No need to cycle tank if using NSW??

[acidjazz]

Bro Jervis has his reasons lar. you PM and he will explain to u and u will also understand his rationale. Bro Jervis lao jiao here already, he got his reasons one. haha!

i have a friend who has all the equipments and tank ready. Only problem is he wants the tank to be up, filled with corals and fishes by chinese new year which is next week. i tried to convince him its highly unlikely. . . unless. . . .

we have the secret manual!

just wondering how come such useful information cant be posted in the forum for all to see. . but have to go via pm.

[flying carpet]

[flying carpet]

i have a friend who has all the equipments and tank ready. Only problem is he wants the tank to be up, filled with corals and fishes by chinese new year which is next week. i tried to convince him its highly unlikely. . . unless. . . .

we have the secret manual!

just wondering how come such useful information cant be posted in the forum for all to see. . but have to go via pm.

Tell your friend to use artificial corals, rocks and fish lor

[hammy]

yes you can but its just a logically not so good design i feel. in a filter, ALL water flowing through it will be directed through the filter media. However in the case of using LR in the main tank. there is poorer water direction through the LR. you cannot ensure all water molecules will pass through an LR given a certain period of time. whereas in a filter, ALL water moledules in it will 100% CERTAINLY go thru the filter media given the same period of time.

all along i have been using liverock as my biofilter and a skimmer to maintain my parameter. i used to have a canister but decom as i am lazy to clean it but water paramater seem even better. flow within ur tank must be in good condition too.

all is about striking a balance. in the nature , i dun see God design a filter to maintain his wonderful ocean.

even though u have make sure 100% water molecule pass through ur filter, how sure u are that all nitrite and ammonia are converted to nitrate? maybe some are just too fast for the bacteria to work?most filter media are know to build up nitrate somemore .

anyway i dun think my water flow in my tank is worse than a stream of water going through a biofilter. all depend on how you place ur wave maker or even what kind of wavemeker u are using ?

at all time , measuring ammonia , nitrite and nitrate is almost undetachable , i am more worrying about ca,mg and alkalinity though. again, all is about striking a balance.

[hammy]

i have a friend who has all the equipments and tank ready. Only problem is he wants the tank to be up, filled with corals and fishes by chinese new year which is next week. i tried to convince him its highly unlikely. . . unless. . . .

we have the secret manual!

just wondering how come such useful information cant be posted in the forum for all to see. . but have to go via pm.

maybe to shorten ur cycling time,

a) use live araganite reef substrate

b)use super cure mature high quality LR

c) super oversize good skimmer

d) standby seachem PRIME to reduce ammonia, nitrite.

but with all that i would still minimum advice go through at least 30 days cycling.

verify through testkit is the best.

maybe still in time for CNY =)

anyway i dun believe in dosing bacteria to shorten cycling bacteria as i think they are dead anyway.

[acidjazz]

Tell your friend to use artificial corals, rocks and fish lor

so that's the secret manual.

[acidjazz]

maybe to shorten ur cycling time,

a) use live araganite reef substrate

b)use super cure mature high quality LR

c) super oversize good skimmer

d) standby seachem PRIME to reduce ammonia, nitrite.

but with all that i would still minimum advice go through at least 30 days cycling.

verify through testkit is the best.

maybe still in time for CNY =)

anyway i dun believe in dosing bacteria to shorten cycling bacteria as i think they are dead anyway.

Bro, agree with ya. Reefing comes with patience.

The very first lfs that i started reefing from had this 5 feet Aquamedic tank.

Here's what the owner did:

1) Added in live rocks and start cycling for three months.

2) Subsequently, added a few corals.

3) No fishes added till after the sixth month

Basically, no matter how high-end our equipments are, complete cycling is unable to take place in 3-4 days.

However, lao jiao reefer might want to prove us wrong.

[jervismun]

Bro Jervis has his reasons lar. you PM and he will explain to u and u will also understand his rationale. Bro Jervis lao jiao here already, he got his reasons one. haha!

Thanks bro for understanding my situation... if you are to read the past few postings... you will understand why... this is not a OPEN FORUM anymore

Continue to PM me guys... I've been responding patiently

[johntanjm]

all along i have been using liverock as my biofilter and a skimmer to maintain my parameter. i used to have a canister but decom as i am lazy to clean it but water paramater seem even better. flow within ur tank must be in good condition too.

all is about striking a balance. in the nature , i dun see God design a filter to maintain his wonderful ocean.

even though u have make sure 100% water molecule pass through ur filter, how sure u are that all nitrite and ammonia are converted to nitrate? maybe some are just too fast for the bacteria to work?most filter media are know to build up nitrate somemore .

anyway i dun think my water flow in my tank is worse than a stream of water going through a biofilter. all depend on how you place ur wave maker or even what kind of wavemeker u are using ?

bro you brought up a good point about filter media building up nitrate. its wierd ah. have u thought of a logical way to solve this?

[Crystal Waters]

My two cents worth:

Some "lao Jiao" in the business can set up instant safe NSW in a couple of days but they also have a overpowered system to remove phosphates, ammonia, nitrites and nitrates. So before the harmful stuff can do damage to fish its removed.

Talk to experts and build a good relationship with them especially the guy who does the back scene work. Yes the humble worker who does the water and tank maintenance at LFS for his "boss". I have learnt a few secrets from many of them.

[amboi36]

trying to do sea water by myself....need advise....recommended reef salt, the process /method of mixing it.....btw my tank is 4x2x2.5. pls..............

[hammy]

trying to do sea water by myself....need advise....recommended reef salt, the process /method of mixing it.....btw my tank is 4x2x2.5. pls..............

prepare the amount of water that u want to change out. either Di, RO/Di wil be the best, if not , use a dechlorinator with tap.

add salt to water and mix it with a pump so that the salt is well mixed.

add to about 1.023 using a refractometer for higher accuracy.

for better mix , u might let it run for a while.

i will recommend tropic marine saltmix or marine environment from aquacraft

[hammy]

bro you brought up a good point about filter media building up nitrate. its wierd ah. have u thought of a logical way to solve this?

i will always advice my friend to remove bioball, coral chips if they are using it in their sump for a biological filtration method because of nitrate problem as they tend to clog detrius after a while. However, the rocks in the main tank must be able to support the system. well, that include lotsa items, ur bioload and even ur equipments play a part.

i always believe skimmer is the life saver in marine to ensure good water condition so try to get an overkill skimmer. althought there are 2 schools of thoughts saying that an overkill will also remove good trace element. i still stand on the overkill skimmer side.

in fact , most of the successful reef system that i have seen never utilise filter media such as bioball, coral chips, biohomes. their filter wool is mainly use to trap large debrius and change out weekly.

sorry, a bit off topic le with regard to the tank title.

[Bob]

all is about striking a balance. in the nature , i dun see God design a filter to maintain his wonderful ocean.

Bro ,

God don't design filter.

God created them.

It's the sea crashing onto the land.

It's the beach.

All natural protien skimmer!

[hammy]

Bro ,

God don't design filter.

God created them.

It's the sea crashing onto the land.

It's the beach.

All natural protien skimmer!

yup haha

[amboi36]

thnks hammy, thats a great help.....I will try it right away......btw happy CNY.

[kennethltk]

By cycling it doesn't mean to put new salt water or natural salt water in and run. The main purpose of cycling tank is for beneficial bacteria to grow on sponge, filter, live rocks, sand etc. If you did not produce ammonia for the whole cycle, your cycling is useless. You did not start the whole cycling at all. The best way is to use dead prawns from market.

Why someone success whthout cycling? Because their LRs from the old tank have enough beneficial bacteria to support the new bio load, meaning the fishes he added is just nice, when the BB needs NH3 and NO2, the fishes produce them, and just the right amount. But it is too risky, and not recommended.

Why you tank crash after cycling for few months? Because either you did not introduce ammonia at all, or you introduce too many fish at one go. 3 fishes per introduce is already a lot if tank size is small.

Hi Mansiz,

You mentioned " If you did not produce ammonia for the whole cycle, your cycling is useless". I'm already cyclying my tank for almost 2 wks and the NO2 & NO3 is very high now. Is it normal? and will the NO2 & NO3 be reduced when my tank is matured.

I'm new to Marine fish tank . Hope you can advise me on this.

[surferguy1978]

i think u just need to wait for a few more weeks. after that ammonia and NO2 will disappear. only ammonia and NO2 is poisonous to the fishes. NO3 will cause algae growth.

Hi Mansiz,

You mentioned " If you did not produce ammonia for the whole cycle, your cycling is useless". I'm already cyclying my tank for almost 2 wks and the NO2 & NO3 is very high now. Is it normal? and will the NO2 & NO3 be reduced when my tank is matured.

I'm new to Marine fish tank . Hope you can advise me on this.

[surferguy1978]

for me i just add a small piece of prawn meat and throw it into my 2ft tank which is still cycling now. hopefully will produce more good bacteria.

i think u just need to wait for a few more weeks. after that ammonia and NO2 will disappear. only ammonia and NO2 is poisonous to the fishes. NO3 will cause algae growth.