When to Add CUC?

[The Saltwater Kid]

When should you add your clean up crew? I haven't added mine yet because the tanks just a week old and there really isn't much in there to clean up yet. I was thinking on waiting another week, maybe two before adding my clean up crew.

[Iostream]

It is best to add the CUC after the tank has finished its cycle.

[Rosseau]

One benefit to adding a small CUC now is that they would be a source of Ammonia which is necessary to the cycle.

Though, this is arguably inhumane and you could lose some of the CUC depending on how severe the cycle is.

[Bradly88]

i imagine once the cycle is over it is safe to add ur CUC! however if u start to see a break out of algae then add them straight away!

[Nanomaniac]

Well you should already be using something to serve as an ammonia source while the tank is cycling such as cocktail shrimp. I would personally wait until the tank has completely cycled before adding your cleanup crew.

[The Saltwater Kid]

cocktail shrimp?

[Subliminal]

I don't mean to be rude, but how do you have almost 2000 posts on a reef forum and not know about when to add livestock or how to use a cocktail shrimp as a source of ammonia for your cycle?

Lots of time in the off topic area?

[hypertech]

Some people get their ammonia source by throwing in a small piece of shrimp and letting it decompose in teh tank. This creates ammonia which starts the cycle.

Theoretically, you could pee in the tank and have the same effect.

[The Saltwater Kid]

Well Subliminal I've never really had a Nano tank so I don't have the past experience and I've never done the cocktail shrimp trick to start my cycles...I figure it's better to gather as much different knowledge as I can to help this new tank prosper...don't you agree?

[Subliminal]

Well, a cycle is a cycle, whether it be 2000 or 20 gallons.

I just thought your questions were odd...nothing against you, just...posting discussion.

[NanoReefWanabe]

there should be enough die off on the LR that you shouldn't need to kick start the cycle..

unless the LR was fully cured...

i didnt add my CUC untill after my ammonia and nitrite read zero, i pretty much let the first wicked bad diatom bloom clean it self up.

second and third blooms were handled with easy by the CUC..

[Musho3210]

Originally posted by Subliminal
I don't mean to be rude, but how do you have almost 2000 posts on a reef forum and not know about when to add livestock or how to use a cocktail shrimp as a source of ammonia for your cycle?

Lots of time in the off topic area?

sheesh a little harsh and unnecessary dont you think?

[Subliminal]

Not really...just asking a question.

[The Saltwater Kid]

I don't take any offence Subliminal...no worries. I do know how to cycle a tank...I've done it many times before but I've always with plenty of live rock and this time is the first time I've tried this with 95% cured live rock. I also can say while I vaguely remeber hearing about the cocktail shrimp thing that i have never personally tried it but that is what the purpose of this board is right...to share info about this great hobby of ours :-).

[Subliminal]

Well good luck to ya. My tank cycled in under a week with cured rock and live sand from the bags and a little bag of the bio starter made by marineland.

Don't know if that last part helped, but in retrospect, I don't think it hurt, either.

[mchembree]

Can I tag along here? I'm wondering what kind of cycle we should expect. We set up our 24g nano on Sunday, using fully cured LR (part of it from a kind RC member, part from the LFS), LR rubble, and arag-alive LS from a bag. We've added nothing else, except saltwater from the LFS. We see a number of hitchhikers in there, and the tank is crystal clear after the sandstorm.

I haven't started testing the water quality parameters yet, but planned to start today. I think the tank is running too warm, which is a little confusing, since it's not been too hot around here and the house is very comfortable without even turning on the AC.

Any predictions of what to expect in terms of cycling? Thanks!

[Rosseau]

Originally posted by mchembree
Any predictions of what to expect in terms of cycling? Thanks!

If it helps I'll tell you about my most recent cycle.

I started up a 15G this month on Sept. 9.

I'm initially added about 10lbs of "cured" LR from a local store.

My sand was completely dead in that it has come out of a never before used bag without any added bacteria.


9/12 - First signs of Ammonia
-NH3 1.0mg/L
-Nitrite 0mg/L
-Nitrate 0mg/L

9/14 -Ammonia 2.2mg/L
-Nitrite .25 mg/L
-Nitrate 0mg/L

9/16 -Ammonia 0.25 mg/L
-Nitrite 1.0 mg/L
-Nitrate <5.0 mg/L

9/18 -Ammonia 0 mg/L
-Nitrite 0.25 mg/L
-Nitrate 5-10 mg/L

Today Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate ~5.0 mg/L <--- now the nitrate battle begins...
pH 8.3 (daytime)

I added my CUC on 9/17 and have since added 2 fish.

CUC = 5 blue legged hermite, 3 turbo snails.

I seem to be going through my first real diatom (brown) bloom right now and am just starting to get green algae on the glass.

I think this was a pretty minor cycle... I did not add anything as an ammonia source.

Check this out for more...

http://www.bestfish.com/newtank3.html

[mchembree]

Thanks, Rosseau -- that helps!

I wasn't planning on adding any fish for at least a month after setting up the tank; want to make sure it's good and stable before doing that. I'm interested to see that you added your CUC and a fish relatively soon after set-up; were you able to do that because your LR was already fully cured before the set-up? I think I'll stick with my slow-poke approach, but I'm interested ...

[The Saltwater Kid]

About how soon would any of you add a Feather Duster? My wife has seen this purple and yellow feather duster at our LFS that she really likes but I'm not too familiar with the hardiness of the bigger ones (usually just have the small white and red ones that come on the rocks).

[Rosseau]

mchembree,

Yeah, I may have rushed a little bit... I just really wanted to have a tank back up and running.

My rock was pretty well cured and I attribute this for me being able to add livestock so quickly. I've also been skimming, running chaeto algae and trying to keep up with weekly 25% water changes.

I won't be adding any corals for another few weeks though in case I see some sort of chemical spike - which I do not anticipate happening.


SW Kid, I'm not expert on that one...

I do know that the feather dusters rely on filtering phytoplankton and zooplankton.

Many copepods and amphipods feed on these plankton. Thus, I would think that once you start seeing populations of the copepods/amphipods a feather duster should be fine... Though it really must vary between species and the size of the animal.

You can buy and dose phytoplankton to your tank to help this process along - though, this is a potential source of water pollution.

[The Saltwater Kid]

I just went to my LFS last night and had my water tested. After a week and a half my water params were: 8.2pH, 0 Nitrites, 5 Nitrates, 0 Ammonia, 340 Ca, 8 dkH. I forgot to ask what my salinity was but I'm sure it was fine or thge LFS employee would have told me as my wife and I have a great report with him. Upon his recommendation I added 3 Blue Legged Hermits (two were very small) and 3 Scarlett Legged Hermits and I also got a deal on a small bottle of Tigger Pods which I emptied into the tank to add some more life. These should produce some waste and help my tank complete it's cycle he said. It seems good to have some critters moving around in there :-).

[Subliminal]

tiggers are good stuff. Over the course of the last 4 months, I've dumped 2 bottles in my tank. 3/4 went in the aquafuge and 1/4 in the display. Now, I've got pods all over the place!