Who Gives A Fish Forums

Hi,

I'm nearly ready to cycle my tank, but I'm not really sure what to do next. Can someone please help me out? I'd really appreciate it.

Kind regards, joe.g

You'd think it's common sense, but I suppose I can break it down for you. What's your current understanding of the cycling process?

You should probably do some research before asking for help, just saying.

yeah i know the basics and all, but i was just thinkin if anyone had any good tips or somethin to share, that'd be sweet, cheerz

What's your tank setup looking like then, mate - FO, FOWLR or reef?

REEF all the way mate!!!

Good luck with your first reef tank, mate, it's a wild ride ahead. What's the tank size and how much live rock are you planning to use? Also, where are you sourcing the live rock from?

Cycling with live rock is pretty straightforward, as long as you've got enough rock and good RO water. Get the temp right, add the salt, let it mix, then add the rock and sand.

After that, it's just a waiting game, testing the water daily. The cycle time can vary depending on the rock's origin and how long it's been out of water - could be as short as a week or as long as a month.

Hello,

I've got a 100ltr tank, and i'm planning on using 9-10 kilos of LR. The rock is coming from my local fish shop - they keep it in big tanks with proper filtration, and it's already cured.

I was thinking of buying the water pre-mixed, rather than adding the salt myself.

cheerz

Hiya, I think you could do with a bit more live rock if possible, 11-12 kilos would be better.

Using salted RO is fine, I used it with my nano, but there are a couple of things to consider. What's the salinity of the water you're buying? If you want to keep corals, you'll need it around 1.025 - a lot of shops keep theirs a bit lower, so I ended up buying salt to increase the salinity. You'll also need to keep a bottle of plain unsalted RO for topping up the tank from evaporation.

If you use salted, just pop it in the tank, get it up to temp, then add the rock - transport it in water if you can, it'll shorten the cycle. Then add the sand and your cycle has started.

I test daily - salinity, pH, ammonia, nitrite and nitrate, plus keep a thermometer in the tank to keep an eye on temp. You'll notice ammonia first, then nitrite and finally nitrate. Once ammonia and nitrite are zero and stay zero for a few days, you should do a good size water change - I did 50% - to bring down the nitrates, then watch the stats for a couple more days. If all stable, then you're cycled.

I'm far from an expert, there are people on here with far more experience with marines than me, but this is how it's worked for me. Good luck and have fun.

Thanks for all the help

I was just wondering, what kinda fish u got in ur tank and how big is it, cheers