question about cycling
- Thread starter Yinger
- Start date
I dont think a massive out break. When I cycled my 55 gal tank with 65lb LR it went from green algae to brown to no algae after week 2. I didnt have a massive out break. I only let my 96w 50/50 pc light on for about 4 hours a day. After about a month I had tons of the little white bugs all over.
gcarroll
Active member
Re: question about cycling
If done right, you will have no outbreaks. No cyno, no hair algae, nothing. I had no outbreaks on my tank and had corals in the tank within 1 month (I would not recommend). I did however start with cured rock from my previous system and added additional new live rock weekly. During cycling, it is important to have the skimmer running to remove waste and nutrients from die-off to limit the cycling in the first place.
Re: Re: question about cycling
Re: Re: question about cycling
I guess this depends on what you consider the goal of cycling.
If you remove the waste before it breaks down, the nitrifying bacteria won't have "much" food, and therefore the colony established is that sufficient to care for an unfed tank with skimming.
The first time you put a fish (or any other load, for the sake of argument), you'll see a modest spike as the waste not skimmed exceeds the capacity of the very small colony created during cycling. This is contrary to the goal of traditional cycling - the idea is to build a sufficient bacteria colony such that any single new fish addition is unlikely to cause any measurable spike. This is why many people propose using large, whole shrimp to create a significant load. Skimming that load before it can break down is counterproductive.
On the other hand - IF you know what you're doing, you're good with water changes, and you've got sufficiently strong skimming and circulation, you can probably skip the traditional cycling altogher provided you use sufficiently live rock and/or sand.... of course, this only works if you fill all the requirements, and if you're at that point, you're not looking for advice on cycling a tank anyway
Re: Re: question about cycling
I guess this depends on what you consider the goal of cycling.
If you remove the waste before it breaks down, the nitrifying bacteria won't have "much" food, and therefore the colony established is that sufficient to care for an unfed tank with skimming.
The first time you put a fish (or any other load, for the sake of argument), you'll see a modest spike as the waste not skimmed exceeds the capacity of the very small colony created during cycling. This is contrary to the goal of traditional cycling - the idea is to build a sufficient bacteria colony such that any single new fish addition is unlikely to cause any measurable spike. This is why many people propose using large, whole shrimp to create a significant load. Skimming that load before it can break down is counterproductive.
On the other hand - IF you know what you're doing, you're good with water changes, and you've got sufficiently strong skimming and circulation, you can probably skip the traditional cycling altogher provided you use sufficiently live rock and/or sand.... of course, this only works if you fill all the requirements, and if you're at that point, you're not looking for advice on cycling a tank anyway
Yinger
Premium Member
I've been skimming since i added water to the tank and the rock i have is already cured so I guess that could be why I haven't had an issue with algae at all. i just don't want to start adding fish and then all of a sudden have an algae outbreak. I've been testing the water so far and everything is at zero. I'll probably wait another week before adding fish.
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