Aquarium Cycle Help

Mwag · May 19, 2017

Hello, I have started a new 30 gallon saltwater aquarium on Sunday (5/14). I am using CaribSea Live Sand and 2 pieces of dry rock as well as a small piece of Live Rock which is cured. I am also using Seachem Stability. I went to go add some fish food to the tank to start the cycle and I put in MUCH more than I should have so my ammonia should have spiked right?? But it only went to about 0.50 ppm and dropped to 0.25 ppm. No NitrIte and no NirtrAte yet. Could the bacteria have already broken down the ammonia? Please help I am new and super confused

brandon429 · May 19, 2017

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/the-microbiology-of-reef-tank-cycling.214618/

it only seems long...6 pages and youll never wonder about a cycle again, or what bacteria allow

for your specific question its covered there towards the last pages, submersion times.

In that thread we require both a submersion time and a passing of the ammonia digestion test to deem a cycle closed. you must wait longer, then when it passes the ammonia digestion test mentioned in that thread on page 1 then you are set and cycled.

The reason you must factor a submersion time is because we give the bacteria time to migrate onto surfaces. if bacteria in the water are doing the work then its kind of like a false positive...you can dump bottled bacteria into a cup of water, give bac time to reenergize and that cup can digest some ammonia due to whats in suspension...but it takes actual time for those added bacteria to adhere to the walls of the cup, encased in a biofilm community, and make the walls of the cup the location of filtration bacteria.

The difference between the two systems is only the second one with biofilms can endure a complete water change and still pass the digestion test upon refill...

for your cycle, treat the whole setup like its group A rock from that thread. in 30 days with a couple squirts bottle bac, and that feed you've already added, you will be cycled.

You only need to test for ammonia, no other params are needed to know using that system. we feel its the simplest way to cycle a tank that produces consistent results, by a consistent timeframe (30 days wet)