Getting Our New Tank To Cycle

[tongthetang]

Hello

Is there any experienced marine fish keepers out there to help us?!?

We have just brought a Rena Aqualife 720 litre tank and filled it with RO water and we are trying to make the tank cycle. The set up is with a wet and dry eheim 2229 and 2 eheim 2028's and we have had the tank running for a couple of weeks now and are trying to get some ammonia readings ect to allow the filters to cycle any ideas?

We have put some ham in there! (advice from local fish shop) to decay and give off ammonia, some bacteria ( enough for the tank size) and some fish food to decay but still no joy.

The local fishkeeper suggests putting some hardy fish in there but it can be an expensive mistake, they also usually stock some aclimatised mollies for this purpose.

We have some fish waiting with another local fish shop but do not want to rush them back with dire results, the local fish owner insists the fish will not die but i cant help thinking the ammonia ect will just rocket when the fish start giving off waste.

Any advice/opinions are really appreciated.


Many Thanks


Jules

 

[afmo]

Hello

Is there any experienced marine fish keepers out there to help us?!?

We have just brought a Rena Aqualife 720 litre tank and filled it with RO water and we are trying to make the tank cycle. The set up is with a wet and dry eheim 2229 and 2 eheim 2028's and we have had the tank running for a couple of weeks now and are trying to get some ammonia readings ect to allow the filters to cycle any ideas?

We have put some ham in there! (advice from local fish shop) to decay and give off ammonia, some bacteria ( enough for the tank size) and some fish food to decay but still no joy.

The local fishkeeper suggests putting some hardy fish in there but it can be an expensive mistake, they also usually stock some aclimatised mollies for this purpose.

We have some fish waiting with another local fish shop but do not want to rush them back with dire results, the local fish owner insists the fish will not die but i cant help thinking the ammonia ect will just rocket when the fish start giving off waste.

Any advice/opinions are really appreciated.


Many Thanks


Jules

It took my tank quite a while to register an ammonia reading as well. Did you use cured Live Rock? How about live sand? If you used cured LR or both, its possible not to see an ammo spike. My LFS also said we could add hardy fish, but suggested that instead of adding fish, add a few inverts. I added 3 crabs and a snail to start off with, and after about a week, the cycle started. I'm not a big fan of the "using fish to cycle" method. Even if the fish do survive, the elevated ammonia levels can cause damage to their gills and internal organs, be an irritant and cause stress. I think i'd try adding some inverts and giving it more time.

 

[tongthetang]

Hi, thanks for reply.

We are setting up a fish only tank, so no live rock or live sand.

I have been putting stress zyme into the tank every week for the last 2 weeks, but i'm not sure if this is helping the situation, ive read that turning up the temperature can encourage the cycle, but there are no readings of anything in the tank...nitratre, nitrite or ammonia, the PH is about 8.0 and the salinity is a little on the low side. I'm keen to get it to start cycling as i'm aware it could take quite a while, i've got 2 fish in storage at LFs and am keen to get them back.

hmm....any other suggestions??

 

[Redstratplayer1]

If you want you can add some food to the tank and let it rot to start the cycle

 

[dixaisy930]

I would definately stick with a fishless cycle. Personally, I think it's cruel to intentionally subject fish to that.

Probably don't add ham. I would think that would add oil and fat to the water? Not really sure about that though. I would use the fish food instead. Add the same amount you would normally feed the fish you want to keep in there.

The stress zyme won't do anything for the cycle.

You said they gave you bacteria? Did they give you something like "bottled" bacteria, or did they give you some substrate or filter media from one of their tanks? If it's the latter, then it's possible you've "cycled" the tank already. Keep feeding it, and see what your results are.

 

[tongthetang]

I've put some food into the tank, i'll put some more in today.

I bought somehting called "Bactozym" which is in capsules and you just put them into the tank, i'm not completley sure what it is but it states to ;

"provide ideal conditions for the growth and developement of beneficial filter bacteria which naturally break down pollutants and keep your tank healty".
"reduce new tank syndrome"
"speed up filter developement"

Has anyone every herd of it? It's made by TetraAqua.

Wouldn't it be good if it has already cycled, but I really don't think it could so quickly.

 

[Miss Wiggle]

theres a lot of products like that on the market, they get very mixed reviews, some people swear by them, some don't rate them at all.

off topic but before you get too far into this I'd urge you to make some changes to your set up. Don't use standard filters, they're nitrate traps and will cause you a lot of grief in the long run, look into doing a FOWLR set up with Live Rock. Trust me it'll look better and be a million times easier to run. It's easier to do it now than to change over an already running system. Anyway just my 2 cents, have a think about it.

 

[tongthetang]

hi miss wiggle,

when u say standard filters what do you mean? at the moment we have 2 biological and the other filter is chemical mechanical, I will change when they mature but im still learing about how they work and what to put in them.

I have just ordered the skimmer (deltec mce600), and am waiting on a power head, once we start stocking we might get another externl filter. I was avoiding the LR as i plan on using copper in the tank, i've herd that copper will kill the LR, is this correct?

Just want to get everything right so the fish can be as happy and comfortable as possible.

Jules

 

[Miss Wiggle]

standard filters as in any internal or external type filters. most marine systems now use the berlin method, you have no filter at all but the LR does the filtration for you. You need a certain amount per gallon (can't remember the exact figures sorry, will look it up if i get a minute) and 20x turnover with powerheads and this does all your filtration fro you. IMO it's the best, most natural and health way to filter a marine tank.

Why were you planning on using copper? Any invertebrates and corals will be killed off and it would possibly affect the LR as well although I'm not 100% sure. If you use copper then remember your limiting what you can do with the tank in the future, you may only want fish now but if later you decide you want to branch out into corals or inverts you'll pretty much ahve to scrap everything you've bought and start again because you've used copper.

have a read of this about cycling a saltwater tank, gives some details of LR filtration as well

 

[tongthetang]

There are a couple of fish we plan on getting that aren't reef compatable, it's really down to the fish we want to keep, we had a tank which was reef and decided we would rather have a larger tank with just fish. My mum is setting up a tank the berlin method, I agree that it is the most natural way, but we never had any intentions on trying this method.

We plan on keeping angel fish, lionfish, eel, trigger fish, maroon clowns, puffer fish and the copper will help maintain good health in these fish (this is what i'm told by LFS), it's not something I plan on using weekly, in fact i'm not sure when to use it at the moment. These are the fish we so desperatley want to keep, and we are willing to sacrifice not being able to keep any type of inverts or coral to have them (not sure where the obsession came from).

I'm thinking of buying some LR, and not using the copper unless in emergencies, the LR will help the tank cycletoo, considering i'm running the external filters how much do you think would be a reasonable amount? We have 2 decorations in the tank that are rather large, 2 peices of ship wreck and a combination of drain pipes.

 

[Miss Wiggle]

no problem i wasn't sure if you were choosing not to go the LR route or if you just weren't really aware of it or know the benefits. If you've looked into it and made your descisions that's fine.

totally understand the sacrifice to get the fish you really want, there's always a trade off somewhere along the line!!

I'm not sure but maybe adding some LR could kick start the cycle and you could then remove it and give it to your mum for her reef tank if you needed to use copper in the tank. can't help you on the amounts though, I'm really not sure what to suggest!