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View Full Version : How's my cycle look? Growing impatient...


DavidinGA
03/26/2013, 01:37 PM
My 210 was filled the first of March and the sand and rock was added a week or so later. I used a hand full of raw shrimp as my source for ammonia. Below are the tests I have done over the weeks; how much longer do you think I have to go?

March 7

Ammonia:
http://img.tapatalk.com/d/13/03/26/e3e6ydyq.jpg





3-13-2013

Ammonia
http://img.tapatalk.com/d/13/03/26/y7yturev.jpg



Nitrite
http://img.tapatalk.com/d/13/03/26/u7uhe5av.jpg




pH
http://img.tapatalk.com/d/13/03/26/apequnam.jpg









3-21-2013

Ammonia
http://img.tapatalk.com/d/13/03/26/8ygezu4u.jpg




Nitrite
http://img.tapatalk.com/d/13/03/26/vyzyru7a.jpg





Nitrate
http://img.tapatalk.com/d/13/03/26/jy9ydavu.jpg






Seems the ammonia has dropped significantly and nitrates are growing. No algae yet in the tank though

wooden_reefer
03/26/2013, 01:53 PM
Cycling is basically very easy and the simplest part of this hobby.

The first time is always the most taxing on patience.

You should get used to it.

Unless you add more ammonia or ammonia has not yet mostly been released (decay still not complete), this cycle is not very robust, only moderate I am seeing only about 0.25 ppm ammonia and 1.0 ppm nitrite. If nitrite peaks at 1 ppm and ammonia drops to zero, the cycle is moderately robust. This may still be enough if your interest is mostly reef with a few small fish.

It depends on what you plan to do later. If your interest is mostly fish with a few bigger ones as introduced, you will be better off with more added ammonia, if decay is now already complete.

boosted_347
03/26/2013, 01:55 PM
I think with your Nitrites being so high still you have a little bit to go. With my cycle from the time the ammonia dropped to 0 until my nitrites dropping to zero was 3 1/2 weeks. Did you pull your shrimp? I continued to ghost feed the tank every other day so that beneficial bacteria continued to grow. I was at the point where I thought the cycle would NEVER be over. Start to finish took exactly 7 weeks.

thegrun
03/26/2013, 01:56 PM
It's very difficult to predict, but if I had to guess I would say two weeks. It looks like your ammonia is just about to zero out, but with the nitrites still high I suspect it will take than one week.

wooden_reefer
03/26/2013, 02:04 PM
It is not necessary to test for nitrate in the middle of a cycle. After the cycle, do just one nitrate test.

If you have introduced nitrosomous class of bacteria, you will also have introduced the nitrobacter class. You will see nitrite drop, and this confirms a growing population of nitrobacter class.

I do not generally test for ammonia either, unless I really want to know what it is. Decay is a certainty, so the ammonia is what you have added. Some people like to preserve some lives on collected LR and so do not want ammonia to be too high, so they logically test for ammonia to make sure that it is not excessive. The illogic is at the higher level. If you start with dry rock, you will not be thus concerned, and will not need to test for ammonia during a cycle, as decay is certain and ammonia is what you have added.

I generally just do two nitrite tests, seeing nitrite coming and going will be enough.

wooden_reefer
03/26/2013, 02:21 PM
10 gramms of shrimp meat, about one small shrimp, will decay (if at once) to give about 3 ppm N ammonia in 25 gals of water.

If you finely chop about 100 grams (10 small shrimps) and put in 250 gals of water and if decay happens almost at once, the ammonia will be about 3 ppm.

DavidinGA
03/26/2013, 02:35 PM
Cycling is basically very easy and the simplest part of this hobby.

The first time is always the most taxing on patience.

You should get used to it.

Unless you add more ammonia or ammonia has not yet mostly been released (decay still not complete), this cycle is not very robust, only moderate I am seeing only about 0.25 ppm ammonia and 1.0 ppm nitrite. If nitrite peaks at 1 ppm and ammonia drops to zero, the cycle is moderately robust. This may still be enough if your interest is mostly reef with a few small fish.

It depends on what you plan to do later. If your interest is mostly fish with a few bigger ones as introduced, you will be better off with more added ammonia, if decay is now already complete.



I thought I wanted the ammonia levels to drop? They were 2.0ppm+ then after 3 weeks they dropped to 0.25ppm; isn't that good???

DavidinGA
03/26/2013, 02:37 PM
I think with your Nitrites being so high still you have a little bit to go. With my cycle from the time the ammonia dropped to 0 until my nitrites dropping to zero was 3 1/2 weeks. Did you pull your shrimp? I continued to ghost feed the tank every other day so that beneficial bacteria continued to grow. I was at the point where I thought the cycle would NEVER be over. Start to finish took exactly 7 weeks.



I still have shrimp decaying in there...

thegrun
03/26/2013, 02:37 PM
You are fine, I suspect wooden missed the earlier ammonia test result.

DavidinGA
03/26/2013, 02:38 PM
10 gramms of shrimp meat, about one small shrimp, will decay (if at once) to give about 3 ppm N ammonia in 25 gals of water.

If you finely chop about 100 grams (10 small shrimps) and put in 250 gals of water and if decay happens almost at once, the ammonia will be about 3 ppm.


I added a little more than 10 small shrimp to start the cycle and there are still some pieces decaying in there.

DavidinGA
03/26/2013, 02:41 PM
I was thinking of adding 10+ #'s of uncured LR to seed my dry rock; good idea now or wait?

silleb
03/26/2013, 02:41 PM
Bacteria grows from ammonia present. If your planning on more fish, or bigger fish, you might need more ammonia in beginning to grow more bacteria. Small ammonia in beginning means small amount of bacteria. Larger dose of ammonia means more bacteria. If you start with small ammonia, then add large fish which produces large amount of ammonia, then you don't have enough bacteria for fish, and ammonia will raise in tank with fish presence.

thegrun
03/26/2013, 02:50 PM
I was thinking of adding 10+ #'s of uncured LR to seed my dry rock; good idea now or wait?

I would just let it go at this point. Adding uncured live rock now is likely going to extend the cycle. I don't see your cycle as weak, not super strong but not weak. As in everything else, going slow at first will be important, don't overstock your tank with fish as soon as the initial cycle is complete.

wooden_reefer
03/26/2013, 03:20 PM
I thought I wanted the ammonia levels to drop? They were 2.0ppm+ then after 3 weeks they dropped to 0.25ppm; isn't that good???

Ideally you want to see some ammonia (not necessarily but usually rather high say above 1 ppm) for the first 10-15 days of the cycle.

You can add a pulse of ammonia after the nitrite has begun to drop, but often this is not necessary.

If you have added 10 or more small shrimps at the start of the cycle you should be OK.

Sk8r
03/26/2013, 03:22 PM
Don't even STOCK your tank with fish as soon as the cycle is complete. For a very large FOWLR, get your smallest fish in qt for 4 weeks, and give the tank half a week of no-ammonia before you let him in there. If you are going to have inverts, you need to have them working about 4 weeks (Conveniently identical to the fish quarantine period) until you let any fish in there. A just-cycled tank is like barely dry paint. Rush it, press it hard before it's fully ready, and you've got a mess that requires a re-do. The CUC or the first small fish will increasingly test the sandbed, and increase its strength until it's capable of safely handling 2 fish.

DavidinGA
03/26/2013, 03:26 PM
I would just let it go at this point. Adding uncured live rock now is likely going to extend the cycle. I don't see your cycle as weak, not super strong but not weak. As in everything else, going slow at first will be important, don't overstock your tank with fish as soon as the initial cycle is complete.

How about cured live rock?

Sent by Samsung Galaxy Note 2 and Tapatalk 2

wooden_reefer
03/26/2013, 03:28 PM
I still have shrimp decaying in there...

This is because you did not finely chop them up or better yet blend them to milk before pouring the milk in.

It is OK to finely chop just two or three shrimps and then cut the rest to small pieces without chopping. The result will be similar.

One strong pulse of ammonia likely will result in greater population of bacteria, but enough should be enough.

DavidinGA
03/26/2013, 03:30 PM
This is because you did not finely chop them up or better yet blend them to milk before pouring the milk in.

It is OK to finely chop just two or three shrimps and then cut the rest to small pieces without chopping. The result will be similar.

One strong pulse of ammonia likely will result in greater population of bacteria, but enough should be enough.

Should I add a few more chopped this time?

Sent by Samsung Galaxy Note 2 and Tapatalk 2

wooden_reefer
03/26/2013, 03:36 PM
Don't even STOCK your tank with fish as soon as the cycle is complete. For a very large FOWLR, get your smallest fish in qt for 4 weeks, and give the tank half a week of no-ammonia before you let him in there. If you are going to have inverts, you need to have them working about 4 weeks (Conveniently identical to the fish quarantine period) until you let any fish in there. A just-cycled tank is like barely dry paint. Rush it, press it hard before it's fully ready, and you've got a mess that requires a re-do. The CUC or the first small fish will increasingly test the sandbed, and increase its strength until it's capable of safely handling 2 fish.

This is why I said cycling the DT is just one nominal task. The simplest part of this hobby.

If you QT one fish at a time because you are scared about putting all your eggs in one basket, the process of stocking all fish can take six months or longer, depending on whether you have a mostly reef tank or not. Number of fish times 8 weeks!

By six months most of the bacteria you have grown during cycling of the DT will have died due to lack of ammonia and nitrite.

The trick is to remove a portion of the cycled LR after the DT has cycled and keep it well in a separate container, feed with ammonia. Every time you introduce fish into DT from QT , you add some of the cycled LR into the sump. This way, there will never be ammonia in DT as you add fish to DT one at a time, 8-10 weeks apart.

wooden_reefer
03/26/2013, 03:42 PM
Should I add a few more chopped this time?

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I think you have already taken the disadvanatge of not chopping them up. It is slower with unchopped shrimps, but you have already waited.

worm5406
03/26/2013, 08:20 PM
You can take the shrimp (YEAH REAL SMELLY) and break them up a lot and it will boost the decay and increase the load. It will help at least.

The LR would have been good to put in during this whole cycle to help with making the rock better and ready.

DavidinGA
03/26/2013, 08:30 PM
3-26-13

Nitrite
http://img.tapatalk.com/d/13/03/27/ame3apep.jpg

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worm5406
03/26/2013, 08:58 PM
OK Time to get it to amm-0 nitrite - 0 and nitrate - 0 ph-8.2