Atypical Cycle Question

[aaron186]

I had a Red Sea Aquarium that I was restarting after a move. The tank had dry rock, live sand and was cycled from December through February using Algeabarn nitrocycle and a combination of Microbacter 7 and algeabarns bacteria in a bottle. I also put pods and the food for them from algeabarn in the tank. My numbers were good and I was about to start putting livestock in the tank… and then my seam failed and the tank spilled out. I immediately put the rocks in a bin with power head and heater but didn’t touch them or put food in them for 3 months.

After some deliberation I decided to try this again and just setup a new tank. I have new sand and I’m using the same rocks. I put some new microbacter7 in the tank and some of the old phytoplankton food I had from algeabarn still in fridge.

It’s been 2 days since getting water in the tank. My ammonia is probably just north of 0/ or it is 0 on Salifert test. My nitrates and nitrates are 0. But my water is essentially 100% new

Do I need to completely restart my cycle on this tank? Or is it safe to assume that rocks sitting in water for over 6 months (albeit no food added to them for 3 months) are good to go?

 

[vetteguy53081]

I had a Red Sea Aquarium that I was restarting after a move. The tank had dry rock, live sand and was cycled from December through February using Algeabarn nitrocycle and a combination of Microbacter 7 and algeabarns bacteria in a bottle. I also put pods and the food for them from algeabarn in the tank. My numbers were good and I was about to start putting livestock in the tank… and then my seam failed and the tank spilled out. I immediately put the rocks in a bin with power head and heater but didn’t touch them or put food in them for 3 months.

After some deliberation I decided to try this again and just setup a new tank. I have new sand and I’m using the same rocks. I put some new microbacter7 in the tank and some of the old phytoplankton food I had from algeabarn still in fridge.

It’s been 2 days since getting water in the tank. My ammonia is probably just north of 0/ or it is 0 on Salifert test. My nitrates and nitrates are 0. But my water is essentially 100% new

Do I need to completely restart my cycle on this tank? Or is it safe to assume that rocks sitting in water for over 6 months (albeit no food added to them for 3 months) are good to go?

Add bacteria as you are and monitor ammonia and Nitrate.
Ideally would be to add ammonia chloride to increase ammonia and both will rise and fall. When the ammonia drops to zero and steady at zero for 5 days and nitrate is 20 or below for 5 days- you are cycled

 

[brandon429]

This is a skip cycle, no further consideration of biofilter needed. Live rock transfers are always skip cycle, even if the non digital test kit doesn't agree

In this case it does agree, stocked reef tanks don't run zero ammonia, it's registering what stocked reef tanks run at

The added bottle bac was a wasted purchase, wasn't needed but not harmful to add

Vs atypical, your cycle is so repeatable here's a nine page thread of live rock transfer cycle work threads (day one skip cycle setups into new tanks)

A thread tracking pure skip cycle instant reefs, no bottle bac

THE GOLDEN EXAMPLE OF A SKIP CYCLE DAY 1 REEF https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/octo-high-end-sps-skip-cycle-build.713256/ read that entire thread before you read ours. that's the heart of skip cycling. Everything we do going forward in this thread reflects on that ability above, in the #1...

www.reef2reef.com

Using new sand was the right move. Only the bacteria from Live rock mattered, those rode over

 

[aaron186]

This is a skip cycle, no further consideration of biofilter needed. Live rock transfers are always skip cycle, even if the non digital test kit doesn't agree

In this case it does agree, stocked reef tanks don't run zero ammonia, it's registering what stocked reef tanks run at

The added bottle bac was a wasted purchase, wasn't needed but not harmful to add

Vs atypical, your cycle is so repeatable here's a nine page thread of live rock transfer cycle work threads (day one skip cycle setups into new tanks)

A thread tracking pure skip cycle instant reefs, no bottle bac

THE GOLDEN EXAMPLE OF A SKIP CYCLE DAY 1 REEF https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/octo-high-end-sps-skip-cycle-build.713256/ read that entire thread before you read ours. that's the heart of skip cycling. Everything we do going forward in this thread reflects on that ability above, in the #1...

www.reef2reef.com

Using new sand was the right move. Only the bacteria from Live rock mattered, those rode over

So this means I’m good to go?
thanks

 

[Troylee]

This is a skip cycle, no further consideration of biofilter needed. Live rock transfers are always skip cycle, even if the non digital test kit doesn't agree

In this case it does agree, stocked reef tanks don't run zero ammonia, it's registering what stocked reef tanks run at

The added bottle bac was a wasted purchase, wasn't needed but not harmful to add

Vs atypical, your cycle is so repeatable here's a nine page thread of live rock transfer cycle work threads (day one skip cycle setups into new tanks)

A thread tracking pure skip cycle instant reefs, no bottle bac

THE GOLDEN EXAMPLE OF A SKIP CYCLE DAY 1 REEF https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/octo-high-end-sps-skip-cycle-build.713256/ read that entire thread before you read ours. that's the heart of skip cycling. Everything we do going forward in this thread reflects on that ability above, in the #1...

www.reef2reef.com

Using new sand was the right move. Only the bacteria from Live rock mattered, those rode over

You missed the Red Sea seam failure lol lol

 

[resortez]

Patience & lots of it will be a lifesaver. In my experience, when unsure of the nitrogen cycle being completed & getting nothing to flash on the test kits, I wait until the first signs of simple life forms appear in the tank like algae. Every time I cycle a new tank, I run a light schedule of 14 hours until algae appears. The algae is the best visual confirmation you will get. Then reduce the light schedule, add CUC, percs & it’s smooth sailing after that. But that’s my personal take on cycling tanks, I respond to visual queues in the environment then take the necessary step after.

 

[jda]

You are probably fine. What you built up before the failure has certainly died back some, but it also can quickly multiply. Some ammonia in there might help a bit to get it going again - the algae barn food is likely fine.

What makes all of this so easy, but also so hard, is that if you are even reasonably smart, go slow and have some patience, then nearly everything and anything works.

All that you have right now is enough bacteria to process some ammonia and maybe enough to process some nitrite, so smartly adding some fish is OK. More bacteria will build up. More micro organisms that use ammonia will build up on the surfaces and in the water column - you can get a lot of those from the fish gut bacteria since bacteria in a bottle is barely even an appetizer. Eventually you will get some bacteria in the rock and sand where there is no oxygen that converts nitrate into nitrogen gas. All of this is when the actual nitrogen cycle is complete. Other names like new, old, skip, whatever are made up and are badly used to describe small parts of the cycle.

 

[brandon429]

Aaron lemme know what you think after reading just page one of the thread linked

You can see how it's ready the minute it's set up, a skip cycle

It's so reliable we don't use testing or bottle bac

 

[aaron186]

Aaron lemme know what you think after reading just page one of the thread linked

You can see how it's ready the minute it's set up, a skip cycle

It's so reliable we don't use testing or bottle bac

I’m not sure this is a live rock transfer though. The rocks were in water for 3 months and were dry rocks before that.

that being said I’m not sure if this matters since I decided I’m going to setup a quarantine tank anyways. So I have 3 weeks for my clowns to go through QT anyways

 

[brandon429]

-December through February using Algeabarn nitrocycle and a combination of Microbacter 7 and algeabarns bacteria in a bottle-

=rocks were fully cycled before you moved them, after the tank split. That original cycle made them live rocks and then they were placed into a new tank still live

 

[aaron186]

-December through February using Algeabarn nitrocycle and a combination of Microbacter 7 and algeabarns bacteria in a bottle-

=rocks were fully cycled before you moved them, after the tank split. That original cycle made them live rocks and then they were placed into a new tank still live

Cool. Makes me feel better. Appreciate your help