Quick cycle reef tank

[TDB]

I am not new to feet tanks however I am courious how the shows on TV build a tank fill it with water and then add fish right away ? How are they able to do this with out cycling the tank ?

[qoeletd]

synthetic rocks, oversized skimmer and mature water


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[qoeletd]

and bacteria live sand


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[qoeletd]

I think you speak about "tanked", remember that they use synthetic coral and a montly mainentance service.
And also remember that fish can live with a moderate nitrate/fosfate level.


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[slief]

Systems like those installed in the shows you see on TV have a history of high casualty rates. You just don’t hear about them because once the filming is done, it’s passed off to a service company who often inherits the issues that follow. There have been several stories about that. Remember though, it is a show and drama is added to make it more entertaining. While they use live sand and bacterial additions, they do deal with a cycle. As such, they make it look like everything is rushed when very often, it’s not rushed. Because it’s a show, they can edit out the time it takes to cycle the tank to keep it more dramatic. Now there are some cases where stuff is rushed. Especially temporary setups but that isn’t always the case. Even when they let a tank go through a cycle, there are still issues because they do load the tanks up heavily with fish in very short order instead of adding fish slowly to build up the bacterial populations. This ultimately becomes the service companies problem. Something you never see in a TV series. Personally, I find these shows entertaining but I do feel they set a poor example for new hobbyists who think they can run out to the store, buy a new tank, fill it with sand and water and add a ton of fish. As we all know, it doesn’t work that way but these shows will often lead the inexperienced to believe it’s perfectly fine.

[davocean]

Yeah, the short of it is it usually does not work out, many of those fish die not long after cameras are gone and we've seen a number of those tanks up for sale not much later or just shut down.

I agree it's a very poor example

[Pond Boy]

If you want instant gratification in this hobby you will surely fail...

[ravi197699]

I agree with Pond Boy

[TDB]

Originally Posted by Pond Boy

If you want instant gratification in this hobby you will surely fail...

I have been in this hobby a long time and I know that the only things that happen quickly are BAD things. I was just interested in knowing if they knew something I did not know or some of the equipment made it possible

[Lsufan]

The best way to have a short cycle or in some instances no cycle at all, is bybusing mature live rock. My last setup I used 50 lbs of cured rock & 100 lbs of tbs rock. I didn’t have a cycle at all.

[Bulldog39]

What about items like Dr Tim's one stop or bio sphere??

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[lingwendil]

Originally Posted by Lsufan

The best way to have a short cycle or in some instances no cycle at all, is bybusing mature live rock. My last setup I used 50 lbs of cured rock & 100 lbs of tbs rock. I didn’t have a cycle at all.

Water, rock, and sand from an established tank can be a great way to get a soft or nonexistent cycle, and even better is using an established filter on the tank as well. This was a trick we used to use setting up displays back when ran a large fishroom and did maintenance/setup as a side business. You still need to go easy on stocking, but often times we wouldn't encounter any dieoff or parameter swings, and had very few issues that weren't related to product/equipment failures, and that was usually on new equipment.

[October Sky]

I've never seen Tanked, but I know about it from my local newspaper. Long story short, the owner of one of our local fish stores feels terrible about the miscommunication brought on by such a large endeavor

http://www.timesunion.com/local/arti...sh-5487950.php

[tkeracer619]

I use bio spira. It works great to speed up a cycle. Time and patience is king though.

Having actually done large installs on a professional level I can tell you that not everything you see on TV is what it seems. Sure there are tank crashes, I don't think anyone is immune to that. But there is no reason filtration cannot be pre cycled, fish QT'd, and corals in holding systems to allow a 1000gal+ tank be successfully stocked in a few days.

It's not ideal but it surely can be done. When we installed 1000+ gal coral reefs we spent MONTHS and far more effort than your avg reefer preparing the livestock for the install.

These tanks that are in businesses are not hobby tanks and the person signing the check rarely wants to wait months with an empty tank. That is why they sign very large checks.

[Jeramirez85]

Reason I stopped watching those shows. Make it look like you can go out and just stick a tank as soon as you set it up. I’m sure a lot will fail and will not be happy with the outcome

[laverda]

I know that tanked uses a bacterial mix that they sell before any fish are added. I don't know how well it really works, but suspect they still have large die offs after shooting.