Reef nutrition

Cycling at warmer temperatures/cycle time?

IOnceWasLegend

Frag Swap Coordinator
BOD
So, I'll hopefully be getting a chiller this weekend, but I'm at the tail end of leak testing and looking towards starting my cycle. With the weather this week, it's likely that the water will climb up to the low 80s. I know that lower temps can stall bacteria replication, but I don't think that'll be a problem. However, is there an established upper bound that can stall the cycle and/or kill the beneficial bacteria?

Additionally, I've had a fist-sized chunk of ceramic media in the sand of my display tank for ~5 days to seed it with life. I'll be putting that, along with an 8x8x4 block of ceramic media and the recommended dose of Microbacter 7, into the sump when I start cycle. Having never started a tank with stuff from an existing tank before, will this significantly cut down the amount of time for the cycle/any rough estimate for how long the cycle might take?
 
I did a little bit of research on this and 86° seems to be a good spot for speeding up bacteria reproduction. You can go as high as 92° without hitting the back of the curve.
 
I used to do fishless cycle with ammonium nitrate at 88-90 degrees. Worked fast. Finished in less than two weeks.

I got the ammonium nitrate from instant cold packs. (Don’t mix with diesel fuel, lol.)
 
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I did a little bit of research on this and 86° seems to be a good spot for speeding up bacteria reproduction. You can go as high as 92° without hitting the back of the curve.

Thanks!

I used to do fishless cycle with ammonium nitrate at 88-90 degrees. Worked fast. Finished in less than two weeks.

I got the ammonium nitrate from instant cold packs. (Don’t mix with diesel fuel, lol.)

For my first cycle, I ended up buying a bottle of 5M ammonium chloride and using that. My temp wasn't super controlled when I cycled, but that + lots of microbacter 7 + live sand + dry live rock = cycle that completed in roughly a week.

Though I'm curious - why shouldn't you mix it with diesel fuel?
 
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