Cycling a tank with a Damsel. Good or bad? - Page 2

cheeks69 · 03/02/2006, 07:38 PM

Quote:

I've missed a few times and hit my hands with urine -- never stung too bad. If it did I'd surely be right down at the clinic.

Well I don't know maybe I'm exagerating but if you swam in urine for 4 weeks possibly you'd think differently ?

Alaskan Reefer · 03/02/2006, 07:43 PM

Swimmiming in pure urine, yes that would be a problem. In a concentration of maybe 1/10mL (not sure how much a clownfish urinates, but I know his bladder isn't too big) to 75 gallons? Probably not. After the first time, you'd be cycling so the ammonia content wouldn't build up over 4 weeks.

I've peed in the pool before. Even the ones without chlorine.

cheeks69 · 03/02/2006, 07:46 PM

You made your point I did exagerate ! I'm only saying that cycling with fish is unnecessary and since ammonia is very toxic to fish why not use an alternate method ???

Quote:

I've peed in the pool before. Even the ones without chlorine

You should be ashamed of yourself

Alaskan Reefer · 03/02/2006, 07:48 PM

hahahahaha

I was the only one swimming. Now that I think about it I need a shower. LOL.

Alaskan Reefer · 03/02/2006, 07:54 PM

Back to the topic at hand, though, having more knowledge and more experience than when I put my Nemo (yes, it's the kid's fault, I would have named him Gunther) into the tank, I would never do that again. In fact, my next tank will have 3+ months of cycling before I ever put any fish in. I want to see the growth of microflora and microfauna from some quality live rock from the very beginning -- without fish and corals to mess it up.

What I wish I could say to every new reefer about cycling is "it's no big deal as long as you have clean, fully cycled, and cooked live rock, dry clean sand, a $700 needlewheel skimmer, tons of flow (more accurately Tunze of flow), and tons of chaetomorpha in a refugium from day one," because that would be true. A tank cycles nice and smooth under those conditions (like my current one). Unfortunately, that's just not realistic. My livestock all survived my rushed move here a couple months ago just fine -- and I never could detect any ammonia, nitrite, or nitrate in the tank. Still can't. If you really overdrive the filtration relative to the amount of nutrients in the system, anything is possible -- even cycling a brand new tank on the fly...

jjmg · 03/02/2006, 08:00 PM

I'm in the hobby to keep as much alive as I can. I have used small fish for bait so that doesn't really bother me a bit. But I pay good money for rock that I want to keep as much life as possible on. If you need to add a shrimp to get ammonia readings the rock is cycled already or so dead you will know it.

I put the rock in and test the water daily and keep the ammonia and nitrites/nitrates as low as possible by using water changes till they reach 0 to keep as much life as possible alive on the rock. I don't know of any timetable for this. The test kits will tell you.

Then you can SLOWLY begin adding other live critters. I like to find out what came in on my rock/sand, not kill off everything by trying to rush the cycle. JMHO.

Alaskan Reefer · 03/02/2006, 08:06 PM

JJMG -- good suggestions for sure. Water changes during a cycle should slow it down, but should keep more stuff alive. You could also put macroalgae in new system somewhere to really help continuously cut ammonia / nitrite / nitrate during the cycle. I have to think that macroalgae is part of why my brand new tank did so well cycling on the fly.

chrisbenavides · 03/03/2006, 01:13 AM

Well I have been learning a lot and I guess laughing at the weird humor in this thread....but overall thanks for responding...

Alaskan Reefer · 03/03/2006, 02:16 AM

So, um do the questions need to be asked about the new trend toward salt water hotel pools?

Do they have skimmers? EWWWWWW

03/02/2006, 07:43 PM	#27
Alaskan Reefer Registered Member Join Date: Oct 2003 Location: Eagle River, Alaska Posts: 2,360	Swimmiming in pure urine, yes that would be a problem. In a concentration of maybe 1/10mL (not sure how much a clownfish urinates, but I know his bladder isn't too big) to 75 gallons? Probably not. After the first time, you'd be cycling so the ammonia content wouldn't build up over 4 weeks. I've peed in the pool before. Even the ones without chlorine. __________________ Unattended children will be given double shot espresso and a free puppy. Current Tank Info: 125g FOWLR -- Conversion Back To SPS In Progress

03/02/2006, 07:48 PM	#29
Alaskan Reefer Registered Member Join Date: Oct 2003 Location: Eagle River, Alaska Posts: 2,360	hahahahaha I was the only one swimming. Now that I think about it I need a shower. LOL. __________________ Unattended children will be given double shot espresso and a free puppy. Current Tank Info: 125g FOWLR -- Conversion Back To SPS In Progress

03/02/2006, 07:54 PM	#30
Alaskan Reefer Registered Member Join Date: Oct 2003 Location: Eagle River, Alaska Posts: 2,360	Back to the topic at hand, though, having more knowledge and more experience than when I put my Nemo (yes, it's the kid's fault, I would have named him Gunther) into the tank, I would never do that again. In fact, my next tank will have 3+ months of cycling before I ever put any fish in. I want to see the growth of microflora and microfauna from some quality live rock from the very beginning -- without fish and corals to mess it up. What I wish I could say to every new reefer about cycling is "it's no big deal as long as you have clean, fully cycled, and cooked live rock, dry clean sand, a $700 needlewheel skimmer, tons of flow (more accurately Tunze of flow), and tons of chaetomorpha in a refugium from day one," because that would be true. A tank cycles nice and smooth under those conditions (like my current one). Unfortunately, that's just not realistic. My livestock all survived my rushed move here a couple months ago just fine -- and I never could detect any ammonia, nitrite, or nitrate in the tank. Still can't. If you really overdrive the filtration relative to the amount of nutrients in the system, anything is possible -- even cycling a brand new tank on the fly... __________________ Unattended children will be given double shot espresso and a free puppy. Current Tank Info: 125g FOWLR -- Conversion Back To SPS In Progress

03/02/2006, 08:06 PM	#32
Alaskan Reefer Registered Member Join Date: Oct 2003 Location: Eagle River, Alaska Posts: 2,360	JJMG -- good suggestions for sure. Water changes during a cycle should slow it down, but should keep more stuff alive. You could also put macroalgae in new system somewhere to really help continuously cut ammonia / nitrite / nitrate during the cycle. I have to think that macroalgae is part of why my brand new tank did so well cycling on the fly. __________________ Unattended children will be given double shot espresso and a free puppy. Current Tank Info: 125g FOWLR -- Conversion Back To SPS In Progress

03/03/2006, 01:13 AM	#33
chrisbenavides Registered Member Join Date: Sep 2005 Location: Laredo, TX Posts: 1,897	Well I have been learning a lot and I guess laughing at the weird humor in this thread....but overall thanks for responding... __________________ ChrisBenavides Current Tank Info: 55g sw tank, Remora skimmer, powerfilter, 260w PC lights, 50 pounds live rock, 100 pounds sand, etc.... \| Seahorse Tank (3 H. Kuda, 2 Pep.) 30g tall, skimmer, 130w PC lights, HOB Penguin filter, 30 pounds Fiji and Tonga branch l.r., 4 inch sand bed.

03/02/2006, 08:00 PM	#31
jjmg Registered Member Join Date: Jun 2003 Location: Pensacola, Fl Posts: 1,897	I'm in the hobby to keep as much alive as I can. I have used small fish for bait so that doesn't really bother me a bit. But I pay good money for rock that I want to keep as much life as possible on. If you need to add a shrimp to get ammonia readings the rock is cycled already or so dead you will know it. I put the rock in and test the water daily and keep the ammonia and nitrites/nitrates as low as possible by using water changes till they reach 0 to keep as much life as possible alive on the rock. I don't know of any timetable for this. The test kits will tell you. Then you can SLOWLY begin adding other live critters. I like to find out what came in on my rock/sand, not kill off everything by trying to rush the cycle. JMHO.

03/03/2006, 02:16 AM	#34
Alaskan Reefer Registered Member Join Date: Oct 2003 Location: Eagle River, Alaska Posts: 2,360	So, um do the questions need to be asked about the new trend toward salt water hotel pools? Do they have skimmers? EWWWWWW __________________ Unattended children will be given double shot espresso and a free puppy. Current Tank Info: 125g FOWLR -- Conversion Back To SPS In Progress