I've been cycling my tank for a little over a week now using the dead prawn method and I've got zero across the board for ammonia and nitrites. I've got a foam filter in my Fluval 404 and some Fluval Biomax rings. I just noticed the box claims the rings will "reduce and control ammonia and nitrite". So, I'm thinking I should pull these rings out. Am i just being overly paranoid about my lack of ammonia and nitrites or is there some merit to my thoughts?
media in my fluval 404 for cycling???
- Thread starter wee_heavy
- Start date
What do you have in the tank? Base rock? Live rock? The rings are just there to provide surface area for the cycle bacteria to live on. Rock would do WAY more in that department, so you would not need the rings. In fact with enough rock you shouldn't need that filter at all unless it is also serving as your primary source of water movement.
Having zero levels means that, at that moment, your bacteria population is able to fully process the exact amount of waste currently being produced in your system. The prawn introduces a false source of waste that will not be related to the life you actually intend to keep in the tank. I would remove it.
If it were me, I would probably go with a bunch of dead base rock and a few pieces of live rock to seed the system. I would wait for that to equalize and give me zero levels. Then I would start adding a small amount of live stock and wait for zero levels again. Repeat and slowly increase the bioload of the tank to an appropriate level.
By taking your time adding new life, you'll give the cycle bacteria a chance to increase each time you increase the waste production by adding new livestock. If a large amount of livestock was added all at once, you would get a spike in levels due to there being way too much waste for the existing bacteria population to handle.
Having zero levels means that, at that moment, your bacteria population is able to fully process the exact amount of waste currently being produced in your system. The prawn introduces a false source of waste that will not be related to the life you actually intend to keep in the tank. I would remove it.
If it were me, I would probably go with a bunch of dead base rock and a few pieces of live rock to seed the system. I would wait for that to equalize and give me zero levels. Then I would start adding a small amount of live stock and wait for zero levels again. Repeat and slowly increase the bioload of the tank to an appropriate level.
By taking your time adding new life, you'll give the cycle bacteria a chance to increase each time you increase the waste production by adding new livestock. If a large amount of livestock was added all at once, you would get a spike in levels due to there being way too much waste for the existing bacteria population to handle.
akaatomic
New member
The dead prawl probably hasn't decayed enough to generate an ammonia spike. With live rock and sand in the system that prawn will have to rot for a while to create more organics than that much rock and sand can handle. Check your levels every day. The cycle might only last for a day or two and might not show up for another week. Keep the media in the filter for now. You'll need the extra surface area until your base rock becomes "live". You'll eventually want to add about 30-40lbs more rock and then remove the filter media. Keep the filter to run carbon, nitrate sponge, phosphate sponge, etc... plus it adds flow (I have one on a 75). It also takes free floating garbage out of the water column, just make sure you rinse it out every few weeks.
