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Posted by David Cheney on April 23, 2005, 11:55 am
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Anyone have any idea how long it should take to cycle with just rock and
sand? I started a 75 gal. tank about 3 weeks ago and am still waiting for
the nitrites to register. I've got about 40 lbs of well cured live rock and
20 lbs of sand. I'm moving from a 29 to the new 75 and want to make sure
the new tank is stable so I don't lose anything. Will adding a live
bacteria supplement such as TLC bypass the cycle or just help speed it up.
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Posted by George Patterson on April 23, 2005, 3:04 pm
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David Cheney wrote:
> Anyone have any idea how long it should take to cycle with just rock and
> sand? I started a 75 gal. tank about 3 weeks ago and am still waiting for
> the nitrites to register. I've got about 40 lbs of well cured live rock and
> 20 lbs of sand. I'm moving from a 29 to the new 75 and want to make sure
> the new tank is stable so I don't lose anything. Will adding a live
> bacteria supplement such as TLC bypass the cycle or just help speed it up.
All you have is rock & sand? No animals or fish? If so, it'll never cycle in the
true sense.
The cycle results from the decay of waste products, such as uneaten food and
animal or fish urine. These decay into ammonia, which is processed by bacteria
to produce nitrites, which are processed further to produce nitrates. The
increases in ammonia or nitrites occur when there are insufficient colonies of
bacteria to process things.
Even if you do have animals or fish, it's quite possible that the 75 will never
undergo a nitrite increase. If the 29 was a fully cycled system, and you moved
everything in it over to the 75 and didn't add anything, you probably won't see
a noticeable cycle. Your bacteria colonies came along with the sand and rock.
George Patterson
There's plenty of room for all of God's creatures. Right next to the
mashed potatoes.
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Posted by Billy on April 23, 2005, 3:21 pm
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> All you have is rock & sand? No animals or fish? If so, it'll never
> cycle in the true sense.
>
> The cycle results from the decay of waste products, such as uneaten
> food and animal or fish urine. These decay into ammonia, which is
> processed by bacteria to produce nitrites, which are processed
> further to produce nitrates. The increases in ammonia or nitrites
> occur when there are insufficient colonies of bacteria to process
> things.
>
> Even if you do have animals or fish, it's quite possible that the
> 75 will never undergo a nitrite increase. If the 29 was a fully
> cycled system, and you moved everything in it over to the 75 and
> didn't add anything, you probably won't see a noticeable cycle.
> Your bacteria colonies came along with the sand and rock.
Any live rock, even rock that is "cured" (do not let this term
fool you, any rock that has spent more than a few minutes out of
established water will undergo some die-off), will produce waste, and
the tank will undergo a cycle. You may not see a measureable amount
of ammonia or nitrite, or even nitrates, but the tank will cycle.
This is my preferred method of cycling, incidentally. It is not a
fast cycle, but in this hobby, slow is the best way to go.
--
Billy
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Posted by George Patterson on April 23, 2005, 3:36 pm
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Billy wrote:
>
> You may not see a measureable amount
> of ammonia or nitrite, or even nitrates, but the tank will cycle.
> This is my preferred method of cycling, incidentally. It is not a
> fast cycle, but in this hobby, slow is the best way to go.
We're simply using different semantics. Many people consider the cycle to be a
situation in which there is a noticeable increase in ammonia, followed by an
increase in nitrites. In fact, there's another thread which contains "...fully
cycled (i.e amonia and nitrites have increased and then droped[sic]to
zero)....." It certainly appears to me that the OP follows this definition.
I would say (and, in fact, did) that his tank may not undergo a noticeable
cycle. But it may already be or become bacteriologically balanced without one.
George Patterson
There's plenty of room for all of God's creatures. Right next to the
mashed potatoes.
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Posted by Billy on April 23, 2005, 4:14 pm
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>
> We're simply using different semantics. Many people consider the
> cycle to be a
You're correct, of course. :)
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> sand? I started a 75 gal. tank about 3 weeks ago and am still waiting for
> the nitrites to register. I've got about 40 lbs of well cured live rock and
> 20 lbs of sand. I'm moving from a 29 to the new 75 and want to make sure
> the new tank is stable so I don't lose anything. Will adding a live
> bacteria supplement such as TLC bypass the cycle or just help speed it up.