the fastest way to cycle your tank is to add a bunch of corals to the tank, I don't even THINK about the nitrogen cycle until I start adding fish

@spicyreef

2 жыл бұрын

Ditto :-)

@elfofwrath

2 жыл бұрын

What coral would you suggest? Zoas, I imagine, probably duncans. What else?

@brymac1227

2 жыл бұрын

100% agree

@i2ik

2 жыл бұрын

Like mushroom/ricordea and zoas?

@kevinhelfrich1705

2 жыл бұрын

Is this for real? It sounds like a horrible idea but I'd like to know if it's true

On a positive note, the aquascape looks freggin awesome. The test of patience this hobby has on the human mind is unmatched.

I can tell you exactly what's wrong. You had a lot of ceramic blocks in your tank. You had so many that it was cleaning the ammonia out before it had a chance to convert. The quarantine system cycled fast because there wasn't as many ceramic blocks. Once your tank is cycled, you want all of the blocks as they will filter out most ALL nitrates. Now filtering out all of the nitrates as we know isn't beneficial for most corals. If you run into cycling again, use about the same amount of ceramic media that you had in the quarantine sump. Then after it cycles, add the rest. You're giving the system time to build up bacteria before you add too much media. Then once the bacteria does populate, then add your extra ceramic blocks and they will keep you out of trouble if you overfeed, etc. Tank looks great!

@joelgomez562

2 жыл бұрын

This is exactly what I was thinking. Bacteria consumed it all before it can even run up.

@Jel0XD

9 ай бұрын

This might've been what I was looking for why my cycle is taking so long but what's the basis of this? What's the blocks doing that stalls the process? How exactly is it "cleaning" the ammonia

@raymondinfante3958

14 күн бұрын

You might have just saved me… I put a whole bucket of Seachem matrix and the nitrates/ammonia won’t spike with a fish in cycle. But my fish swimming around and eating fine . 👍🏽👍🏽

@hurricaneaquatics

14 күн бұрын

@@raymondinfante3958 hi all, sorry Jel I didn't see your question. You want a decent amount of ceramic media so it will hold bacteria and process ammonia to nitrite to Nitrate. If you put too much ceramic media, it has too much bacteria for the volume of water in your tank. So it cycles your ammonia to Nitrate too quickly so you'll never establish a healthy amount of Nitrate. All tanks need Nitrate and a small amount of Phosphate. If you bottom these out to 0, you'll have an outbreak of green hair algae, dinoflagelates, etc.

The whole time I’ve been watching I want to suggest you watch Gallery Aquatica TV top 10 tips to cycle success video, they are marine biologists but hobbyists and she really offers some excellent quick fire tips on that vid

"Just be patient, you'll get there in no time." *Morgan Freeman voice:* "But it did take time, and decades had passed."

@AlexisMDrago

Жыл бұрын

Lmao 🤣

What was the ammonia reading of the tank? Any reason you didnt just dose pure ammonia to the tank? Would allow to be able to target a certain ammonia reading. I believe anything over 5ppm for ammonia and nitrite will actually stall your cycle as the bacteria cant multiply fast enough to process the waste. Lower salinity, elevated temp also helps speed up the cycle too!

I remember in one of Dr. Tim's podcasts, he said, the fastest way to fishless cycle with bottle bacteria and ammonia dosing is to use dechlorinated hard tap water as your source water, keep the salinity to about half of what it should be, and keep the temperature around the mid to low 80s. Turn off skimmers and roller mats, remove socks, and do not clean anything. Once the cycle is finished, switch to ro/di water as your source and do a huge maybe 70% water change to fix your salinity and remove the tap water, and set temps to 78. The reason is that hard tap water has trace elements, alkalinity, and ph levels that help nitrifying bacteria grow and multiply faster. The lower salinity also helps them multiply, and the higher temperatures help them process ammonia, nitrites, and metabolize faster. Also, keep the lights off cause there's no point in wasting electricity lighting up an empty tank. Dr. Tim has been in the fish industry for like 30 sonething years, so I'm inclined to believe him.

Thanks becka I am looking forward to the rest of the build and to see how a mixed reef takes shape

I started my tank the same time as yours and it was cycled in one week! The secret: lights off, low salinity, i throw just tiny fish food once and i have put in the sponge from filter of my older reef. No extra bacteria , no chemicals during cycling period.

Love your content Becca!

that frogspawn was beautiful. Love your vids!

When I cycled my first tank 4 months ago, I didn’t get a lick of Nitrite at all but went straight to getting Nitrate instead. I did use live rock which was probably why I saw that happen though.

@sr3408

2 жыл бұрын

I guess that's 100% efficiency?

@henryorcustus3412

2 жыл бұрын

I had the exact same thing. That's why a lot of reefers say don't bother buying Nitrite test kit. I thought my cycling never started coz all my Nitrite tests were 0. Until one day I tested Nitrate and it was at 50 PPM.

Great video! Patience is key 🔑

30 years of being in the reef hobby has fought me one thing about new tanks. Pee in them 8 oz a day for 3 days and add a bacteria supplement

This exact thing happened with one of my tanks a few years ago... 3+ months of cycling! No idea how or why still.

Her hair is so cool....

Great Video thank you for sharing.

I always used actual pure ammonia.

This is a great learning video

My clowns whack me every time I stick my hand in the tank.

Somebody got some fresh Ink, happy stress reefing 🤣

My nitrites is through the roof and I don’t known what to do

Having a piece of live rock would not hurt.

A bottle of Dr Tims Ammonia.... will start any tank...

@bobbyknox9258

2 жыл бұрын

Only if the bacteria has something to feed on that is 🤙

No exp in salt water sorry.. but what about the sand? Isn't it main diff with quarantine tank? At the end first time I see smbd happy because of nitrate.. generally smthg you're not looking for with freshwater ;-)

I've been cycling for 3 weeks and still no Nitrites showing up. This video is for me! Just be patient and the time will come!

If your putting ammonia in and it not reading, the ammonia is no good...it's happened to me before...but seeding the tank with established media would have been the easiest and fastest route to begin with.

Dr.Tim’s product has been doing that lately. I was stuck 8n the same cycle for a month. So I added Fritz Turbo start and it finished the cycle in 24 hrs

It's easy. The sand and rock grow bacteria = > 0 Nitrate.

I have always started mine with genuine live rock from ocean and test it with pure ammonia. Insta cycle :-)

@vinceschumaker

2 жыл бұрын

Bad mojo taking stuff from the ocean.

@min2oly

2 жыл бұрын

@@vinceschumaker ever heard of Gulf live rock, they drop cultured rock in the ocean for a few years, harvest and sell...

yay....extra rock work looks great.

Keep the faith up Becka and ye shall have what ye wish 🦈👍😊

I dont think she ever realy owned a reef tank of her own.

Sometimes when you start up a tank with rock and sand your rocks and sand could start leaching nutrients from your tanks as they’re so porous

Looks great with the other rock edition

Rock and sand bacteria is consuming the nitrates faster then you can add them. Should have used the brightwell liquid nitrate. Hows your phosphate level? May need to add phosphate or remove phosphate. Brightwell has liquid phosphate too

Can we come and shop there?

They bite. No question.

Once you get near “ their” corals they will bite the ever living hell out of your hand. I jump so bad still when mine do it I spill water all over the floor. They’re cute until they start killing corals being a little overly aggressive and you can’t get them out of the tank because you have too much rock work and too many corals to get around. It will happen oh yes it will happen. Glad it’s finally cookin for you. Cycling sucks. That’s why we used the yellow tail damsels back in the day.

I have so far 3 running salt water nano tanks but I also just setup a fluval 32.5 salt water tank I add some fish after 24 hours I fallow the instructions on the fluval bacteria bottle it says you can add fish right away but fish didn't make it almost all dead I put 4 fish I total .

My male clown speeds over to my hand for a bite so fast he’s almost impossible to dodge, but I love him still :)

The fact that the pre seeded media didn't work means plain and simple their wasn't enough food for the bacteria. You should have added fish with those blocks. If you add blocks from a cycled tank it basically makes the new tank instantly cycled as if you just did a 90%-100% water change. The ammonia and nitrites should have been 0ppm and the nitrates should have immediately been present in the first day or two.

You should add ‘Live rock enhance’ to help in the progression of the tank :)

The 'bare' tank is the answer to your issue. Nothing to absorb/hide the nitrates. Your rock scaping essentially created anoxic zones and respirated out the nitrates. Until nitrates could be produced @ scale to the tank size they just got consumed and no anerobic zones could be produced. Anoxic zones are anerobic zones with the difference of lacking NO3. Anoxic zones lack NO3 and, therefore, consume the NO3 available. Once anerobic zones are created there is usually more NO3 than can be consumed and then you see it on the test kits. Research waste water treatment to learn more.

Wow that’s really weird that your cycle behaved like that. I’m trying to think about what could cause that. Maybe something the tank was cleaned with prior to setup?

I've never had a problem with clownfish being bitty with me and I've had like 7 pairs

What size and brand tanks is this?

when you add bio material or bacterial you need to feed them. Add some food of some kind into the tank or sump.

When mine would lay eggs they would bite my hand when I would put it in the tank.

My clown fish would bite me very aggressively. Almost to the point I would have to finger fight him to leave me alone

what is the thank and sump?

Green Star polyps on the back wall could be a really cool addition!

Id suggest putting the brown stuff in your sand under the microscope. I hope it isnt large cell amphinidium.

Instead of adding fish food to start the nitrogen cycle, is it possible to add the chemical ammonia? I think it is available as a cleaning supply.

@glasscanvasart5273

2 жыл бұрын

Yes, but make sure it is only NH3 and H2O, so not scents or anything.

the clowns will get teritorial , then they can nip at your hands if you put them in the tank.

is all the super glue from making the scape slowing the cycle?

Nature is a patient mistress of what is otherwise a harsh and brutal world. You can't rush biology, because it will take its sweet time regardless. :)

I would set a challenge to you guys. Set up a new tank and the only messurement you can take is "Salinity". The corals and algaes would be your source of true for any imbalance. Would you be able to make this tank thrive? ;)

@elfofwrath

2 жыл бұрын

Yes, up to a point. When coraline starts growing, your alkalinity will drop like a rock. If you don't catch it, it can easily cause a crash. If we can measure salinity plus alkalinity, yeah, I could make that thrive.

@lecombattantbr

2 жыл бұрын

@@elfofwrath well, that is where the challenge happens ;) the Corals and Algaes are the ones that should give you clues to what is happening. I say that because I have a reef 13.5G for the past 3 years and I have no idea of PH or any other info. I know the temp and the salinity. Anything else works well. I have algaes like any other super tech tank and I only see my corals happy. I have lost 3 corals during this time. But anything else is thriving. I had challenges along the way but knew how to make it work. btw, my water changes goes anywhere from 3 weeks to 3 months apart.

@lvluxury

2 жыл бұрын

@@lecombattantbr depends on the corals you keep. Would be easy with softies but sps and some lps would be difficult.

She’s fried lol

Becka, my wife and I are local (like 8 minutes from the farm) you'll never say no to doing an aquascape???? Wanna do one for a Cade 1200 S2??

Wait till the Clowns start spawning then they will start drawing blood.

Why didn't you just add the Dr Tim's ammonia? Or any ammonia for that matter?

did you add an ammonia source?

Ammonia reading of 2 or more needed to get cycle going Dr Timm.

I think those anaerobic blocks put in might have been your problem. Converting ammonia directly without the normal nitrite process. Why are you all not starting tanks with a donor live rock instead of anaerobic rocks? That's the tried and true method for jump starting a cycle if the aquarist has that available. Thats the way I've started new tanks for the last 21 years. It works.

@coldlogic800

2 жыл бұрын

I agree insufficient substrate and I'll never agree with the dead rock dead sand start to tanks I see used these days.

I work in aquarium maintenance and see over a 100 tanks a month. Almost every tank has clown and they all hate me. I dont need to come anywhere close to "their" corals, alot of clowns are just assholes and go straight for my hand anywhere in the tank. Tank size doesnt seem to matter much either 40g to 1000g if their mean theyll come after you. No other fish in the hobby is as much of a jerk as clowns. As long as they are not massive they usually cant get a good pinch of skin to hurt, but even the big ones have never broken skin so I just take the bites and keep on keepin on.

Why didnt ya just add straight ammonia since the start? Lol i dont waste time with that.

Should've used the proper stuff for a fish less cycle and this wouldn't have happened. AlgaeBarn and RedSea sell liquid ammonia solutions for this exact purpose. Really wish this old way of thinking and doing things would just stop and go away. It's painful to see new hobbiests have issues that they don't understand because of bad advice. I understand that most people aren't like me (ASD) and so they don't deep dive into chemistry and physics and whatnot, but a little education goes a long ways.

They will start biting when they start hosting especially if you get them an anemone. My clown bites me in the spot between my fingers.

Welcome to reef keeping. It will drive you mad

I don’t know why people still do cycling phase. Everyone I know is starting with a good amount of frags after 3/4 days to get some biologie in the tank and the cleaning crew.. works perfect here in Germany ^^

First? And good luck at nitrogen cycle

Just add some corals. Tanks cycle in lots of ways and no nitrites or whatever are not that weird. Listen to the bacteria guy: kzread.info/dash/bejne/oYSLxdZymKXHZ84.html

The male will definitely bite....

Moss bored time in aquarium prosses

You look so tired in this video xD

Everyone commenting it's tidal gardens ffs they know wat they are doing so don't see point of video

@bobbyknox9258

2 жыл бұрын

For some reason it doesn't. Whether they just didn't mention it on the video but chucking bottles of bacteria in with nothing for it to feed on at the start that will happen.