Trying to avoid a cycle on a new tank..

Hey everyone -

I'm starting up a bare bottom 20g for breeding purposes, and I was under the impression that by initially filling it 1/4 full with water from my old tank and 3/4 full with new saltwater I could avoid a cycle. However, after filling the tank and letting it sit overnight, the ammonia level is at 1.5ppm.

I haven't put any food or fish in the tank, and I'm confused as to where the ammonia came from? Am I just being an idiot and forgetting something big?

Thanks

 

what type of filtration do you have on it? Any organic matter in the old water will will begin to decay releasing ammonia. Add a few pounds of liverock and it should help process the waste out pretty quick.

 

do you have any rock in the tank? or anything other than just water?

 

you need more then just old water, you need Live rock, sand etc that has the bacteria that is essential to break down that ammonia.

 

Well, I might have actually answered my own question. I was racking my brain trying to figure out where this NH3 came from, and the only possibility I could figure is that I did not use enough Prime to detox my tap water (which I think I may have done). So, I checked my tap water, and it came out to about 2ppm NH3. I suppose I'll add some more prime and see what happens.

 

There is nothing in the tank other than a HOB filter, heater, and flowerpot. I really don't want anything else in there to make cleaning it easier. I plan on feeding these fish massive amounts daily and will be doing frequent water changes to keep up with the waste. I guess I just didn't expect the ammonia to shoot up so high with that little of old water.

 

The more educated folks can correct me, but this seems like a very bad idea.

I don't believe that the bacteria needed to correctly cycle your tank will travel in the water column. This can only be introduced through live rock, sand or sometimes used filter media.

It sounds to me like you're essentially introducing nothing into your new system. Prime's a temporary fix; your Ammonia will likely go right back up immediately upon the addition of any organics. Worse still, without any sort of cycle, all that waste will just sit in your tank. My experience with freshwater was that you can have ammonia levels wipe out a tank in as few as 36 hours. I don't imagine saltwater is appreciably different (hasn't been thus far). Unless you intend to do daily water changes, that massive feeding will kill everything off. That seems far more difficult than just cycling the tank.

Without a whole lot more than you're presently doing, it would seem that you're going to burn through fry and possibly breeding pairs.

 

Yeah, you need some rocks, sand, bioballs or something for the bacteria to grow on to eat the ammonia.

 

I've got some bioballs running in the HOB filter, along with some phosban and carbon, and am planning on doing daily water changes to combat the waste accumulation. I've met breeders with this type of setup going on, and coupled with daily water changes I believe the tank should be able to handle this load...maybe not.

 

So why not put in a DSB? That would give you a place in the tank to allow beneficial bacteria to grow without making it difficult to clean. Heck, throw some live rock rubble into your HOB instead of the bio-balls.

I guess I'm just trying to figure out why you wouldn't want a cycle if there's a way to get it without creating more work.

It's seems that providing non-obtrusive places for the bacteria to thrive would be far more beneficial than simply trying to eliminate the bacteria altogether. At that point you're in a constant state of 'new tank syndrome' and it seems to me like that would be a very bad breeding environment.

Take it for what it's worth.