Time to start a CUC?

jerrodm · 07/11/2013, 06:37 AM

Hello all, sorry for posting so much, but this community is a great wealth of knowledge!

I have been reading stickies, and I see that people say add a CUC when you are done cycling. But the problem is that I don't see ANYTHING for a CUC to eat. I don't have a single shred of algae in my tank (not complaining, it's actually quite appealing) or any livestock. I want to establish a good CUC before I start introducing any kind of livestock. Is it better to get a CUC when I get a my first fish out of quarantine and into the DT? Or will me installing some chaeto in my empty fuge potentially give some hermits and snails something to eat?

thegrun · 07/11/2013, 06:50 AM

I would start slow with very a small CUC but if you are running your lights algae will start to grow, and staying on top of algae before it becomes a problem is important.

jerrodm · 07/11/2013, 09:38 AM

Ah that might explain why I haven't seen any algae at all, I have had no lights on the tank whatsoever during the cycle. I've heard so many arguments for having lights on or off and I wasn't sure which, but I wanted things cycled nicely before I added lights.

thegrun · 07/11/2013, 09:45 AM

If the tank is going to sit without any livestock for a few weeks I would start ghost feeding it a daily small pinch of dry flake fish food to feed the bacteria, otherwise their numbers will slowly decline from a lack of food and you rish starting a new cycle when you add fish. After you start adding food a small CUC should be added.

jerrodm · 07/11/2013, 11:52 AM

thegrun - that sounds like a good plan. My cycle wasn't as complete as I had originally thought - with 1 ppm of ammonia, all my parameters were at 0 the next day. When I accidently overdosed to 6 ppm, the ammonia went down after 2 days but I'm still reading around 5 ppm of nitrites. Could this be because there was less bacteria when I was dosing 1 ppm and now it's going to take longer with the bigger ammonia source?

07/11/2013, 06:37 AM	#1
jerrodm Registered Member Join Date: Feb 2013 Posts: 85	Time to start a CUC? Hello all, sorry for posting so much, but this community is a great wealth of knowledge! I have been reading stickies, and I see that people say add a CUC when you are done cycling. But the problem is that I don't see ANYTHING for a CUC to eat. I don't have a single shred of algae in my tank (not complaining, it's actually quite appealing) or any livestock. I want to establish a good CUC before I start introducing any kind of livestock. Is it better to get a CUC when I get a my first fish out of quarantine and into the DT? Or will me installing some chaeto in my empty fuge potentially give some hermits and snails something to eat?

07/11/2013, 06:50 AM	#2
thegrun Registered Member Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: Garden Grove, Ca Posts: 17,023	I would start slow with very a small CUC but if you are running your lights algae will start to grow, and staying on top of algae before it becomes a problem is important.

07/11/2013, 09:38 AM	#3
jerrodm Registered Member Join Date: Feb 2013 Posts: 85	Ah that might explain why I haven't seen any algae at all, I have had no lights on the tank whatsoever during the cycle. I've heard so many arguments for having lights on or off and I wasn't sure which, but I wanted things cycled nicely before I added lights.

07/11/2013, 09:45 AM	#4
thegrun Registered Member Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: Garden Grove, Ca Posts: 17,023	If the tank is going to sit without any livestock for a few weeks I would start ghost feeding it a daily small pinch of dry flake fish food to feed the bacteria, otherwise their numbers will slowly decline from a lack of food and you rish starting a new cycle when you add fish. After you start adding food a small CUC should be added.

07/11/2013, 11:52 AM	#5
jerrodm Registered Member Join Date: Feb 2013 Posts: 85	thegrun - that sounds like a good plan. My cycle wasn't as complete as I had originally thought - with 1 ppm of ammonia, all my parameters were at 0 the next day. When I accidently overdosed to 6 ppm, the ammonia went down after 2 days but I'm still reading around 5 ppm of nitrites. Could this be because there was less bacteria when I was dosing 1 ppm and now it's going to take longer with the bigger ammonia source?