timberwolfny

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brooklyn
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first time posting and new to manhattan reef just put together my red sea s 500 about ready to begin to cycle the tank
 

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timberwolfny

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brooklyn
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tank cycling

bought two tomatoe clowns from diamond of the reef out in Brooklyn and one bottle of dr tims one and only and a dirty old bag or carbon from my other tank. so let the cycling begin
 

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KathyC

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Barnum Island
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not the first time I have done it with so much water and just 2 small fish the ammonia levels will never get high enough to harm them since I test the water daily until the cycle is over.

The amount of water doesn't matter, it's the ammonia level that will harm the clowns gills. You must produce ammonia to start the cycle and there many more ways to do so than using fish to cycle a tank. Any amount of ammonia is doing harm to the fish.


I'm sure Diamonds of the Reef would hold the clowns for you until after your cycle is complete as we really don't advocate cycling a tank this way here.
 

annanymous

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Brooklyn
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Not criticisimg here! Just trying to learn all the methods! So you just bacisally feed the fish, jumpstarting the cycle? But what if your amonia/nitrite/ or nitrate levels rise. Do you just do a water change or it never gotten high enough to cause trouble?

Sorry for the questions, Ive just always read everywhere to not put any livestock in an uncycled tank
 

timberwolfny

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brooklyn
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I am following what others have done after a lot of research the ammonia has always stay at 0 or barely register on the test kit and this is not the first time I have cycled a tank this way I can assure everyone no fish as harm during the cycle since this is the third tank I have done the same way :wink1:
 

jr973

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new jersey
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Are these the new rsm tanks can you take a full shot with stand and canopy I recently saw 1 with the t5 ligghting and they look great
 

timberwolfny

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brooklyn
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I am open to criticism just that I have had luck with bacteria in a bottle the good ones and an old filter media that was unwashed from an old tank

And this is the new rsm tanks
 

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JimmyR1rider

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Nice tank but sorry I'm with Kathy on this one 100%.

Miracles in a bottle and fish are not the the way to cycle a tank, especially when using dry rock your tank will take longer to cycle. There's a reason that the old school way of cycling a tank is being left behind and why people used cheap $4 damsels to cycle their tanks.

Should just let the tank cycle on its own before adding livestock. You say you did a lot of research but if you google cycling an aquarium the first 3 links alone should have steered you in a different direction than you're going.

Sorry man it's a pet peeve of mine-----cycle your tank------then add fish.
 

timberwolfny

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brooklyn
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like I said I have been testing water parameters everyday and it is not the fish tank I have cycled this way. so as a test I will post the water parameters each day and I will let you all be the judge. I am not out to harm the fish and as a precaution if ammonia gets to anything horrible I will move the fish back to my established tank of over a year.
tank parameters so far,
day 1 ammonia 0, nitrite 0, nitrate 0
day 2 ammonia 0, nitrite 0, nitrate 0
day 3 ammonia 0, nitrite 0, nitrate 0
 

timberwolfny

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brooklyn
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After 11 days of data tank has remain rock solid 0 ammonia, 0 nitrite, 0 nitrate. to all the naysayers on how to cycle a tank and this is the only way with close to 2 weeks worth of data and stable water parameters I stand to rest my case
 

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JimmyR1rider

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LOL since ya wanna go that route- rest your case with people that know no better- If you were implying that I or Kathy have only 2 weeks of anything behind us(may have misunderstood you, wasn't very clear of a post) you're sadly mistaken.

You may get lucky with this- you MAY NOT.

Why take the chance?

Not to mention you have put in about 2-3 months of stocking in a matter of what? 10 days? Even if you have luck with the bacteria and a couple of fish right away you still have to let your bacteria level build up enough to keep up with the bio load. Then add a few more in a few weeks to a month from the first additions and so on.

There is a right, a wrong and TOTALLY wrong way of doing everything, don't be the guy that does the third.

I'm not meaning to look like a jerk, just saying that doing things certain ways can spell disaster in a tank. Especially when you add a blue hippo tang that early. I hope for your sake it doesnt get stressed, break out with ich and infect the rest of the tank. If it does you're in for a long bumpy road with a tank that has on going issues for possibly the whole time you have it up and going.


One last thing- youre parameters are SUPPOSED TO go through the steps of a cycle. They're not supposed to have 0 across the board for the life of the tank from day 1. It's how you can tell the tank is ready for livestock to be SAFELY added. But hey, you seem to know it all from your extensive research and experience.
 
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