Cycle w/ or w/o Protein Skimmer

BaleKlocoon · 02/13/2018, 08:49 AM

I plan to cycle my 90 gallon tank with 100 pounds of dry rock, a couple of pounds of live rock to seed my dry rock, and 2 mollies acclimated to saltwater.

Should I leave the protein skimmer off during the cycle since there won't be much of a bio load?

ReefkeeperZ · 02/13/2018, 09:17 AM

remove the fish from the cycle, there is no reason to cycle a tank with live animals in it. you can leave your skimmer on no reason not to run it.

mcgyvr · 02/13/2018, 09:17 AM

Best to just get it in and running to break it in

BaleKlocoon · 02/14/2018, 07:40 AM

Is cycling with fish not an option that many people use? And the fish waste will be food for the beneficial bacteria to grow? I know it isn't good for the fish. I'm not going to use anything fancy, just a couple of mollies from petsmart for $2.50 a piece. I've read you can slowly acclimate them to saltwater gradually over 8 hours and that many people do this to cycle their tank.

DesertReefT4r · 02/14/2018, 07:45 AM

Dont use fish to cycle just toss in some fish food or ammonia and let it go. Yes have the have the skimmer going during cycle. Keep the lights off for the first 5-6 weeks.

BaleKlocoon · 02/14/2018, 08:02 AM

Thanks guys.

mcgyvr · 02/14/2018, 08:10 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BaleKlocoon

Is cycling with fish not an option that many people use?

Its considered cruel by many people..

Subsea · 02/14/2018, 08:43 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BaleKlocoon

Is cycling with fish not an option that many people use? And the fish waste will be food for the beneficial bacteria to grow? I know it isn't good for the fish. I'm not going to use anything fancy, just a couple of mollies from petsmart for $2.50 a piece. I've read you can slowly acclimate them to saltwater gradually over 8 hours and that many people do this to cycle their tank.

Considering that hatchery raised fish are massed produced, it is hard for me to envision what could be bad. Adjusting a mollie to salt water is not bad for the fish. Green mollies in the wild that live in the estuaries have dramatic salinity changes twice a day. I have hatchery mixed mollies in outside macro growout tanks. There is nothing cruel about it. However, mollies cannot protect themselves in a tank with marine fish.

Understand clearly, there are people that think it is immoral to keep fish in a glass bowl. Those people have powerful lobbies to influence legislation. Ten years ago, in Italy, a man was arrested for too many goldfish in a bowl.

BaleKlocoon · 02/14/2018, 08:55 AM

Thanks fellow Texan. I admit I know way less than anyone on this forum, but it's hard for me to believe the water quality in my new uncycled 90 gallon tank will be more cruel to the fish than their overpopulated situation at petsmart. And don't some people feed live food to their fish? Is that not cruel? I'm not trying to get in a big argument with a bunch of people who know way more about reef tanks and fish than I do, I'm just trying to understand.

Fredfish · 02/14/2018, 11:34 PM

I would wait until you have some algae then put the mollies in. They will eat algae and help the cycle along. It will also give you something to look at while the tank cycles.

ReefkeeperZ · 02/15/2018, 05:31 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Subsea

Considering that hatchery raised fish are massed produced, it is hard for me to envision what could be bad. Adjusting a mollie to salt water is not bad for the fish. Green mollies in the wild that live in the estuaries have dramatic salinity changes twice a day. I have hatchery mixed mollies in outside macro growout tanks. There is nothing cruel about it. However, mollies cannot protect themselves in a tank with marine fish.

Understand clearly, there are people that think it is immoral to keep fish in a glass bowl. Those people have powerful lobbies to influence legislation. Ten years ago, in Italy, a man was arrested for too many goldfish in a bowl.

it's considered cruel by a lot of people to use fish as an ammonia source knowing several things
1: ammonia for a cycle can be introduced without fish in Many different ways
2: ammonia spikes during a cycle often lead to death for the fish, whether it cost 2$ or 1000$ it's still a living animal.
3: IF an animal is lucky enough to survive a cycle, congratulations an animal has suffered chemical burns for weeks to be discarded since you have no intention of keeping the animal.

no one is saying it's cruel to acclimate mollies to salt water, it's cruel to torture then discard them or torture them to death when other options are easier and very available.

Just my two cents on it.

mcgyvr · 02/15/2018, 07:04 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BaleKlocoon

Thanks fellow Texan. I admit I know way less than anyone on this forum, but it's hard for me to believe the water quality in my new uncycled 90 gallon tank will be more cruel to the fish than their overpopulated situation at petsmart. And don't some people feed live food to their fish? Is that not cruel? I'm not trying to get in a big argument with a bunch of people who know way more about reef tanks and fish than I do, I'm just trying to understand.

The facts/logic is pretty simple..
1-Ammonia is known to be toxic and harmful to fish..
2-A tank that has not cycled is not able to quickly convert toxic ammonia to its less toxic nitrite/nitrate forms thus the creature is exposed to it for potentially extended times and can burn their gills/eyes,etc...
3-Intentionally exposing something to what could be a toxic/harmful environment is cruel..

Are there better ways? yes
Do I personally care? nope... I'm just stating why its considered cruel by some..
Are there industries/people,etc... who value profit or whatever over the life of a single animal.. Of course there are...

And many people also dislike Petsmart and their current husbandry/stocking/management practices and will not purchase from them for that reason alone..

No need to beat this conversation to death..

Do it if you want..
Don't expect to not get negative comments about it if you publicly announce doing it.. plain and simple..
Some will care.. others don't...
Just like some don't believe in religion or eating meat or whatever..
Do what you want.. Don't sweat the people that don't believe the same as you but do be respectful for their beliefs just like you expect to be respected for yours..

BaleKlocoon · 02/15/2018, 07:48 AM

Thanks guys. I will cycle with just fish food for at least a few weeks before put the mollies in.

02/13/2018, 08:49 AM	#1
BaleKlocoon Registered Member Join Date: Feb 2018 Location: Irving, TX Posts: 125	Cycle w/ or w/o Protein Skimmer I plan to cycle my 90 gallon tank with 100 pounds of dry rock, a couple of pounds of live rock to seed my dry rock, and 2 mollies acclimated to saltwater. Should I leave the protein skimmer off during the cycle since there won't be much of a bio load?

02/13/2018, 09:17 AM	#2
ReefkeeperZ Registered Member Join Date: Apr 2015 Posts: 392	remove the fish from the cycle, there is no reason to cycle a tank with live animals in it. you can leave your skimmer on no reason not to run it. __________________ insert witty catchphrase here

02/13/2018, 09:17 AM	#3
mcgyvr Registered Member Join Date: Sep 2003 Location: North Carolina Posts: 20,050	Best to just get it in and running to break it in __________________ Who me?

02/14/2018, 07:45 AM	#5
DesertReefT4r Registered Member Join Date: Sep 2015 Location: Mesa Az Posts: 771	Dont use fish to cycle just toss in some fish food or ammonia and let it go. Yes have the have the skimmer going during cycle. Keep the lights off for the first 5-6 weeks. __________________ Tank history 29g tropical ,55g cichlid tank, 20H softy reef, 29g mixed reef, 20H brackish goby & puffer tank, 55g mixed reef, 6g Nanocube softy lps reef, 40B sps reef, 75g sps reef, 75g sps reef in bu Current Tank Info: 75g sps reef build in the works.

02/14/2018, 11:34 PM	#10
Fredfish Registered Member Join Date: Oct 2000 Posts: 2,661	I would wait until you have some algae then put the mollies in. They will eat algae and help the cycle along. It will also give you something to look at while the tank cycles. __________________ Advice is like a firehose. Be careful how you drink.

02/14/2018, 07:40 AM	#4
BaleKlocoon Registered Member Join Date: Feb 2018 Location: Irving, TX Posts: 125	Is cycling with fish not an option that many people use? And the fish waste will be food for the beneficial bacteria to grow? I know it isn't good for the fish. I'm not going to use anything fancy, just a couple of mollies from petsmart for $2.50 a piece. I've read you can slowly acclimate them to saltwater gradually over 8 hours and that many people do this to cycle their tank.

02/14/2018, 08:02 AM	#6
BaleKlocoon Registered Member Join Date: Feb 2018 Location: Irving, TX Posts: 125	Thanks guys.

02/14/2018, 08:55 AM	#9
BaleKlocoon Registered Member Join Date: Feb 2018 Location: Irving, TX Posts: 125	Thanks fellow Texan. I admit I know way less than anyone on this forum, but it's hard for me to believe the water quality in my new uncycled 90 gallon tank will be more cruel to the fish than their overpopulated situation at petsmart. And don't some people feed live food to their fish? Is that not cruel? I'm not trying to get in a big argument with a bunch of people who know way more about reef tanks and fish than I do, I'm just trying to understand.

02/15/2018, 07:48 AM	#13
BaleKlocoon Registered Member Join Date: Feb 2018 Location: Irving, TX Posts: 125	Thanks guys. I will cycle with just fish food for at least a few weeks before put the mollies in.