Nitrogen Cycle Issues

A cycle, as I understand it, is nothing more or less than growing a colony of bacteria large enough to handle the biological load you are putting on it. If the rock was at least partly cured, and the shrimp totally decayed, then all the short time span says to me is that there was plenty of bacteria available to break down the biological load being placed on the system.

When I only had rock, I still "fed" the tank some flakes every day to keep the bacteria alive and ready for livestock. This is why you need time in between each addition of livestock....so that the bacteria had time to colonize to handle a little larger bio load and so on and so forth.

So I don't think the short cycle is a problem....IMHO ;D

 

Well that would make me wonder were all that bacteria came from in such a short time?

 

From the Live Rock.....

 

I nearly missed the cycle on my tank because I took my rock from an established setup, and put it right into mine. 80 lbs LR, probably 75 lbs Live sand and 1 Dottyback. Very little die off and plenty of established bacteria in the LR.

 

+ your 75lbs of live sand

This just seems like an very fast cycle to me but I guess I am out numbered

Please read this

http://www.reeftanker.com/Tank Cycling.htm

 

True, I did have the LS as well....

" As you gain experience, you will find that you can "instantly" set up a fully cycled tank by using water/substrate/liverock/bio-filtration from an established tank. Don't confuse this method with a brand new tank, brand new water, brand new rock, etc."

Quote from the article....is pretty much what I did.

Good article too. Now I had done this before sooooo...

It is also important to make sure you feed the LR to keep the colonies of beneficial bacteria alive!!!

Plus each system is different....It certainly would not hurt to add more shrimp to be sure! I am not trying to argue but just adding my experience!

 

OK everyone...thanks a lot for the help!  Sorry I havent been around to be active in the convo, but I just wanted to let ya know that I had the 4" DSB (CaribSea Sugar/Select mix) in the tank for about a week before I put the LR in, however, I was not checking the levels at that time!

I am going to try and add another Jumbo shrimp and go from there...I would hate to put a fish at risk!  Let me know if you have anymore tips!

Thanks,
Mike

 

Is the 4" sand bed all Caribbean Sea live sand? If it is that would explain the fast cycle and that was the reason I asked what you had for a substrate

 

No...it isnt live at all...it is just the Aragamax Sugar Sized and Select Sand (non-live aragonite)!!! Hasent been seeded or anything!

 

[quote author=fletch link=board=Newbie;num=1098569059;start=0#8 date=10/23/04 at 19:08:05]

When did he set the tank up?
[/quote]

John,

I think he wrote the tank was set up 1 week before adding the rock

John