Cycling procedure

[TiggrReefer]

I have a 120g with a 29(20)g sump
I am using a fair amount of dead rock from a previous tank.
I have added 120 lb of Ocean Direct Caribbean Live sand and 20 lb of CaribSea Arag-Live sand.
Maintaining 78 degrees; running 2 circulating pumps.
Should I be running my main pump? Skimmer?

What should I be doing to get this tank cycling properly? I have seen and read so many things that I am more than a little confused.
1. Do I need to add ammonia? How much? What kind?
2. Should I be increasing the water temperature?
3 .Do I need to add bottled bacteria like Dr Timm's?
4. Add a fish??For my first tank years ago I used a damsel; a PITA of a fish!!
5. What do I need to test for? I have an API Reef Master Test Kit

What else should I do or not do???

Thanks

 

[PatW]

1) Yes. Add ammonia. The whole point of “cycling” the aquarium is to build up the bacteria that convert toxic ammonia into far less toxic nitrite and then into almost nontoxic nitrates. If you do not do this, your fish will eat, break down proteins into ammonia wastes and kill themselves in short order.

Add about 2 ppm of ammonia. I used ammonium chloride. I bought a little bottle for a 300 gallon tank and still have most of it years later. I think it must have been enough for a 2000 gallon tank (must be really cheap).

2) No. 78 degrees or there abouts is just fine.

3) No. The right bacteria will colonize your system. A good starter culture will just speed things up from say 4 weeks to less than a week.

4) You can and be regarded as a totally terrible. Well you get the idea. It is better and cheaper to use a bottled bacteria.

5) Test for ammonia, nitrites and nitrates. You should see ammonia levels decline and nitrites rise and then fall and nitrates go from 0 to about 20 ppm. You do not want to add any critters until ammonia is 0 and all you have is nitrates. Do not get too heavy handed with ammonia because you do not want to end up with say 100 ppm nitrates.

The API tests are OK but their ammonia test often shows a low level of ammonia when the level is actually 0. Salifert makes a good line of high quality and relatively inexpensive tests.

 

[EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal]

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...

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