Cycling Question

I think the problem is you need to create an environment, and there is nothing there to do that.

If you dont want to keep live rock in there, that is fine. But I would find a really good piece that is full of life and add it for a couple of weeks. You can always remove it once its job is done. Besides bacteria you will get pods, ciliates and other micro organisms that will help your new tank go.

IMO, bacteria is just one small step, you need others to create a healthy ecosystem.

 

I used those biowheel hob's on a couple previous tanks. Took FOREVER to establish proper bacterial load using just the wheels. I ended up using live rock to finish establishing bacterial load.
How fast they are spinning will play a role in how fast bacteria will populate. From what I remember you want them to just barely spin, thereby keeping the wheel blades damp, not soaked.

 

I don't know if it will stall, but you don't have enough surface area for bacteria to populate to process it.
You may want a rock or sand or something to help out. Or you might be cycling along time.

 

You can add a few drops of vinegar every day possibly.

Many people leave a cartridge filter or similar in their reef sump, and then add to QT when they are ready to help aid in cycle.

 

I set up a 50g QT 8-10 weeks ago. I had the same problem. Nitrites were off the charts, ammonia was fine. I ended up getting a good deal on some fish and got them even though the nitrites were high. Ended up doing 5-10% water changes every day for a week or 2 until the nitrites leveled off. Fish lived and are now in the display tank and happy.

I have only 1 PVC tube and 3 small chunks of rock in the QT, the rock is probably only 1 pound total. I have a HOB skimmer thats rated for 90 gallon tanks and a freshwater canister filter with ammonia remover pads and felt pads to help remove junk in the tank.

I recently got a ton of red algae on the bottom glass under where my light is in the tank (only have the light over 1/2 the tank). I think this is because I dont have enough bacteria in the tank. I'm just going to take a scrapper and clean the bottom glass and probably do a few 20% water changes to make everything happy again.

I'm still new to the QT tank world also, but it seems like keeping a QT tank is harder to keep up with than a display tank...

 

Swapping wheels shouldn't hurt anything, might help. Just make sure the wheel on the 29 is spinning as slow as you can make it go. Anything you can add to the QT from an established and cycled tank can help.
I doubt you did any harm with the water changes.
Every tank start up is different and it sounds like you may have found the black sheep.

 

It definitely takes longer for QT with no sand or live rock. I've seen a lot of people dump the display tank water into the QT with a dosing pump daily and then they dont have to worry about cycling the QT. That may be an option here for you. I've been contemplating doing this myself but I'll have to add another doser to move water out of the QT.

 

This is a 60 gallon I set up and added fish to the same day. I used 30 gallons of waste water from a water change on my main display system and the other 30 I mixed up and added. I have a magnum 250 with a micron cartridge for filtering out large particle waste. I do a 10 gallon water change on it twice a week and have had no issues. The only testing I have done is to check my copper level and to check salinity.

 

Did u start the tank with water from an established system?

 

I would continue to do 10% water changes every other day to help it drop, but that's just what I like to do. Not sure if that's what other would do.


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Do you do anything special to keep algae out of your QT or does water movement and the magnum 250 keep it all out?


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