sea water needs no cycling?

[Rex Ng]

care to share your opinion?

[iantoh]

hi there rex ng,

just my two cents ya.

seawater as of on its own, is ionically balanced, and harbours useful bacterial species. it is balanced with respect to ph, kh, and ca, iodine, etc, so there's no real need to leave it to mix the way one might need to with dry salt mixes that will need time for the dissolution and deionizeation of salt crystals, etc.

however, the cycling of a marine tank is not really dependent on the type of water used. yes, natural seawater has bacterial populations that might quicken the cycling process, but quicken does not mean to the point of instantaneous results. if you had an open system pumping fresh seawater into a tank continuously, then theres no real need for cycling, but the reason why our tanks require cycling is to allow the denitrifying bacteria to colonize the tanks substrate and liverocks, so that when you introduce fish and corals, the tank can deal with the resultant wastes more readily. without cycling, bacterial species that convert ammonia into nitrites, and nitrites into nitrates will be in insufficient numbers, and ammonia and nitrites can very quickly build up and be toxic to your livestock. so typically, its recommended that you cycle yuor tank for at least a week. that is, with sand, water, and liverocks all in place, and left alone for about a week, taking care to check temp, ph, salinity (top up evaporated water), etc. if youre planning on keeping corals, it is crucial to check ca and kh levels as well. only when these parameters are stable should you add livestock into your tank.

now, if your intending to keep hardier species of fish like damsels and some clownfish, then mabe you might get away with stocking your system the same day you buy the water and sand, but i'd hope that you'll give your system some time to settle, and reduce the risks taken with livestocks.

cheers,

and i hope that helped,

ian

[gerald28]

ian right! when i first started out using nsw i also need about 6 weeks to cycle my tank .nsw has everything but then bateria in your tank is 2 different matters yr sand bed or filter still need time to develope this bateria , nsw only is just like a salt mix

[WEE2000]

nsw has any advantages? how bout algae, will it grow afte 4-5 weeks cycling?