Day 6 and I'm losing my marbles waiting for the cycle!

[oldpaddy]

I'm going to need more nitrite test solution by next week lol
Day 6, .25 ammonia and goose egg nitrites. How am I going to make it another 3 weeks+????

Here's my setup:
80gal tank
NSW
Approx 4" substrate
Seaclone 100 protein skimmer
BRS dual reactors
50 lbs base rock from reefrocks.net
2 lbs liverock from petco, which included 2 hermit crabs, baby snails, worms, and bristle worms
6x54w T5 lights- 3 antic on 5:30am, 3 10k on at 7:30, 10k off at 4:30pm, antic off and 9pm. Blue led moon lights on from 9pm- midnight
2x 800gph cheap wave makers.

Brown algae started in yesterday morning or the night before. Tank got real cloudy around the same time. Reactors came in yesterday, hooked them up and today the tank is almost clear. Hermit crabs appear to be doing good.

[wooden_reefer]

There is not much in cycling. It is the easiest part of the hobby. It is critical but easy.

The is no escaping doing many tests when one cycles for the first time; curiosity has to prevail.

I generally do only two tests during the whole cycle, two nitrite test, and then one nitrate test at the end for a reef DT.

There is no need to test for ammonia because the min is what you have added.

I am patient and don't mind waiting a few days longer. Only if you can't bear waiting a couple of extra needless days do you have to do many tests.

Often the QT procedure takes longer so cycling the DT is not the travel light.

[3dees]

what are you cycling with. did you add a piece of shrimp? cuc is not good in an un-cycled tank. skimmer and reactor are not needed during the cycle. lighting schedule is not needed. just a little light is plenty.

[oldpaddy]

I started the cycle by adding the 2 lbs of liverock. I didn't purposely buy the hermit crabs, they hitchhiked a ride with the liverock. To be honest, they scared the **** out of me when I found them lol.
I've been testing for nitrites 3+ times a day since I saw the algae taking hold. I can't help myself, I've got a sickness. I spend good chunks of time watching the sand blow around and the hermit crabs, worms, ect. My wife and kids think I'm nuts lol
But I'm enjoying myself

[ReefsandGeeks]

I cycled my tank with a pair of clowns (before I knew about fishless cycling) and it took 6 weeks for my nitrite to fall to near 0. Ammonia lasted a few days if I remember right, but for me the bacteria that consume nitrite are significantly slower to multiply. I even added a couple different brands of starter bacteria to try to kick things off out of frustration. Just need patiance, even though looking at the pretty empty tank every day and looking at everything you can marine related, as I'm sure we all do especialy with a new tank, is a big test of your patiance.

Your tank will finish it's cycle in time and your livestock will thank you for it.

[ShannyG]

I feel your pain. and yes, budget for lots of testing chemicals because even once your tank is cycled you'll be testing it constantly 'just to be sure'.

[explorer07]

Do yourself a favor and order better wave makers. It will save you a headache. I replace 2 with one jebao wp25 and could not be happier.

[Hojo220]

Like you, I sit staring at my tank waiting for it to cycle, my wife thinks I'm nuts. Patience is wearing thin, yet as we all know patience is key in this hobby. Good Luck, hope your cycles Soon!

[gbru316]

Step 1: Take a deep breath.
Step 2: Go outside and enjoy fall.
Step 3: Come back in 3 weeks after finding a renewed sense of balance.

You'll never be able to maintain that level of enthusiasm in a hobby that is more of an exercise in patience than anything else, and it may end up being detrimental to your tank if you can't resist the urge to change, tweak, add, or modify things.

[Billybatz9]

I think I'm losing my marbles buying everything I need for my saltwater tank.

[oldpaddy]

I'm glad I'm not alone! I'm watching a hermit crab and a bunch of tiny bristle worms eat right now.
I think the reactors must be working, tank is clear and the diatom outbreak has stopped in its tracks.
Explorer, good stuff is down the road. Right now it's cheapo city. I plan on slowly upgrading everything in the future. I couldn't spend too much right now, happy wife, happy life...

[Pomacanthus1]

Patience + knowledge = success in this hobby. A pile of money doesn't hurt, either.

Sounds like you're doing good so far. First thing I would upgrade in the future would be that skimmer, though. As someone that also started with a mediocre skimmer, upgrading to a more powerful skimmer makes a world of difference in helping to reduce algae outbreaks,allowing you to keep more demanding corals, and many other benefits.

[explorer07]

Yhea I know what you mean. Lol, I buy first than beg for forgiveness later. Half the time she doesn't even notice. I bought the cheap stuff to at first, then I realized it was not worth the fish, coral, our my time for those cheap things to fail me. It does not have to be super expensive but one thing it does demand is patience and a level head.

[Billybatz9]

Originally Posted by explorer07

Yhea I know what you mean. Lol, I buy first than beg gor forgiveness later. Half the time she doesn't even notice.

Until that one day...

*lights go out"
Wife: Honey, did you pay the light bill?
You: See what had happened was... I bought a skimmer, carbon, purigen, carbon reactor, chemi pure elite, water test kits, realized the previous skimmer sucked so I bought a better skimmer, bought some new fish, added some corals, decided I wanted prettier corals, so bought some LED lighting for those corals, dimmers for the leds, realized the new corals needed more flow, so I bought 4 new powerheads and timere and controllers for those, and another important thing for the fish tank that I can't remember now because you are yelling at me. I thought you wouldn't notice. But as for the light bill goes, No, I did not pay for it, we can't afford it this month.
Wife: Are you serious? Then how is your fish tank up and running still?
You: Oh yeah, that reminds me what the last important thing that I bought was. A Vortex ZX700 Double Chamber Reactor with a 700hz Turbo Boost electiral output Electrical Backup Generator for my fish tank in case something like this happens. Duh!

I tend to have a stupid crazy imagination. lol Sorry for my corny joke.

[oldpaddy]

Yeah, the cheap skimmer is working, but I don't expect much out of it. I bought everything cheap, and I'm actually pleasantly surprised that it's all working. Maybe not working great and a little noisy, but working non the less.
My wife notices and hears everything. I can't get a damn thing past her.

[MMacro]

My tank took over two months to fully cycle.

[oldpaddy]

Originally Posted by Billybatz9

Until that one day...

*lights go out"
Wife: Honey, did you pay the light bill?
You: See what had happened was... I bought a skimmer, carbon, purigen, carbon reactor, chemi pure elite, water test kits, realized the previous skimmer sucked so I bought a better skimmer, bought some new fish, added some corals, decided I wanted prettier corals, so bought some LED lighting for those corals, dimmers for the leds, realized the new corals needed more flow, so I bought 4 new powerheads and timere and controllers for those, and another important thing for the fish tank that I can't remember now because you are yelling at me. I thought you wouldn't notice. But as for the light bill goes, No, I did not pay for it, we can't afford it this month.
Wife: Are you serious? Then how is your fish tank up and running still?
You: Oh yeah, that reminds me what the last important thing that I bought was. A Vortex ZX700 Double Chamber Reactor with a 700hz Turbo Boost electiral output Electrical Backup Generator for my fish tank in case something like this happens. Duh!

I tend to have a stupid crazy imagination. lol Sorry for my corny joke.

Ha! Too funny!

[oldpaddy]

Originally Posted by Reeferplax

My tank took over two months to fully cycle.

I'm going to pretend you didn't say that.

[oldpaddy]

Just saw a brownish or greenish thing that kind of looks like a worm. Maybe 1/2" long and thick. This is the 2nd time I've seen it since I added the liverock. I thought it might have been hermit crab ****, but it moved. First time I saw it, it was being blown around the sand bed. Today it was being swept around in the water until it disappeared in some base rock. I wonder what it is.

[wooden_reefer]

Originally Posted by oldpaddy

I'm going to pretend you didn't say that.

Actually a stylized and characteristic cycle almost always take about 4-5 weeks.

"Cycle" has a certain meaning due to history, long before reef tanks.

It refers to nitrite peaking and dropping, due to lead lag in bacteria population when the starting point is almost no bacteria but just some minute amounts of bacterial seeds and then sudden strong ammonia.

Alternatively, nitrification bacteria can grow to enormous numbers without a "cycle".

Only non-standard procedure that leads to greater nitrification takes longer. For example, if ammonia is on and off during the first stage, the cycle can appear to take longer.

I am not referring to complete microbe development in a reef tank, just nitrification, which is what cycling means traditionally per definition (and per certain significance such as cycling for QT).

Yes, patience is important but one has to know what to wait for and when to expect.

[explorer07]

That is funny lol. I guess I have one of those oblivious wifes. She sees the box and asks( what's that)?.
I say it's a box and show her the skimmer and she goes ( ohhh that's nice) and I say yhea the other one sucked. Lol, then i say see that nasty stuff? This cleans it. Then we are all good.

[Billybatz9]

Originally Posted by explorer07

That is funny lol. I guess I have one of those oblivious wifes. She sees the box and asks( what's that)?.
I say it's a box and show her the skimmer and she goes ( ohhh that's nice) and I say yhea the other one sucked. Lol, then i say see that nasty stuff? This cleans it. Then we are all good.

Lmao. Anything is okay for the wives as long as it cleans

[Billybatz9]

It's funny how no fish will survive in a water cycle, except for the crap we don't want in our tank like that brown worm lol

[oldpaddy]

Originally Posted by Billybatz9

Lmao. Anything is okay for the wives as long as it cleans

That's how I got away with buying the reactors lol

Maybe my mystery worm is in fact **** after all lol

[oldpaddy]

Nitrites- 0.0
Killing me!!!!