cycling tank

+1. The rock is going to produce die-off which will start a cycle. Doesn't matter if its just live, fully cured, from another tank, etc. Depending on how "cured" it is will change the cycle time, but it will still cycle.
You're going to have to get rock in there before you even start to think of the tank as begining to cycle

 

So the Ultra Clear is just a way to "start Up " problems ? I understand what you are saying I think....The store bought chemical products will start it up faster...but the natural system will continue and you will fight getting a natural balance ? Thus having to continually buy chemicals to maintain a " store bought balance "....whihc in turn is an unhealthy balance.

Correct ??

Sorry don't want to high-jack a thread, but it still pertains to the cycling info

 

Your pretty much right. Plus who knows how long the LFS has had the product on the shelf. Since the whole store bought bacteria relies on the bacteria still being alive in the bottle. Try to go as natural as you can, yes you will need suppliments and so forth, but when it comes to cycling, just try to go natural, save your money. Takes more time, but in the end itll be correct.

 

Basically during cycle you want the ammonia and nitrites to naturally "spike". Adding chemicals to neutralize defeats the whole cycle process. The ammonia and nitrite rise means the beneficial bacteria is properly growing. After it has enough to consume it's own ammonia and nitrites the cycle is considered complete.
If you add live rock after the cycle ...add a little at a time and keep watch on the parameters. If you add too much it will cause more bacteria to grow too fast thus starting another mini cycle.

 

That's right.. bacteria can't live in a bottle all that long. It depends on how fresh it is. I've never heard of Ultra clear so I'm not sure what it is , but if it is a bacteria in a bottle the disregard my other post.. it won't really hurt anything , but probably not really worth paying money for. I used some Stability during my cycle and it seem to make the cycle go really fast ... but it's hard to say for sure if it really did anything. My opinion is it isn't necessary and you don't want it to go too fast anyway. Even if the cycle completes fast it's best to wait weeks to really start adding livestock.

 

ok i will let u know

 

i just want to reconfirm, i started my cycle last Sunday with LR about 25lbs and 40lbs of LS in a 55 gallon. i have 2 emperor 400 filters, do i need to keep all 8 filters in the system? i heard that its not necc. can someone clear this up for me? also my salt level is at 1.022 and i added the shells only of 2 shrimp not the entire shrimp, should i take the shells out and replace with entire shrimp? when should i test the water for amonia, ph, nitrite and nitrate.

 

don't run any of your filters during the cycle it will just slow it down. shells may be fine but whole shrimp works. You just need to get some ammonia to start the process

 

dont run any filters? really? i didnt read any of that on any of these forums to be honest with you...

 

My 150 took about 6 weeks to really finish cycling--you should see a brown diatom algae bloom toward the end of the cycle--after that goes away you should be safe