Established Rock Cycle

[Bloodbuzz459]

Evening everyone,

So as my cycle with dry sand and real reef rock just was not working out for me after several months of perseverance. I found my LFS were breaking down their 7 year old DT and selling the LR very cheap. So I purchased 5KG (11lbs).

It came straight out of the tank sealed in a plastic bag and when I got home a did a 100% water change to start again and rearrange my rock.

Everything is now set up an tests after 24 hours show 0ppm across the board.

Whats the best course going forwards? I have read plenty online about feeding tank etc. but nothing concrete.

Here is what I have in my box of stock - Biospira, Stability, Hikari Pellets, Dr Tim Ammonia Chloride.

Thank you.

 

[thegrun]

I would dose your tank with ammonia to the 2ppm level. Use pure ammonia without surfactants or perfumes. If you shake up the bottle and there are lots of bubbles on top it has surfactants in it. Ace hardware caries pure ammonia. 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. If the rock has enough bacteria the ammonia should drop from 2ppm to zero overnight. If the ammonia does not drop to zero overnight simply wait for the cycle to complete itself, you do not need to continue to add food or ammonia, the 2ppm dose is enough to feed the bacteria for a year. You can speed up the cycle if the ammonia does not drop overnight by adding one of the bacteria in a bottle products like Dr. Tim's One and Only, but it certainly isn't necessary. I suspect your bacteria levels are going to be fine and that the ammonia will dissipate overnight. Once the ammonia and nitrites are at zero you can start adding livestock slowly.

 

[Bloodbuzz459]

Thank you for that informative post.

So this morning I dosed Ammonia upto 2ppm. I will then test tomorrow morning and see what the results are.

In the even the Ammonia is 0ppm indicating the tank has cycled should I then continue to feed it Ammonia every day until I can go and get some livestock?

 

[Green Chromis]

:fish1: Hi, there is no need to add ammonia to a system with established live rock added to it, and please don't add any more ammonia to your system. The tank is fully cycled for the life you still have left in your system, the only reason to add ammonia to system is when you are using all dead rock and sand, as the ammonia helps to start the nitrogen cycle for your system. When you start to add fish, corals, or any other living life forms to your system, go slow as the bacteria that processes the animal waste needs time to grow, so it can keep up with the additional waste added to the system, from your new tank mates. :fish1:

 

[Bloodbuzz459]

Understood. But if my tank is cycled in the morning and tests show that is the case but I can't get to my LFS for any livestock until Saturday do I have feed the tank in the meantime?

Sorry if this is a very silly question.

 

[mcgyvr]

There is no need to "feed" a tank once its cycled..

 

[Bloodbuzz459]

Okay this morning I checked the water and it was around .25 Ammonia. 0 Nitire and 0 Nitrate.

The day before I dosed 2ppm Ammonia with Dr Tims as per isntructions though I didnt test how high ti had taken it due to dwindling levels of test fluid but I do presume it would have been more then .25ppm.

I threw in a bottle of biospira I had lying around for good measure.

Am I on the right track here? Little concerned I saw not Nitrate?

 

[thegrun]

What test kit are you using? API is notorious for reading 0.25 ammonia when no ammonia is actually present. Either way you are on the right track, test to see that your nitrites have also dropped to zero, once both the nitrites and ammonia test out at zero it is safe to slowly start adding livestock. You might want to take a water sample to your local fish store and have them test the ammonia to get a second opinion, I suspect it is actually at zero.

 

[Bloodbuzz459]

Yes, I was using API.

I just checked this morning and Ammonia is 0ppm (checked with API & Salifert). Nitrite however is at .25ppm - did not get chance to test Nitrate. Will check tonight.

Hopefully nitrite will drop soon and we are good to go.

Starting to see quite a few things moving in and out of the rock though...first time I've seen anything actually move in a tank for 9 months its quite addictive to watch.

 

[Bloodbuzz459]

Hooray - I think I am there. 0ppm Ammonia/Nitrite and we have Nitrates.

After 9 months perseverance, two tanks and attempt after attempt to cycle...I think I'm there. :dance:

Starting to get splurges of brown algae in my sand and in certain areas of my rock...apparently this is a good sign that things are progressing?