Cycling my First Saltwater Tank

[hexcolor reef]

ended up getting it yesterday and so hopefully it works out.

Always throw in some tester fish first like a damsel or clown fish. As for the night out ii, you can use 25%-30% more than recommended as well

 

[Spicy Reef]

Hi,

I used the Algae Barn ULTIMATE AQUARIUM CYCLE KIT to cycle my tank. My tank is the neptunian cube m120, marco dry live rock, and CaribSea Arag-Alive Fiji Pink Aquariam Sand.
It's been about 2-3 weeks and wanting to see if my tank is done with the cycle and if I can add a starter fish to the tank.

Test level:
ammonia: 0-0.50 ppm hard to tell
Nitrite: 0 ppm
Nitrate: 5.0 ppm

All help is welcome.

View attachment 3108054 View attachment 3108055

Your setup and rockwascape are Banging!
Can you post a picture of the api test tube next to the chart so we can see?
try to take it in natural sunlight type.
or did you already resolve this?

 

[j90ramos]

Always throw in some tester fish first like a damsel or clown fish. As for the night out ii, you can use 25%-30% more than recommended as well

Thinking of getting a tester fish but wanted to make sure if I could even if my ammonia wasnt quiet at 0. But that what I did put in a lil extra make the process extra fast.

 

[j90ramos]

Your setup and rockwascape are Banging!
Can you post a picture of the api test tube next to the chart so we can see?
try to take it in natural sunlight type.
or did you already resolve this?

Thank you so much.
Here you go. One with flash and the other without. I did it at 10pm central time so no natural sunlight.

 

[Spicy Reef]

My old eyes see .25 def not zero. any chance your local fish store can do a free ammonia test?
If it was me I would wait a few more days, if the reading stays the same, could mean that's how the test kit reads zero. Did it ever read higher?

 

[EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal]

Thank you so much.
Here you go. One with flash and the other without. I did it at 10pm central time so no natural sunlight.

You're good.
API is NOT a bad test and is NOT inaccurate. It simply reads total ammonia and not just free ammonia. When cycling a tank, as long as you had a higher ammonia spike at one point, when it gets back down to a color between 0 and 0.25, you can interpret it as 0 and are safe to add fish and/or cuc.

Good luck!

 

[j90ramos]

My old eyes see .25 def not zero. any chance your local fish store can do a free ammonia test?
If it was me I would wait a few more days, if the reading stays the same, could mean that's how the test kit reads zero. Did it ever read higher?

I was going to take some of my tank water tomorrow and see what their test says.

nope, I would say it was always less than 1 ppm

 

[j90ramos]

You're good.
API is NOT a bad test and is NOT inaccurate. It simply reads total ammonia and not just free ammonia. When cycling a tank, as long as you had a higher ammonia spike at one point, when it gets back down to a color between 0 and 0.25, you can interpret it as 0 and are safe to add fish and/or cuc.

Good luck!

You're good.
API is NOT a bad test and is NOT inaccurate. It simply reads total ammonia and not just free ammonia. When cycling a tank, as long as you had a higher ammonia spike at one point, when it gets back down to a color between 0 and 0.25, you can interpret it as 0 and are safe to add fish and/or cuc.

Good luck!

What a high ammonia spike because I want to say I never tested over 1 ppm since I tested first time 2 days after I started the process so maybe I didn’t get to see in the darker green results but I think I remember I actually got a 0 reading but my nitrite was reading 5 ppm at the time.

 

[hexcolor reef]

If you’re running a UV filter make sure it’s off while using the night out ii. Remember to dose the night out ii in your tank every 24hours.

reason for adding tester fish
1: creates bacteria for your tank to help it mature

2: if the fish survive the tank is ready to host more fish.

 

[j90ramos]

If you’re running a UV filter make sure it’s off while using the night out ii. Remember to dose the night out ii in your tank every 24hours.

reason for adding tester fish
1: creates bacteria for your tank to help it mature

2: if the fish survive the tank is ready to host more fish.

No uv filter. Just did my 2nd dose a lil more than 24 hrs.
Definitely leaning towards getting a tester fish to see how it goes.

 

[EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal]

2: if the fish survive the tank is ready to host more fish.

This is barbaric!

 

[EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal]

No uv filter. Just did my 2nd dose a lil more than 24 hrs.
Definitely leaning towards getting a tester fish to see how it goes.

Please add fish food or a dead shrimp, etc to get your ammonia up to 2ppm, then add bottled bacteria (Fritz Turbo Start is a good one) and then test until ammo drops to 0.25 or less.

There is ZERO reason to sacrifice a fish for this process.

*I see you're also in the Houston area -- feel free to PM me if you have any questions... About the tank or just local resources

 

[EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal]

reason for adding tester fish
1: creates bacteria for your tank to help it mature

The gut bacteria in fish is not sufficient to cycle the tank!!

 

[j90ramos]

Please add fish food or a dead shrimp, etc to get your ammonia up to 2ppm, then add bottled bacteria (Fritz Turbo Start is a good one) and then test until ammo drops to 0.25 or less.

There is ZERO reason to sacrifice a fish for this process.

*I see you're also in the Houston area -- feel free to PM me if you have any questions... About the tank or just local resources

Which LFS would you recommend good to get fish after my tank is ready.

Thank you for the suggestion.

 

[j90ramos]

Today results

 

[EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal]

Today results

You don't have nitrates.

 

[j90ramos]

You don't have nitrates.

Good or bad?

 

[EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal]

Good or bad?

Bad

 

[EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal]

Good or bad?

Cycling an Aquarium

Cycling a new aquarium. One of the earliest topics a new aquarium hobbyist needs to learn is how to properly cycle their aquarium. There is a ton of information on this process and many different methods on how to accomplish it. There are many different chemical and biological cycles our tank...

www.reef2reef.com

 

[j90ramos]

Bad

Any suggestion I need to do to get it higher