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View Full Version : Bad advice on cycling


blasterman789
07/07/2010, 04:02 PM
I just read the worst cycling advice ever in another forum. Normally I avoid those places because the advice is either bad, or the person asking the questions won't ever get it anyways. With LR readily available at fish stores this is hardly rocket science. But, anyways...

The typical scenario is somebody sets up their tank with LR, and then it hits the fan. You've got one crowd that likes to stand around with test kits waiting for something miraculous to happen, while the other crowd that I'm part of insists that if ammo is zero than a small bio-load can be introduced.

My reasons are simple and based on past experience. Live rock that sits in a tank with no bio-load has no ammonia to eat, and hence the biological reduction capacity of the rock decreases the longer it sits. Un-cured rock may decompose producing ammonia, but LR that's been sitting in a tank for a couple weeks is pretty much 'cured' if ammonia reads zero. At that point, start adding live live-stock - slowly. Anybody have a problem with that?

I've seen this time and time again with frag tanks. No matter how much rock is in the tank and how mature it is, if I add a small fish when the tank has had no previous bioload in it, ammonia goes up a bit for awhile, and then settles.

Next, why tell a beginner test for alk in a fish only tank? "Your alk (from freshly mixed water) is 7.5, and that's too low. You better add buffer" Again, what's up with these guys who test a dozen different water params with a new tank with no fish in it?

Last, somebody explain to me why you bother testing nitrite? I lost my nitrite test kit over 20years ago, and haven't missed it. If there's ammonia, there's nitrite, or soon will be, and the presence of ammonia always indicates a problem. I've yet to encounter a reef situation where nitrite came out of nowhere while ammo stayed zero.

phenom5
07/07/2010, 05:39 PM
You can't get the full picture of your cycle without testing nitrites. You can have 0 ammonia, and have high levels of nitrite. NO2 is slightly less toxic than NH4, but it's still toxic. So just because you have 0 ammonia, that doesn't mean you're ready for livestock.

billdogg
07/07/2010, 05:57 PM
I don't own an ammonia or nitrite test kit. Last one I had expired at least 15 years ago. But then my tank has been running nonstop since 1989 or so. I'm pretty sure it's cycled by now.

However - if I were to start a new tank - even one using some of my own LR - I would expect a cycle of some sorts - maybe not a big one, but there would be one. It just goes with the territory. Rather than use livestock to get things going, how about a nice piece of cocktail shrimp? If I were newer at this, I would check all the basic parameters a few times over the first couple 3 weeks, but would not bother with anything more than that - heck - I don't now unless something starts to look wrong.

And remember - ANY time you add more biological load to ANY tank, there will be a short period of adjustment - it may not be enough to show up too dramatically on a test sample, but it will be there nonetheless.

JM.02