A few question regarding cycle a new tank.

L

longvuong1004

Premium Member
Hello everyone,I am currently running a 40 gallon tank and the system has been stabilized after 2 months. I did cycle the tank. all the test come back at 0 or close to that. But later when I added fishes and coral, Diatom and red slim algae starts appear and it takes times and $ to get rid of them. I don't know what i did wrong there so now i am here, about to start a 60 gallon tank.?I have read some many discussions and topic regarding cycle the tank. So here is how I plan to cycle my tank, please let me know I have something incorrect so i can start to adjust or making changes:?note: I purchase the live rocks from another members which i will have to cure it.1/ Curing the rock: I put it in the basket and close the lid. only change the water once every 2 weeks. for at least 6 weeks.2/ I plan to go bottom so I plan to purchase a few liter?of?Seachem Matrix Bio Media for the bacteria to live on. Because I will not have any live rocks or sands.Skimmer: off.?Light: off3/ use pure ammonia to dose the tank till the test read 4 ppm then wait until it drops back down to 1 then dose it to increase ammonia up to 4 ppm again.?Skimmer and Light: off4/ until there is a sign if nitrate, I will turn on the skimmer. I still do not think to turn on the light until i have a very first fish or coral in there. Hopefully by the time nitrate shows up, I can put the cured live rocks in there.?Should i add any live bacteria in the beginning? Please advise. open to all suggestion.?Thanks. ?
 
You can just add an uncooked shrimp to get your cycle going, no need for ammonia. Definitely cure your rock, good plan there. You can leave your skimmer on if you want to break it in and keep your water aerated, just remove the collection cup during your cycle. Will you be using a sump? Definitely no need for lights during cycle. You can add bacteria, but not needed if you just take it slow. After cycle and you start adding fish, only add a little at a time after a 30 day quarantine for each fish. If you add too much bioload at once you will have the issues you saw before. Wait a while to add coral after you are able to keep?your parameters stable for at least a few months. Hope that helps, as this is what I have been following...
 
You can also use the uncured live rock to help cycle the tank. ?You could just use that die off to cycle the tank (and possibly add a shrimp for a couple of days into a filter sock). ?My shrimp completely dissolved in the filter sock in a few days. ?If the rock is really bad (smells horrible and you know it has a lot of death in it), you might not want to use it to help cycle. ?I am not sure there is much you can do to prevent those early on algae and cyano blooms. ?I have always had those at some point when starting a new tank. ?I think you would have to ease into it much slower than anyone ever wants to. ?I don't think they are much trouble to deal with as long as you have a good water change system setup.
 
Thank for the replies. A quick question: If I use uncooked shrimp, do I just leave it in a couple day and then take it off? if so, where will the ammonia come from to feed the bacteria after removed the shrimp? Or do I have to keep putting uncooked shirmp in there after the other one gone bad??
 
You will see the shrimp start to decay but you don't need it to fully decay. ?I let mine fully decay on accident, but I think that was because I had it in a filter sock with an overflow tube going directly into it. ?It didn't seem to cause any harm, but I did measure 20 ppm on Nitrates after my cycle was complete. ?I did a good water change and then added my first fish. ?Give it 3 days and then pull the rest. ?You are just trying to get the cycle started. ?Normally once the first cycle is complete, you would add a fish. ?If you don't plan to add fish, just start to feeding the tank a little. ?The uneaten food will continue to feed the tank until you are ready for fish.Check out this nice write-up that I used when doing mine:?Melev's Cycle with raw Shrimp
 
Here's a video about cycling that you might find helpful:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zZEnRLRQKRw
 
And here's one about cooking used live rock:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c8-t1zDwaKg&t=3s
 
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