I did. Very interesting.
High nitrites
- Thread starter tazdvl100
- Start date
I did. Very interesting.
Just to be clear we are not saying skimmer will cause problems. It's just a fact that skimmer remove many if the bacteria in the water column. Skimmer and mechanical filtrations are important.
Turning off skimmer when you start a new tank cycle absolutely move the cycle faster. It help bacteria establish bit faster and reduce nutrient outake at that important phase that you need nutrients to kick in the cycle since there is no fish or feeding.
But once you add fish it is recomended to start skimmer
Hope that clarify more..
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I did test my rodi water just to make sure. It tested 0ppm.
Would it be beneficial to put a couple hardy fish in to kinda jumpstart the cycle??
I haven't been running a skimmer at all.
Once you add fish start the skimmer cause you will start adding food and have fish waste so its needed.
I just do not want to be misunderstood here, I am not advocating for no skimmer. Skimmer is important, turning it off very early in the cycle will help accelerate the first phase of the cycle that's all. Once you add fish and nutrients you should run skimmer if skimmer is what are tou planning for mechanical filtration..
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I think that's a mistake and might prolong the cycle. You are not curing rocks. You ate cycling the system..I think lights are important and if my memory is not fisling me in dr. Tim talk he say bacteria needs the light to metabolize and reproduce..but will let other comment on this. I never ran a cycle without a light.
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mcgyvr
New member
The bacteria are photosensitive particularly to UV/blue light while in the water column for the first few days. They do not need light..
Its actually recommended to NOT run lights for at least the first few days of the cycling process..
After that you can turn them on and that typically gets the "ugly stages" (diatoms/algae/cyano usually in that order) started and potentially over faster.
Its actually recommended to NOT run lights for at least the first few days of the cycling process..
After that you can turn them on and that typically gets the "ugly stages" (diatoms/algae/cyano usually in that order) started and potentially over faster.
Adding fish won't help. The issue is the lack of nitrite-processing bacteria. They will show up given some time, but a few water changes might help speed the process. I agree that running the lights might help a bit, too, by promoting photosynthesis. The photosynthesis will help consume the nitrite.
This informstions is not correct I believe.
If there is no fish, not source of amino or carbon..how do we expect bacteria to thrive and build up?
What would it feed on?
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Correct just read dr. Tim again and he indeed recommend lights off during the first couple of days untill bacteria establish on rocks.
But i wonder in the case of the op, is it still recomended to keep lights off for weeks?
I think not..
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The "cycle" process in this case is waiting for any organic debris to decay and be processed past the ammonia and nitrite phase. The tank has live rock and live sand, and the bacteria from the shrimp that was added. That'll be enough nutrients, along with organics from the air, to keep bacteria going for quite a while. That's also why skimming can help shorten the cycle, because it removes organic debris. If tanks were started without any debris, and were kept in totally sterile environments with no organics, my approach would differ.
Oldreeferman
New member
It can help to add clean ammonia to a fishless tank in order to keep the ammonia up to keep the process going & growing. This adds no nutrients but keeps the ammonia /nitrites cycle going & more of that particular bacteria growing. I did this on a large arch rock i wanted cycled completely before introducing it in my DT so i wouldn't get the uglys phase it took 3 weeks then i kept adding ammonia daily until the bacteria would completely consume it in a 24 hr. period, which was another week then all i had at days end was nitrates. Nice part was no odors at all going this rout & testing showed all clear to go. So this is also an option you can use to finish the cycling with no fish involved & still keep a bioload going, i also sprinkled just a wee tad of fish flakes at the end just to makes sure it could handle ammonia & food and all tested ok just nitrates. In all it took 4 weeks. I used a heater & 1 powerhead.
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