Tampa Bay Saltwater Cycling Method

[LeslieS]

Hi,

I am new to the hobby and about to receive my first tank ever. It is 120 gallons. While doing research, I found the Tampa Bay Saltwater site. Has anyone used their products? What about their cycling method? Why do they recommend water changes during cycling when other sources do not?

Thanks for your input,
Leslie

 

[GL]

Do a search on "TBS" you will find everything you want to know.

There are some very big threads on that topic.

 

[meco65]

The best way I have Know to cycle a tank other than the old way is to put all live cured rock and sand, or get (right now bacteria) it will cycle a tank in 24 hours.

 

[LeslieS]

I have ordered half of my live rock and all of my sand from the LFS. In case I messed something up, I did not want to kill everything growing on it. If the tank does not cycle in 24 hours, should I do partial water changes as TBS suggests?

 

[GL]

A cycle can range anywhere from None detectable to a week or more. Your ammonia and nitrites levels will tell you if or when you need to do a water change during the cycle.

 

[LeslieS]

Thanks for the input!!!

 

[techreef]

LeslieS,

The hype around TBS rock seems to be totally legitimate and supported w/ great pictures of people setting up their tanks from scratch with it. TBS' cycling procedure is different because their product comes with tons more life on it than most other LR sources. If you would let TBS rock cycle like some people say, without doing water changes, much of the living organisms on the TBS rock would be killed by the rising ammonia and nitrite levels. If you got "normal" LR from a LFS or online vendor, there's not much life on the LR to start with, so letting your tank water cycle without doing water changes really isn't harming much.

I'm in the process of setting up my new 90G tank now, and plan on ordering the TBS package for it soon. Can't wait!

Happy reefing!

 

[GL]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7389436#post7389436 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by techreef
LeslieS,

The hype around TBS rock seems to be totally legitimate and supported w/ great pictures of people setting up their tanks from scratch with it. TBS' cycling procedure is different because their product comes with tons more life on it than most other LR sources. If you would let TBS rock cycle like some people say, without doing water changes, much of the living organisms on the TBS rock would be killed by the rising ammonia and nitrite levels. If you got "normal" LR from a LFS or online vendor, there's not much life on the LR to start with, so letting your tank water cycle without doing water changes really isn't harming much.

I'm in the process of setting up my new 90G tank now, and plan on ordering the TBS package for it soon. Can't wait!

Happy reefing!

I bought the TBS package and never had a noticable cycle and never did a water change. Others have bought the package and had very high ammonia spikes and needed to do massive water chages.

The idea with the TBS rock is that it never leaves the water during shipping where other rock is shipped it wet news paper or other media.

Also, I have used just cured LR from Premium Aquatics, again, never had a noticible cycle more than likely becuase it was already cured.

If you care about preserving what ever life is on whatever rock you get then you basically watch you ammonia and nitrites, when/if they spike you do a water change to keep them at low levels.

If you have a bunch of uncured rock and you really don't care about what is on the rock, which is what a lot of people do, then you let the cycle happen, no matter how high the levels get then do your water changes at the end.

 

[Randall_James]

TBS is a great package from the threads you can read here.

Follow the directions they give you.

It is their product and they are going to know the best way to take care of it for maximum satisfaction and so you tell your buds what a great item it is.

 

[GL]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7389856#post7389856 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Randall_James
TBS is a great package from the threads you can read here.

The only thing I would suggest though is to read the threads well and read them with an open mind. There are many pros and cons. Make sure you visit threads of aged tanks as well.

This is by no means an opinion in either direction.

 

[skeeter_ca]

I ordered the package from TBS for starting my 75 tank. The rock has more life than i have ever seen on any live rock. The idea to doing water changes during the cycle is you don't let the ammonia get above 1.0. That way you save alot of the life on the rock. The old way was to just let it cycle on its own till the ammonia and nitrite are 0 then do water changes to lower the nitrates. The ammonia levels would be so high during it it could not be measured. It always seemed a stupid (IMO) way because all of the diverse life dies off. But that was back in the days of the sterile tanks methods. Now more diversity is wanted. The only problem i have with TBS rock are Mantis Shrimp. I had 5 with mine. There hard to catch, very smart and aggressive.