Bottle of Bacteria?

[joeyprice]

The tank is finally circulating and the heaters are running. I decided to keep the black Sand after speaking to a few people that said they didn't have any problems with magnetism or the sand dwellers starving. The skimmer isn't running, as there isn't really anything to remove and the lights will not come on as my internet has been broken for the past 2 days. I guess I may have to look into a data plan for a tablet or something going forward.
There is 80lbs of dry rock and ~80 lbs of live sand in there. Is the live sand bed enough to start the cycle, or should I add a bottle of starter?

 

[SaltwaterGardening]

We tried Seed with no success, but had good progress with Dr Tims All in One, purchased refrigerated.

 

[york1]

bio-spira has worked for me many times

 

[bg2311]

We used Fritz 900 Turbo I think to kick start the nitrogen cycle. As for Coraline algae, we used a bottle of both pink and purple from Algae Barn.

 

[york1]

With the bottled bacteria some people dump it in the tank and then immediately add fish. I would not recommend doing that. I normally dump a bottle in then ghost feed or use ammonia for a week to let the bacteria build up before adding any fish.

 

[gainesvillereef]

I always do Dr Tim's fishless cycling. With sand, it does not take that long.

One tip is to not bother to test for nitrates until nitrites are 0. Most test nitrate test kits first reduce nitrates to nitrites and then measure nitrites to get a nitrate indication. This results in false/large nitrate indication. So you can't assume the tank is cycled when you see nitrates. Nitrites are not as toxic in saltwater but you may see some ph swings until the tank can fully process ammonia and nitrite.

 

[joeyprice]

Ok. So I have a bottle of Dr Tim's (better work, stuff is more expensive than bottled water )
A suggestion I got was to just let the tank run for a few days, add the Tim's after that and then ghost feed every couple days. All I have at the moment is some pellet food, will that do the trick, or should I get some frozen shrimp food?
I haven't done anything yet because the internet is still down and I can't get the lights to come on. I don't know if I need lights to cycle, but it feels like I do

 

[Adam]

Ok. So I have a bottle of Dr Tim's (better work, stuff is more expensive than bottled water )
A suggestion I got was to just let the tank run for a few days, add the Tim's after that and then ghost feed every couple days. All I have at the moment is some pellet food, will that do the trick, or should I get some frozen shrimp food?
I haven't done anything yet because the internet is still down and I can't get the lights to come on. I don't know if I need lights to cycle, but it feels like I do

Did you buy the ammonia from Dr Tim's too? Without an ammonia source it's going to take a lot longer to cycle. Ghost feeding is a bit of a misnomer, the food doesn't decay and release ammonia over night, it takes time, a lot of it.

I have a partial bottle that you can have but I'm not sure where you're located.

 

[joeyprice]

Did you buy the ammonia from Dr Tim's too? Without an ammonia source it's going to take a lot longer to cycle. Ghost feeding is a bit of a misnomer, the food doesn't decay and release ammonia over night, it takes time, a lot of it.

I have a partial bottle that you can have but I'm not sure where you're located.

I do not have any ammonia. I live in East Cobb, but will be in downtown until about lunch time.

 

[Adam]

I do not have any ammonia. I live in East Cobb, but will be in downtown until about lunch time.

I'm in Flowery Branch and work in Lawrenceville. Nowhere near you unfortunately.

The good thing is it's cheap.

Amazon.com : Dr. Tim’s Aquatics Ammonium Chloride Aquarium Treatment for Fishless Cycling – Chlorine Free, Fish Tank Cleaner for Saltwater, Freshwater, Reef Aquariums – 100% Natural – 2 Oz. : Pet Health Care Supplies : Pet Supplies

Amazon.com : Dr. Tim’s Aquatics Ammonium Chloride Aquarium Treatment for Fishless Cycling – Chlorine Free, Fish Tank Cleaner for Saltwater, Freshwater, Reef Aquariums – 100% Natural – 2 Oz. : Pet Health Care Supplies : Pet Supplies

www.amazon.com

 

[SaltwaterGardening]

I do not have any ammonia. I live in East Cobb, but will be in downtown until about lunch time.

I’m in East Cobb, you could borrow ammonia spike for dosing from us. PM me. We started with no lights to avoid the uglies early on, but believe the lights were important if only a short time to keep the process moving.