Silly Cycling Question

FishyReef

FishyReef

Broke Reefer!
Hey guys,

I started cycling my 42 hex last night (finally!) using almost all dry rock and a few pieces of live rubble rubble from my 10g. I know its going to take quite awhile to cycle but I didn't want to bring over bubble algae from the 90g so a long cycle it will be! Anyhow, I used frozen krill to start the cycle and ammonia was up to about .50ppm this morning (and my living smelled like something died in it). Given that I'm only using a few pieces of live rubble to seed and I want to really make sure that the bacteria has a chance to grow I'm wondering if I should wait until the ammonia gets really high before pulling the krill out? I don't want to risk a small cycle and then have it cycle again once I add livestock. I plan to check ammonia levels again tonight.

Thanks!

(PS - I'll post some pics of the new tank tonight :) )
 
I would leave the krill in.
This would give the tank a consistent amount of new ammonia being released to keep the bacteria fed.

One risk of removing the krill is that if you wait too long to introduce the intended bioload, the bacteria population could scale back due to lack of food and then you end up with a secondary cycle as the bacteria population tries to catch up again.
 
That makes a lot of sense - you're right there could be a good chance of a die off since I think the tank will take a good 4-6 weeks to cycle. Thanks!
 
Ammonia peaked and has dropped down to about .25, and nitrite is now off the charts! I'm expecting another 2-3 weeks before both are down to zero. Looks like there is still some of the krill left overs in the powerheads but I don't know how much ammonia that's still producing. Wondering if I should drop a little bit of fish food in there to keep the ammonia-eating bacteria happy while the nitrifying bacteria continue to reproduce and finish the cycle?
 
Yes you can introduce smaller amounts of fish food to maintain ammonia levels.

Next time if the krill/fishfood looks yucky floating around in the tank, you can put it in a filter sock.
Then set the filter sock in a high flow area or in the sump. This spreads ammonia just as effectively without being unsightly.
 
I made the mistake of pulling a table shrimp too early when I was cycling my 90. Ammonia went down, nitrite never really registered and never got nitrates. Dumped another shrimp in, left it forever and it cycled in about 2 weeks. The whole debacle set me back about a week. Live and learn.
 
i used 1.5 caps of this stuff that i got from ace hardware. make sure it is the janitorial and doesn't have anything else in the bottle. basically if you shake it up and has any kind of bubble its got some soap in it.
IMG_8083_zpse867ecfb.jpg

IMG_8089_zpsc54a9bed.jpg
 
I guess I personally prefer the natural method with a decaying piece of shrimp (or in this case krill). My tank is still cycling but well on its way. I just keep adding a little fish food when I feed the 10g. In my case its taking a long time to cycle because I only seeded with a few pieces of rubble instead of a few lbs of live rock.
 
I've used house amm. before but it didn't really cycle, I was testing and getting nothing. So I will test later and see if theirs any amm. present
 
FishyReef said:
I guess I personally prefer the natural method with a decaying piece of shrimp (or in this case krill). My tank is still cycling but well on its way. I just keep adding a little fish food when I feed the 10g. In my case its taking a long time to cycle because I only seeded with a few pieces of rubble instead of a few lbs of live rock.
Click to expand...
i was planning on doing that and a friend said his was done in a month time with this and it was a 120g and he transfer all his coral from a 75. and nothing happened or didnt lose anything.
 
FishyReef said:
I guess I personally prefer the natural method with a decaying piece of shrimp (or in this case krill). My tank is still cycling but well on its way. I just keep adding a little fish food when I feed the 10g. In my case its taking a long time to cycle because I only seeded with a few pieces of rubble instead of a few lbs of live rock.
Click to expand...
Natural is always better :D
 
can't argue with ya there. thats basically the only thing i'll do not natural. now what kind of shrimp did ya use? supermarket or from a bait store. supermarket as a ton of preservatives to keep it fresh a lil longer on the shelf.
 
lilmatty5dimes said:
can't argue with ya there. thats basically the only thing i'll do not natural. now what kind of shrimp did ya use? supermarket or from a bait store. supermarket as a ton of preservatives to keep it fresh a lil longer on the shelf.
Click to expand...

I had some frozen krill that I'd bought awhile ago for my rogue urchin and I used that to start the cycle. But for shrimp, yes a just a single uncooked piece of shrimp from the grocery store works quite well, and is probably quite a bit cheaper than a bottle of chemicals. Cycle times have more to do with how much live rock you start with to seed than it does with the "ingredient" you use to start the cycle. If you do several lbs of live rock with mostly dry rock you can probably cycle the tank in 2-4 weeks. Like I said I only used a few pieces of rubble (tiny little pieces from my 10g that were in a HOB refugium) - that's why its taking my so long to cycle.
 
FishyReef said:
I had some frozen krill that I'd bought awhile ago for my rogue urchin and I used that to start the cycle. But for shrimp, yes a just a single uncooked piece of shrimp from the grocery store works quite well, and is probably quite a bit cheaper than a bottle of chemicals. Cycle times have more to do with how much live rock you start with to seed than it does with the "ingredient" you use to start the cycle. If you do several lbs of live rock with mostly dry rock you can probably cycle the tank in 2-4 weeks. Like I said I only used a few pieces of rubble (tiny little pieces from my 10g that were in a HOB refugium) - that's why its taking my so long to cycle.
Click to expand...
yea a lil cheaper. it was $2.99 for that botle. but i only used 2 caps. lol or not even 2 caps. i didnt have any live rock in the tank until the nitrites were down to 0.25ppm than i add 3 small pieces and some cheato to help with the nitrates. worked out pretty good.
 

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