Cycle Question

[sanderson2]

I have a few questions about cycling a tank with dry sand and dry rock. I'm not a stranger to cycling a tank, but I'm starting a 90 gallon build and I'm using Marco's dry rock and Tropic of Eden dry sand. The last tank I set up, I used live rock and live sand and some TurboStart stuff and the tank cycled in a few weeks - nothing major and it's been fine since.

I'm planning on adding a shrimp this weekend (once I firm up the plumbing) to start the cycle. My question is, because everything is dead - how can I be sure that I have enough bacteria built up to have good biofiltration? Is there a way to check this? I've read a few things about adding another ammonia source once you think the cycle is done and seeing where your ammonia and nitrites read? Is that the correct approach or should I just assume that once I'm done cycling it will be good to go? Is there a better way to check this?

Also - I added water already but haven't added the shrimp and I'm only running the tank while I'm home because I don't really trust the plumbing yet and my skimmer needs to be raised a couple of inches. I'm planning on getting this done on Saturday. Since I'm new to mixing my own water, the water is reading at 40ppt for salt. (I screwed up a bit on the first batch) Should I lower this before I start the cycle or will bacteria still thrive at that salinity?

[jrozzi]

once your tank cycles and the biological filtration is established there is no need to check with an additional ammonia source all you are doing is raising your nitrates by doing that. If you are patient just wait till your ammonia and nitrites are 0 then add fish slowly adding them slowly will give your biological filtration time to adjust accordingly.

[JoelA7]

Best way IMO is to use plain ammonia. Careful it must have no additives like surfactants etc. See other threads for sourcing but I got it at a true value hardware.

Add enough until the tank measures 2ppm. Then test until it is zero. Do again. After about 4 go rounds start testing nitrite. When 2ppm will process to zero in 24 hours and your nitrite is also zero you are cycled. Nitrate will be sky high. Water change to drop nitrate and slowly start to add your livestock.

[Titans_Reef]

I just started to cycle my 40g breeder 2 weeks ago and my ammonia is finally at 0 while my nitrites are off the charts. All I used was 60lbs of live sand, 45lbs of dry rock, some "grunge" (nasty mud from the bottom of my LFS LR holding tank", a pinch of food, and SeaChem Stability for a week. If you put in the shrimp (I'm guessing a table shrimp), add some bacteria after to help it cycle. I use SeaChem Stability. The way I tell if my tank is fully cycled is I keep testing every day or two to see where my levels are at. Once the levels are at 0 for ammonia and nitrite but you see nitrate, it means it is done. Just do a water change to bring down the nitrates and you should be able to add a fish. After adding a fish, I usually add some SeaChem stability to help the bacteria and also test my ammonia and nitrite levels for another week to make sure everything is going well. I keep my tanks salinity around 31-34 ppt (1.023-1.024). IMO I would lower your salinity down. Even when I cycle my tanks, I try to keep at that level from the start so I know everything I add after the cycle will do fine.

[shesacharmer]

I have run my tank at 1.025 from the start. I feel like it gives me the safest margin of error for my inhabitants in case of an ATO problem. It just gives me more chance to catch the problem. And if you don't have an ATO yet then it is even more important to not exceed parameters before top off.

[thegrun]

Adding either a shrimp or pure ammonia is all you need to do. The bacteria is airborne, you don't need to add anything else. I would lower your salinity to 1.025.

[tmz]

1.0264 is the average for seawater . 1.025 is ok . I prefer 1.026 to 1.027.

I also prefer using a bit of decomposing fish food vs pure ammonia which is only a nitrogen source;particularly so in tanks without phosphorous sources for the ammonia oxidizing bacteria ,like barren qt tanks.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20220792

[sanderson2]

Thanks for all the input. I'll get my salinity down to 1.025 and go from there.

[sanderson2]

Another question - cycling tank. Ammonia is around 1 ppm maybe a little more and nitrites are around 4 ppm. I checked my nitrates and they seem to be around 100 ppm (API test kit) - is that normal for them to read that high? I'm cycling dry rock/dry sand - maybe it's just normal or the test is acting funny because there's still a lot of nitrite and ammonia in the water?

Any input on this?

[Titans_Reef]

Originally Posted by sanderson2

Another question - cycling tank. Ammonia is around 1 ppm maybe a little more and nitrites are around 4 ppm. I checked my nitrates and they seem to be around 100 ppm (API test kit) - is that normal for them to read that high? I'm cycling dry rock/dry sand - maybe it's just normal or the test is acting funny because there's still a lot of nitrite and ammonia in the water?

Any input on this?

It is normal. When I cycled my 40g breeder, it cycled in 2 weeks with live sand and dry rock. My nitrates at the end was off the charts which the only thing I added to cycle was the mud from my LFS LR holding tanks plus SeaChem Stability. It took me 2 WC in 2 weeks to lower it down under 5ppm but I was doing 50% at a time since nothing was inside the take other then the bacteria. Pretty soon your going to see no ammonia and the no nitrites. Your tank is cycling and it is almost done so I would just leave it alone and not add anything else other then topping off water until everything is at 0 but nitrates.

[sanderson2]

Thanks for your response. I read somewhere that you can get a higher nitrate reading if your nitrites are high too... so hopefully once everything drops the nitrates will read a bit lower. I'll still plan on a big water change or two at the end though.