Hello everyone! ItI had this tank running with two clowns and some soft coral running for a few months before a hurricane hit about a year ago and i lost power in my complex for a week. The tank pretty much got destroyed and the clowns, along with the coral died, i ended up removing everything minus the rocks and water and just let it sit until 3 days ago when i decided to try and start it up again. So i went to my local marine store and bought 55 gals of saltwater, filled it up and did a quick rinse on my canister filter media (i didn’t change the media). My salinity is right at 1.25 and my nitrates and nitrates are pretty much at the white square on the test strips. I tested it for the past 3 days and it had the same results pretty much. If anyone has any advice that’d be awesome, like how long do you guys think it’ll take to cycle the tank again? And or should i replace the media in the filter since the tank was sitting for a while? Any help is greatly appreciated!
Starting tank again
- Thread starter Fscarr
- Start date
Welcome back to the hobby.
Did you mean 1.025 on salinity? If not, 1.25 is pretty high.
Have you been testing ammonia? It would be good to know what those levels have been remember ammonia>nitrite>nitrate. So, knowing if you have the ammonia to create the cycle would be a good thing. Are you introducing anything to create ammonia? Many people use a piece of raw shrimp to start the cycle, monitor ammonia, nitrite and nitrate.
A lot of people are doing a fast cycle using fish and bottled bacteria. I have never done this myself so, you'd need to get other opinions or do some research on how to do this properly.
Personally, since the media was previously in use and then sat idle for a year, I'd replace it.
FWIW, if you're going to keep corals, we no longer strive for zero nitrate. We actually want some nitrate (and phosphates) for the corals to utilize. Here's a chart with the parameters we seek these days.
Did you mean 1.025 on salinity? If not, 1.25 is pretty high.
Have you been testing ammonia? It would be good to know what those levels have been remember ammonia>nitrite>nitrate. So, knowing if you have the ammonia to create the cycle would be a good thing. Are you introducing anything to create ammonia? Many people use a piece of raw shrimp to start the cycle, monitor ammonia, nitrite and nitrate.
A lot of people are doing a fast cycle using fish and bottled bacteria. I have never done this myself so, you'd need to get other opinions or do some research on how to do this properly.
Personally, since the media was previously in use and then sat idle for a year, I'd replace it.
FWIW, if you're going to keep corals, we no longer strive for zero nitrate. We actually want some nitrate (and phosphates) for the corals to utilize. Here's a chart with the parameters we seek these days.
Awesome, i apologize i meant 1.025 lol, I havent tested the ammonia yet, just nitrates and nitrites, and i didn’t use a fish or shrimp or anything like that, i figured the rocks and sand and stuff was enough. Would you recommend to start with a clown? Or just use the shrimp method?
No need to apologize, we all make mistakes
I would test your ammonia just to make sure you have a baseline. If your rocks and sand don't have enough organic material in them to break down into ammonia, you won't see the nitrites or nitrates rise at all because there's no bacterial food chain (ammonia) to start the cycle.I personally do not use the fish/bottled bacteria method or the raw shrimp method. But, that's because I use at least some real aquacultured live rock (like Tampa Bay Saltwater and KP Aquatics sell) to cycle my tanks. But, if I were to choose one of those methods, it would be the raw shrimp but, that's because I tend to take things slow.
The bottled bacteria/fish method is pretty tried and true, I know @Dr. Reef uses that method so, hopefully he can chime in to give some guidance.
Awesome, i’ll check it today. If i dont see anything change then i’ll try to do one of the methods. I appreciate the help, i’m trying to learn as much as possible about saltwater lolNo need to apologize, we all make mistakes
I personally do not use the fish/bottled bacteria method or the raw shrimp method. But, that's because I use at least some real aquacultured live rock (like Tampa Bay Saltwater and KP Aquatics sell) to cycle my tanks. But, if I were to choose one of those methods, it would be the raw shrimp but, that's because I tend to take things slow.
The bottled bacteria/fish method is pretty tried and true, I know @Dr. Reef uses that method so, hopefully he can chime in to give some guidance.
No problem at all. A couple things to keep in mind in this hobby. There are many ways to do things correctly/successfully in this hobby. What may work for one person, could be absolute failure for another. So, find out what works best for you and your tank. Which brings me to the second item, take your time and go slow. Nothing good happens fast in this hobby.
Hi yes we use fritz turbostart 900 for immediate cycle. Normally we bleach a system or start a new system with all dry media and new saltwater. dose 5 x times the amount of fritz turbostart 900 in the system and start placing fish in it. Never had any ammonia related issues. You can keep dosing 1 x the recommended dose every other day for first week if you want to be 100% sure but we never do.
