It has instructions and will cycle your tank in a week