What is YOUR favorite way to cycle a tank?

[ISpeakForTheSeas]

So I’ve looked into doing a reef tank next, I’ve heard most people tell me to wait until tank is very well established to add corals/anemones. Did I just misunderstand and it’s just anemones I should wait on?

Most people suggest waiting on both corals and anemone - skilled enough aquarists may add both without issues even to a brand new tank (they just need the right, stable parameters, good flow, and good light), but most aquarists would struggle with that for a variety of reasons.

As a general rule, waiting is good because it gives the aquarist time to adapt to the tank.

 

[donnieb07]

Been doing this for while, added anemone 2nd week; but if ask would advise to wait.
I’m 5 months in now.

Looks beautiful

 

[PharmrJohn]

Fishless with LR and LS. Toss in a shrimp and let it cook. Leave lights off. Add pods and a few fish. Then turn on the lights and move forward.

 

[donnieb07]

Most people suggest waiting on both corals and anemone - skilled enough aquarists may add both without issues even to a brand new tank (they just need the right, stable parameters, good flow, and good light), but most aquarists would struggle with that for a variety of reasons.

As a general rule, waiting is good because it gives the aquarist time to adapt to the tank.

Okay cool sounds good!

 

[schooncw]

"Real" live rock and ghost feeding.

 

[FindingNem0]

Bit of live rock from a established good reef tank, with dr tims works like a charm

 

[brandon429]

my favorite way to cycle:

without using open-ended waits. 1991 called <--- using todays common test kits is a series of guesses. we guess at the color gradient, compare it to a chart for nh4, report that estimate in a help thread, and estimators get together to collectively hash out acceptable starting dates.

no single date is ever, ever offered. (this is every cycling help thread available for inspection on google)

but: exact start date cycling is 2024. we can do that now, today, and for the last ten years on site here thankfully in certain work thread collections.

a predetermined timeframe that any reef builder can know ahead of time, before the tank is even assembled, to carry a full bioload is mighty handy compared to using api then posting here over the next 3 months to find the acceptable start date, from a slew of subjective offers based on the guessed-at reported levels of ammonia, nitrite and nitrate in the opening description post.

(this is not magic: businesses know how to do predictive cycling to handle received bulk materials, MACNA demo tanks by the hundreds are skip cycle setups, it's the buyers who don't know about cycling exactness options)

nobody is losing fish to cycling, it's to disease delayed as the #1 loss if we track out cycling tanks from start to finish.

 

[petcellar]

Fishless with any kind of rock, starter bacteria, and a raw shrimp. I wait until the shrimp is dissolved then add more bacteria and another shrimp. No lights or skimmer running. About three weeks using dry rock.

Doing a new setup with dry rock ( a mix but mostly Marco)

Simply can't afford to fill it with live rock the way it is these days, but will use a bit to seed it and add some live sand as well.

Would you still cycle it with the lights and skimmer off for three weeks?

 

[bakbay]

What I do to cycle new tanks — use at least 50% (the more the merrier) of LRs/bioballs from another established tank. Once temp & salinity are stable, add fish & corals. The filtration is in the media — essentially doing a huge WC.

No sand for me — always BB. Having live sand helps but you’ll pay for that later.

 

[Reefer Matt]

Doing a new setup with dry rock ( a mix but mostly Marco)

Simply can't afford to fill it with live rock the way it is these days, but will use a bit to seed it and add some live sand as well.

Would you still cycle it with the lights and skimmer off for three weeks?

It’s up to you. I just did this last time because I had my lights on another tank. But if you wanted to save a little bit on the electric bill, they aren’t required for cycling. With dry rock, I have always seen a diatom bloom about a week after turning the lights on. It can be minimized with some snails and turning the skimmer on, then just waiting it out. But some have had success with adding pods and such too. Cycling time can vary as well.