New Tank Cycle Advice

[Jon M]

Started up a 30g project tank roughly two months ago? First time doing the sw thing.

Filters running. Powerhead running. Lights on a schedule. Have dry rock in there. Honestly don't remember how much I ordered. Roughly between 15-20lbs I recall. Aragonite style I believe?

Mixed w/ instant ocean salt. (not the reef kind) (seachem primed first) Added a whole raw shrimp when I got it all setup. It's been going maybe a little less than 2 months, or right at 2 months.

7/19 salinity .025, pH 8.0, ammonia around 1.5-2 nitrite maybe 2ish and nitrate 5-10ish?

let it go a while longer. Last night I did a 5 gallon water change and removed what was left of the decayed shrimp. I kept it in a 4oz cup with holes in it so it didn't make a mess.

Retested water today

7/29 (kinda hard to see so I included pics but here's what I'm roughly seeing) salinity .024 pH 7.8 ammonia 1-2ish nitrite .25 nitrate 5.0.

So I've never had any issues cycling w/ the raw shrimp on my fw tanks but this is pretty new to me. My thoughts were consistent 4-5 gallon wc every couple days to try to stabilize the perimeters and get rid of the ammonia and nitrites?

It's okay that there's nothing in there "feeding" the bb since I removed the shrimp right? I believe I read somewhere it takes weeks/months for the bb colony to die off from lack of "food" so I shouldn't have to worry about that, right?...

So, I also considered something like this (which I've never used) bio spira

Advice on my next move so I can start adding some cuc?

 

[Jon M]

Damn. Nothing, eh? I thought the sw parts might be a bit ghost townish but thought maybe there were a few sw fellas over here. Anyways, I tested again today and it's still light ammonia nitrites and nitrates so I purchased some bio spira on Amazon and gonna see if that can stabilize the water.

 

[anitstuk123]

What are you thinking to stock it with?

 

[tlindsey]

Damn. Nothing, eh? I thought the sw parts might be a bit ghost townish but thought maybe there were a few sw fellas over here. Anyways, I tested again today and it's still light ammonia nitrites and nitrates so I purchased some bio spira on Amazon and gonna see if that can stabilize the water.

Never used the product Bio Spira. You will need to continue to supply food to the bacteria. Your parameters were peaking in the first pic so that's good. I didn't respond earlier due to being out of Saltwater fishkeeping for years.

 

[TUCCI]

Yeah me too…..last marine tank I had was around the late 90s…..I never did one that small scale but from what I recall everything is going well….you def need to keep a food source going (ammonia) all the way till it cycles and then immediately put as specimen in there or you’ll break the cycle. Once the ammonia source stops the bacteria will starve and die off. I don’t think the going for a couple months before the bacteria dies off is correct?

 

[The Morning]

When I set up my saltwater tank I dosed it with Tim’s bacteria and added a few blue leg hermit crabs about a week after set up. Left it go for about 3 weeks and all of the numbers were in line and two of the crabs are still alive.

 

[Jon M]

What are you thinking to stock it with?

Honestly, no idea. I originally wanted to do a clown fish w/ a bta because I think the lil partnership is just really cool, but the more I get into this, the more worried I get keeping anything like a bta is going to require some serious calculations... I know I want a large cuc cause I just like the liveliness of them all moving around. It'll have to be something that is safe for bb of course. I'm very unfamiliar with sw fish so I'd love some suggestions?

Never used the product Bio Spira. You will need to continue to supply food to the bacteria. Your parameters were peaking in the first pic so that's good. I didn't respond earlier due to being out of Saltwater fishkeeping for years.

Interesting... I was under the impression the bb colonies were okay for a prolonged amount of time and took a while to "starve." Of course I don't know this. I'm going off what I've read while just google researching. So, the reviews on the bio spira were good and I read some people that used it showed their perimeters were good to go ( 0 0 some nitrates) after dosing then waiting like 24-48 hours.

Yeah me too…..last marine tank I had was around the late 90s…..I never did one that small scale but from what I recall everything is going well….you def need to keep a food source going (ammonia) all the way till it cycles and then immediately put as specimen in there or you’ll break the cycle. Once the ammonia source stops the bacteria will starve and die off. I don’t think the going for a couple months before the bacteria dies off is correct?

Interesting. Ya, I'm not sure either. I'm just going from what I've read before. I just don't get why it's still not 0 0 and some nitrates after so long. I've cycled this way many times in fw in like 4 weeks tops. I mean the nitrogen cycle is the nitrogen cycle, sw or fw right?... I believe I'm gonna dose w/ the bio spira, and then you think it'd be a good idea to just add some cuc to be cautious about not breaking the cycle? Really not sure how hardy they are or are not.

When I set up my saltwater tank I dosed it with Tim’s bacteria and added a few blue leg hermit crabs about a week after set up. Left it go for about 3 weeks and all of the numbers were in line and two of the crabs are still alive.

So I think my plan is to dose with the bio spira (it had good reviews on amazon from people that have used it) and get a cuc in there. Are those blue leg hermit crabs pretty easy to come by in a lfs and okay for bb? (bare bottom) I have a pretty nice store about 45-50 minutes away from me, and they're all about the sw so I'm sure they have all the basic stuff far as cuc.

 

[tlindsey]

Are those blue leg hermit crabs pretty easy to come by in a lfs and okay for bb? (bare bottom) I have a pretty nice store about 45-50 minutes away from me, and they're all about the sw so I'm sure they have all the basic stuff far as cuc.

If the lfs can't get them ask Petco to special order them for you.

 

[Azedenkae]

You are correct that there is no need for anything in the tank to feed the nitrifiers ('beneficial bacteria'). Yep, they go for weeks to months ammonia-starved before even going dormant (or a similar process), let alone start to significantly die off.

Bio Spira is one of two really good bottled bac products to use for saltwater. The best one is FritzZyme TurboStart 900, and even its less concentrated counterpart, FritzZyme 9, is really good. On a forum dedicated to saltwater aquariums, this has been tested. Personally I had cycled a tank with FritzZyme TurboStart 900 in four days, and that's with targeting much higher ammonia levels than needed (closer to 8ppm, versus 1ppm that is needed).

However, you do already have nitrite, indicating there is already ammonia-oxidizers in the tank, and to be honest you would probably have nitrite-oxidizers too. So bottled bac products may not help a lot at this point in time.

 

[Jon M]

If the lfs can't get them ask Petco to special order them for you.

So I went to the lfs and change of plans. They suggested starting with a clown fish instead of the cuc first, because the clown will be more hardy. Also they said the perimeters might spike a bit when I add a fish so they suggested I add a hunk of their lr, which I did. So far the clowns doing great, and I got a fun lil hitchhiker on the lr I added. Ill test the water itself later today to see where I'm actually at.

You are correct that there is no need for anything in the tank to feed the nitrifiers ('beneficial bacteria'). Yep, they go for weeks to months ammonia-starved before even going dormant (or a similar process), let alone start to significantly die off.

Bio Spira is one of two really good bottled bac products to use for saltwater. The best one is FritzZyme TurboStart 900, and even its less concentrated counterpart, FritzZyme 9, is really good. On a forum dedicated to saltwater aquariums, this has been tested. Personally I had cycled a tank with FritzZyme TurboStart 900 in four days, and that's with targeting much higher ammonia levels than needed (closer to 8ppm, versus 1ppm that is needed).

However, you do already have nitrite, indicating there is already ammonia-oxidizers in the tank, and to be honest you would probably have nitrite-oxidizers too. So bottled bac products may not help a lot at this point in time.

That's what I thought... Ya, so when I went to the lfs they suggested I add a hunk of their lr and a clown fish. I did just that and everything seems good. I'll be testing the water later today.