cycling

Ian.g · #1 05-22-2008, 06:12 PM

ok i have my tank up and running...with just the skimmer to add and i am getting 15kg of liverock and 20kg of live coral sand on saturday plus i have added filter aid...i have a big external on my little nano tank that i have running so was thinking of taking that off of that and putting on my new 5ft system to speed things up...i am getting a test kit from my brother tomorrow or saturday to monitor everything, my question is...how long should i wait? and would it maybe be worth me getting a couple of mollies to maybe help it cycle?

telboy · #2 05-22-2008, 06:17 PM

hello ian, mollies NO, avg is 6 weeks but can take much longer i know its hard playing the waiting game, but when it comes to marines its the best thing to do, how much live rock is in the tank already? what ya got to consider is, if you add LR in bits n bobs it takes longer for the tank to mature

Ian.g · #3 05-22-2008, 06:22 PM

Thanks Tel...that is all the liverock i will have until i can buy some more next week, wow i didnt realise it would be six weeks! lol i was told by a guy at my lfs that i would get away with maybe 2-3 weeks as long as the nitrates etc are staying pretty stable, seeing as i only have the 3 small clowns and little picasso, but yeah if i gotta wait i gotta wait i guess

lol

grandad · #4 05-22-2008, 06:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ian.g

ok i have my tank up and running...with just the skimmer to add and i am getting 15kg of liverock and 20kg of live coral sand on saturday plus i have added filter aid...i have a big external on my little nano tank that i have running so was thinking of taking that off of that and putting on my new 5ft system to speed things up...i am getting a test kit from my brother tomorrow or saturday to monitor everything, my question is...how long should i wait? and would it maybe be worth me getting a couple of mollies to maybe help it cycle?

I personally would not put any fish in there , pretty cruel on the fish , and you are also introducing any diseases that they may have , and if they survive ,you have still got to get rid of them, I would put your big external on and maybe drop a food type prawn in there to get things really buzzing ( what I did with my new one was dropped in the sump of my new tank the sponges out of my filter of the 5 footer also one food type prawn also a little sand from my old tank and every thing was ready in 5 weeks and I added the first fish , and touch wood every thing has been fine and the callerpa in my sump is taking care of my nitrates which are currently 5ppm

Ian.g · #5 05-22-2008, 06:39 PM

yeah some good advice there guys thanks!...and thanks for the little tips as well grandad! thanks

grandad · #6 05-22-2008, 06:49 PM

I have two local lfs and both of them differ in when you can add fish ,one says as long as you have live rock in there drop some in straight away ,as the live rock will act as a fully matured filter,( did not go with that ), and the other one add your live rock and wait for the full cycling to finish and add fish takes about 8 weeks ,so I thought I would do it my way ( no pun about frank sinatra please ) if something works dont fix it and that way works for me.

telboy · #7 05-22-2008, 06:58 PM

ian, if you put in say the 14kg of LR + let the tank mature/cycle so that all readings are close as perfect as ya can get them, then add more live rock, youll get param spikes due to any dieoff on the LR might be small, might be big, but youll get em, also everytime you add live stock youll get the same,if it were me, id add as much LR as i could afford[dont buy fish], leave it for a week or so then start testing + do waterchanges, after 4 weeks maybe add some CUC[clean up crew] then wait another week or 2, all the while testing + doing WC, once levels are good start to add fish slowly, as i said its hard when ya see all those nice fish etc but if ya dont go to any fish shops, ya wont see all those nice fish so ya wont be tempted as easy,patience is the best way mate, being too eager can lead to probs + maybe the death of ya livestock

Ian.g · #8 05-22-2008, 07:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by telboy

ian, if you put in say the 14kg of LR + let the tank mature/cycle so that all readings are close as perfect as ya can get them, then add more live rock, youll get param spikes due to any dieoff on the LR might be small, might be big, but youll get em, also everytime you add live stock youll get the same,if it were me, id add as much LR as i could afford[dont buy fish], leave it for a week or so then start testing + do waterchanges, after 4 weeks maybe add some CUC[clean up crew] then wait another week or 2, all the while testing + doing WC, once levels are good start to add fish slowly, as i said its hard when ya see all those nice fish etc but if ya dont go to any fish shops, ya wont see all those nice fish so ya wont be tempted as easy,patience is the best way mate, being too eager can lead to probs + maybe the death of ya livestock

yeah that is the problem i have, i just cant afford to get all my liverock in one go...i need a good 60-80kg minimum ideally (from what i have been told) and i just dont have that kind of money available in one lump...so unfortunately i am going to have to just keep adding as and when i have the money....so yeah i am avoiding fish shops for now to avoid any temptation lol...i may phone my local one though and see if they will maye board the fish i have in the nano as it is going to be a loooooong wait i think until i can add any livestock and need the filter from that to add to the 5ft set up

telboy · #9 05-22-2008, 07:17 PM

another thing ian, dont waste ya cash on "live sand" how can it be live if its been in a bag on a shelf for months...get some sand + get duncan to give ya a couple handfulls of his and just add it to yours, thatll save ya few quid put it towards more LR, also if ya going fish only you wont need as much LR anyway, also [not to my taste] maybe use some ocean rock as a base like duncan has still more cash saved

Ian.g · #10 05-22-2008, 07:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by telboy

another thing ian, dont waste ya cash on "live sand" how can it be live if its been in a bag on a shelf for months...get some sand + get duncan to give ya a couple handfulls of his and just add it to yours, thatll save ya few quid put it towards more LR, also if ya going fish only you wont need as much LR anyway, also [not to my taste] maybe use some ocean rock as a base like duncan has still more cash saved

This is sand from someone shutting there tank down as is the live rock...the system is still up and running at the moment...as for liverock for fish only, how much would you suggest for my tank? its 5ftx18inx24in i made it approx 90 gallons but my working out isn`t too good lol...