Cycle Help

[davehead86]

I'm running the cycle on my 65 gallon tank with sump. I have a smaller tank that I ran a cycle on previously but I'm not sure if I did it right the first time.

I have dead shrimp in the tank to spike te ammonia. It's up around 2 right now. What level should I be looking for before I remove the shrimp and let the bacteria flourish.

I have two pieces of rubble from my other tank helping to seed the tank.

Thoughts and suggestions are very welcome. Especially regarding when to do the first water change and when it's OK to move the fish and corals over

Thanks.


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[anthonys51]

you cant add fish until your ammonia levels reach zero,and your nitrites also.

i prefer to cycle tanks with live rock and wait a few months before adding fish. i start putting cuc and corals in after 3 days. i dont feed or add ammonia. i never really get algae problems or diatoms or cryno problems this way.

[davehead86]

I was looking to have some more solid numbers. There are plenty of startup threads but not too many specific numbers. Or at least they are not easily found by me.


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[Dkuhlmann]

The cycle takes about 4-6 weeks from the start to fully finish the initial part of the cycle. It's at the point where your ammonia goes to 0 and your nitrites go to 0 then you have left over is nitrates. This is where you can do a big water change of 50% or more it takes a big WC to knock down the nitrates. Then you can add your cuc and after about 2 weeks it's safe to add one or two fish. Then you can add a fish ever two or three weeks. The reason for this is it allows time for your bacteria to catch up to provide enough to accommodate the fish in your system. Any faster and bad things happen. Always remember this: Nothing Good happens Fast in this Hobby.

[nereefpat]

If the NH3 is 2ppm, I would remove the shrimp. That's high enough.Too high NH3 can slow down a cycle. After the nitrates and nitrites start to creep up and ammonia drops, you can add more nitrogen to check how the bacteria are doing.

[davehead86]

Excellent. Thanks for some numbers and timeframes.

Does running a skimmer or carbon or gfo reactors have the cycle take longer?


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[Dkuhlmann]

Yes, sorry I forgot about your ammonia, it's fine where it is so go ahead and remove the shrimp.

I wouldn't run anything accept for pumps, lights and heater normal cycle and that's it. You can continue to ghost feed if you like.

[davehead86]

Thanks guys. Ill pull the shrimp tonight, run another test and post the numbers in here.
Right now I am just having the pumps going, I dont have any lights since they are on the other tank. Ill leave the skimmer and reactors off for right now.