Reef nutrition

Tank cycled, but no livestock for awhile a problem?

kinetic

Supporting Member
So my tank is consistently going from 2ppm ammonia to 0 ammonia/nitrites in less than 12 hours now. I'm on day 3 of trying it. Problem is, I'm now on the hunt for a ritteri/magnifica anemone, but it might not be awhile until I get it (and then if needed, treatment tank for about a week).

Long story short, will it be bad if I leave my tank without feeding or any animals for 3 to 4 weeks?

Should I just dose a little ammonia everyday just in case?
 
you're the worst



Yeah, I'll just keep dosing some ammonia every day.

You don't have to dose everyday. Bacteria will not die off in a few days.

Think about the bacteria in the bottles that you used. They have been sitting for a while and still alive when you dose into your tank.

The more ammonia you add, the more nitrates you will end up with. The more nitrates you have, the further behind you will be in getting them under control.
 
You don't have to dose everyday. Bacteria will not die off in a few days.

Think about the bacteria in the bottles that you used. They have been sitting for a while and still alive when you dose into your tank.

The more ammonia you add, the more nitrates you will end up with. The more nitrates you have, the further behind you will be in getting them under control.

Yeah I think that's my concern about constantly adding ammonia, my nitrates will keep building up. I'm at 50ppm right now after one water change. I'm going to do a big one tonight (40%) to get the nitrates down. I'll probably do one more big one before I add the anemone to get nitrates down further. In the meantime, maybe I'll dose a carbon source and let my skimmer take out some nitrates?
 
You don't want to put an anemone in a newly cycled tank anyway. Even if it's "ready."

True, though it'll take 3 - 4 more weeks before I actually will possibly get one in. I guess that could still be considered early. I won't actually add anything else before the anemone (pretty sure with my luck, it'll walk everywhere to make sure it kills all corals before settling down).
 
Make sure you treat the mag when you get it.

They don't travel well and usually get infected.

1 tablet of cipro in 10g of water.

Change 100% of the water and add another tablet

Usually do it right before lights out since light will cause deterioration of the med.

Rinse repeat for 10 days.
 
And forget about other corals in the long term.

A mature magnifica will reach 2' in size. My last one was approaching 16" when fully inflated.

You won't even be able to put power heads in the 170 if the mag is that big.
 
Make sure you treat the mag when you get it.

They don't travel well and usually get infected.

1 tablet of cipro in 10g of water.

Change 100% of the water and add another tablet

Usually do it right before lights out since light will cause deterioration of the med.

Rinse repeat for 10 days.

Thanks for looking out! Yes. I have treatment tubs ready. I'm planning two tubs, about 12 gallons of water in each, heater in each, small (mesh protected) powerheads, and with a top to keep out light. Every day (or more than every day) I'll transfer the mag to the newly mixed tub. The tub location gets a ton of directly sunlight through a window, so I'll dose cipro after a couple hours of direct light and cover it.
 
And forget about other corals in the long term.

A mature magnifica will reach 2' in size. My last one was approaching 16" when fully inflated.

You won't even be able to put power heads in the 170 if the mag is that big.

Yeah, I don't think I'll be keeping anything else ;)
 
So here's the problem with a freshly cycled tank that had dead rock and bacteria in a bottle used to get it going. The nitrifying bacterial load that is present is enough to deal with the populations of bacteria that are continuously dying right now, the moment you add anything to the tank you're going to exceed the capacity of the existing bacteria to deal with the extra waste, i.e. ammonia etc, and net result you're going to get a minicycle within the tank and for a sensitive critter like your anemone this may be problematic.

So if you plan on having clowns with that anemone I'd put them in first. Then their waste can create a higher bacterial population that can better withstand changes in ammonia down the road. Now if you are planning on going with fishless system I would say to "feed" the tank a bit in anticipation for the anemone but not crazy amounts. Yes it will increase your nitrates but you're going to have to deal with that eventually, chaeto reactor?
 
So here's the problem with a freshly cycled tank that had dead rock and bacteria in a bottle used to get it going. The nitrifying bacterial load that is present is enough to deal with the populations of bacteria that are continuously dying right now, the moment you add anything to the tank you're going to exceed the capacity of the existing bacteria to deal with the extra waste, i.e. ammonia etc, and net result you're going to get a minicycle within the tank and for a sensitive critter like your anemone this may be problematic.

So if you plan on having clowns with that anemone I'd put them in first. Then their waste can create a higher bacterial population that can better withstand changes in ammonia down the road. Now if you are planning on going with fishless system I would say to "feed" the tank a bit in anticipation for the anemone but not crazy amounts. Yes it will increase your nitrates but you're going to have to deal with that eventually, chaeto reactor?

That's true unless he keeps feeding his bacteria and growing the population. That's what the fish poop is doing, but ammonia can do the same thing.
 
Thanks all for the advice! I'm probably going to just dose a little ammonia every couple days, and do regular water changes to keep nitrates down. I might get some fish food and throw some in the tank so I can get my skimmer skimming too.
 
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