How long was everyones cycle?

[snooter1]

A poll.

 

[landlord]

+2 weeks

But I couldn't stay out of the tank. I had nightmares of HDTran appearing at my door with a copy of the CMA.

 

[kp1917]

+2 weeks also. Didn't change enough water in the early days.

 

[Slatts]

3 weeks 1st half - 3 weeks 2nd half. Changed alot of water but everything is alive, well and a site to behold.

 

[Talonn]

7 days on the first batch and about 5 days on the second. I was lucky as total time from their tank to mine on first shipment was 7 hrs and 15 hrs on 2nd.

One thing I did do that may have helped is I had my tank set up with all running for 2 weeks before I got TBS rock. I also bought that cheap bio-live sand which may have had some bacteria in it.

Chris

 

[LJsInSC]

My first shipment cycled in 5 days, my second shipment has now been in the tank for just a little over at week and my ammonia is at 0, but my nitrites are at 20 and my nitrates are at .25. Being patient until the cycle completes.

 

[hdtran]

I'm not voting, because the phrasing is not precise enough for me (no offense intended). Did you mean total cycling time, did you mean first half, cumulative time from the first shipment until you put fish in, etc.?

But my numbers were 7-8 days for the first half, and less than 1 day for the second half. But there's waiting time while the weather is uncooperative, waiting time while you convince your spouse that you must let the tank mature before you put fish in, etc.

So, the shortest time is 9 days (7-8 + 1), to 2 wks (including a short wait for weather), to 5 wks (maturing time).

 

[libmo]

6-7 days on the first half. Haven't received second half. Half of the diving crew at TBS is sick.

 

[johns]

When is the cycle 'complete'?

Everything at 0? Some low level of Nitrite or Nitrate ok?

 

[kp1917]

That's a good questions Johns. Hy should jump in. In remembering my talks with Richard, he said that he always has double digit Nitrates. I would ask Richard though and I'm sure that Hy Tran has imput on this also.

KP

 

[snooter1]

Today I tested and have AM 0, Nitrate 10, Nitrite 0. SHould be close. going to call tommorow and get that second package ordered.

 

[Splach]

5 days, but I am a horrible person and I had 5 fish in there contributing to the cycle (please note, I still kept the spikes under 1 by doing a TON of water changes. My cycle would probably have been 2 days if not for the dang fish my kids wanted.

 

[Slatts]

Here is a quote from Richard over a month ago. "If your nitrates are at "0" you have a dead tank, there is always nitrate.......in the Gulf on our aquaculture site the nitrates are 30-45 PPM all the time......trying for a "0" value is unrealistic!"

 

[snooter1]

Does this mean if AM is 0 and Nitrite is 0 you are cycled?

 

[Slatts]

Yes. It's time for the second half. Just keep in mind that zero zero for 1 day is more fragile than zero zero for 30 days and so on. Good luck.

 

[hdtran]

Ammonia zero + Nitrites zero = tank cycled.

Water from the gulf may have nitrates, but if you have some means for nitrate export in your system (algae scrubber or refugium, Jaubert plenum, DSB, coil denitrator, etc., and I make no endorsement of any of the above methods), it is possible for you to have zero nitrates. I have undetectable nitrates on my test kit (colors at 0, 5, 10, 20, etc. ppm).

Some folks may have an excessively sensitive test kit, which can detect, say, 0.01ppm ammonia or 0.01ppm nitrites, in which case, you may never get to a zero reading. Because anything which metabolizes will generate ammonia, and your nitrifying bacteria will never scrub ammonia to zero; they'll scrub them to undetectible (unless you have the ultrasensitive test kits).

I'm traveling, and my internet connection is flaky, so I may not be noticing posts mentioning me immediately. Sorry if that's an inconvenience.

Regards,

Hy

 

[snooter1]

What is everyone Nitrates running? Mine currently are at 10. Understand you want them low ; seems like you will not get to 0 with TBS.

 

[kp1917]

Mine run from +10 to +20.