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Week 13: Ammonia, Not as Simple as You Think: The Ideal Tank Cycle.| 52 Weeks of Reefing - YouTube
Channel: BRStv - Saltwater Aquariums & Reef Tanks
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Today on the BRS 160 we are going to cycle
this tank!
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Hey guys my name is Ryan, welcome to another
week of the BRS 160 where every week we do
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our best to help you guys, members of the
reefing community enjoy your tanks and find
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new ways to explore the hobby.
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We do that by following the set up and progression
of this one hundred and sixty gallon reef
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tank.
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This week we are going to talk about biological
filtration and the nitrogen cycle.
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This starts with a real understanding of what
ammonia is, where it comes from and why it鈥檚
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toxic.
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We will explore the methods of using bacteria
to convert this highly toxic ammonia into
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safer nitrite and nitrate as well as the final
stage of nitrogen gas where it can leave the
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tank for good.
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We will also share all of the most common
ways to get bacteria to populate a new tank
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and start the nitrogen cycle to make it safe
for your fish as well as some different testing
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methods and share how we are going to cycle
this tank.
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Ammonia is the result of fish and other organisms
in the tank consuming large volumes of nitrogen
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that they really don't need for biological
function so they get rid of it in the form
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of ammonia.
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Most organisms in the tank are going to excrete
ammonia into the water but the largest source
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is what鈥檚 released by the fish鈥檚 gills.
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The gills act like a membrane which allows
the high levels of free ammonia within the
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gills to pass through into the tank water
which has very little ammonia.
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This is also precisely the reason why ammonia
in the tank is so toxic to the fish.
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For the fish to free themselves of the ammonia
the surrounding water has to contain very
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low levels of ammonia to begin with.
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If the tank has high levels it makes it difficult
for fish to pass the ammonia through their
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gills.
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In fact at high enough levels the opposite
might even start to happen were ammonia transfers
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from the tank water into the fish through
their gills.
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At this point bad things are about to happen
in the tank.
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Outside of biological processes and fish food,
Ammonia can also enter the tank though tap
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water treated with chloramines which is chlorine
mixed with ammonia.
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Many salt mixes and additives have small amounts
from ammonia left over from their refinement
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process.
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This is particularly true if you if you are
attempting to use low grade DIY additives.
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Ammonia comes in two forms: NH 3 which is
free ammonia and the most toxic as well as
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NH4 which is ammonium.
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Ammonium has less of a negative impact but
both are a concern with marine fish.
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The NH3 and NH 4 are in a constant state of
changing between each other millions or even
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billions of times every second.
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How much of the ammonia in the tank that exists
as NH3 free ammonia is dependent on the PH
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pf the tank.
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Luckily at PH鈥檚 common in aquariums most
of the ammonia in the tank exists as NH4 ammonium
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which is less dangerous.
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Thing about ammonia is we all know is likely
the most common toxic substance in the tank
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and there is a constant source of this toxic
substance added every day.
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Even knowing that very few reefers monitor
or consider this as a possible cause when
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they are having trouble with the tank, even
when corals and fish are dying.
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More or less most of us just close our eyes
and assume the bacteria are always doing their
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job and can handle whatever happens in the
tank.
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This probably isn鈥檛 the best assumption
we could make.
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In reality the chain effect ammonia can have
on the tank is likely one the leading causes
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of a tank crashes.
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Any organism dyeing in the tank or a large
accidental addition of food can easily cause
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an ammonia spike which can stress and kill
other tank inhabitants.
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This can unravel fast with some pretty devastating
consciences because each death adds more ammonia
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and compounds the problem.
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Even smaller unnoticeable spikes can easily
stress the fish and make them more susceptible
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to illness.
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When something goes wrong most of us are more
likely to consider the how reef safe some
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random piece of plastic we put in the tank
is, are we using the right salt, did I use
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the right silicone for the tank, or mysterious
things like old tank syndrome as the cause
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but very rarely does anyone consider the health
of their biological filtration which they
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rely solely upon to consistently remove a
very toxic substance.
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That doesn't mean that an ammonia spike is
the cause of all the tank crashes out there
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or illness outbreaks but it absolutely belongs
in the conversation when you have an issue
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like this.
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One thing to keep in mind is your tanks biological
filtration is completely dependent on the
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size of bacterial pollution and the size of
that population is completely dependent on
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the amount of food being ammonia that is consistently
added to the tank.
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So if you start adding a significantly more
ammonia it might take a bit for the bacterial
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population to expand the population to compensate.
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So any rapid increase off the addition of
ammonia will likely overwhelm the current
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bacteria population and cause an ammonia spike
in the tank.
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Common causes could be a significant increase
of fish or foods to the tank.
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Many macro algae consume ammonia directly
so removing a huge swath of algae from your
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fuge could possibly increase ammonia.
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Obviously something large dyeing in the tank
could cause this.
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A contaminate or environmental issue could
impact the bacteria population as well.
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For those of you who use some type of ammonia
removal filtration media, if you don't change
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it out before it is exhausted you could see
a big spike and why we don鈥檛 recommend reefers
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use that type of media in most situations.
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So all that said I have to admit I am one
of the people who historically never really
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considered ammonia much and certainly very
rarely tested for it.
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I think I can give few pretty solid reasons
for that.
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Starting with test kits are a pain to do,
most ammonia kits are often hard to read,
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not accurate down to a useful level and you
need to have a non-expired one around at the
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time you are concerned about the tank which
is fairly rare.
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All this leads to very few people really producing
accurate ammonia readings correlated to any
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tank events and likely why it isn't part of
a larger conversation.
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There is a somewhat recent exception to that
rule with the Seneye monitor which does a
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variety of things but one of them is fairly
unique with monitoring free ammonia spiting
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it out on your computer or coupled with the
server sending you alerts to your phone as
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well as sending you email alerts.
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I have a lot of alerts set up on my apex aquarium
controller to tell me if something is going
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wrong with the tank like PH, temperature,
water level, ORP, leaks all kinds of stuff
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which I find super valuable but all that that
is very different than telling me my ammonia
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is rising which is basically telling me fish
are dyeing or at series risk and something
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should be done quick to save the tank.
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I think as the Seneye becomes more widely
used and reefers have useable trackable data
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we might see the conversation about ammonia
and the reef tank change a bit.
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Ok so now that we got a good handle on the
dangers of ammonia I鈥檓 going to say in most
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cases it is super easy to set up a biological
filtration system which is capable of rapidly
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expanding and contracting its population and
quickly converting ammonia into much safer
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elements.
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Really all we need to do is provide proper
habitat for the beneficial bacteria to thrive
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which is a warm well oxygenated area with
a lot of surface area.
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This is most commonly achieved with sand and
live rock in the tank.
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Sometimes supplemented with rock or other
filtration media like this marine pure in
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the sump.
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The bacteria that live on these surfaces produce
energy for their biological function by oxidizing
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the ammonia in the much safer form of nitrogen
for the reef tank being nitrite.
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Bacteria then also convert the nitrite into
nitrate which is even safer and at low to
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average levels not really considered toxic
at all.
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However over time the nitrate will accumulate
in the tank and will either serve as a nutrient
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that feeds algae growth or at higher levels
will irritate fish and corals.
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Removing nitrate and other undesirable nutrients
is the primary reason why most reefers do
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water changes.
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So where does this bacteria come from and
how do we get this cycle started in the tank?
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The bacteria come from basically anywhere
and there really isn't much you could do to
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stop it from populating the tank.
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That鈥檚 why so many reefers are comfortable
using dry dead rock to start with and just
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letting the bacteria populate on its own over
the course of a few to several weeks depending
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on the style of rock.
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If you would like it to happen faster there
is a plethora of ways to do that.
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First one is by starting with wet live rock
which is presumably covered in this bacteria
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and the starting population is able to multiply
itself much faster.
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There are also a ton of bacteria additives
out there.
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Biospira is one the team here at BRS uses
frequently with new tanks and dry rock.
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Red sea has a cool kit with bacteria, food,
and some other additives to get a tank off
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to a good start.
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Two little fishes, Bright well and KZ also
have some bacteria options for cycling a tank.
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To start growing the population of bacteria
in the tank you need a nitrogen food source.
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Reefers at one point used to just throw in
hardy fish like a damsel, feed him and let
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the process start on its own primarily with
the ammonia released from the damsel鈥檚 gills.
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Most people now consider that process to be
pretty cruel and don鈥檛 do that any longer
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You can also cycle a tank with what many people
refer to as phantom feeding which is just
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adding a small amount of food to a fish less
tank every day and let it decay to create
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ammonia.
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This is obviously much more humane but will
take substantially longer.
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With the bacterial additives there are two
primary approaches to this.
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With a product like Biospira the main approach
is to dose the tank with a large volume of
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bacteria and add a fish and its gills as the
nitrogen source to feed those bacteria.
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I have seen a lot of success with this method
and I personally have never seen negative
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effects from the fish or ammonia spikes I
can see with a typical test kit but both are
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not really ideal ways of monitoring this.
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There has been a new wave of products which
combine the approach of bacterial additives
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and a more sophisticated form of phantom feeding
and doesn't require a live fish.
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The Redsea reef mature pro contains a bottle
of bacteria as well as a bottle which essentially
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serves as bacteria food and you add the food
over a period of time to feed the bacteria
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to make the tank safe for the fish.
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Bright well also has a version of this with
the faster-M and micro bacter seven overall
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this is bacterial additive combined with refined
phantom feeding probably one of the better
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ways to cycle a tank and make it safe for
your first fish.
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Big question everyone has is how long does
it take to build up the bacterial population
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and make it safe for that first fish as well
as the ones following?
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There is no clear answer to that other than
when there is no ammonia or nitrite in the
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tank which indicates the bacterial populations
have risen and properly processing the ammonia
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in the tank.
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This means you need to test for these elements.
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Outside of that you are just guessing.
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It should take a few to several weeks depending
on the tank, rock and style of cycling selected.
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After that I would say a good rule of thumb
is to never more than double the fish or food
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load in a single month and if you are good
reefer monitor ammonia after your livestock
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additions or changes in feedings.
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Knowing how much everyone hates testing and
how hard some of the popular ammonia kits
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are to read I think the chances of most reefers
testing like this over the long hall are fairly
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slim.
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Alternatively you could consider the Seneye
monitor we mentioned earlier which displays
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your ammonia in real time.
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While it is more costly than a test kit there
is some peace of mind just knowing for sure
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when it is safe to add new live stock during
the cycle process without ever having to perform
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kits and adding new fish is a more .
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The last piece of all this is somewhat theoretical
in the essence that most of us believe we
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can use bacteria to convert all the nitrate
that accumulates from the cycle intro nitrogen
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gas which some degree means the food you added
to the tank eventually could fully processed
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back into nitrogen gas where bubbles up out
of the and released into the atmosphere where
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is available to other organisms but most importantly
is no longer in the tank.
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This last step is theorized to happen in very
low oxygen areas in the tank.
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Like the bottom layer of a six inch deep sand
bed , deep within the internal layers of your
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live rock or within larger prices of filtration
media like marine pure places in low flow
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areas of the tank.
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There is a tremendous amount of anecdotal
evidence supporting this theory and in the
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right implementation I personally believe
it can be a component of nitrate removal from
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the tank.
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There are a lot elements not fully understood
related to this but if this last step of the
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cycle was a critical component of my tank
set up I would personally either select a
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low density rock like pukani which is more
likely to allow significant water penetration
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or attempt to use these large marine pure
bricks in a low flow area of the sump.
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We installed several of these marine pure
blocks in the fuge area of the sump on the
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BRS160 and I don't think the artificial reef
rock two point one is going to have much of
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an internal pore network so we should have
an opportunity to see if they ultimately have
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a significant impact on nitrates over time.
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I personally had success with a remote deep
six inch sand bed and nitrate removal once
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however they are pretty ugly in the tank,
require several hundred dollars and sand and
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the general thought is deep sand beds up as
a giant nutrient sink just waiting to explode
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at some point.
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A Thought process I tend to believe as well.
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Time to discuss how we are going to cycle
the BRS 160 and get it ready for fish.
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We decided to do the safest option for our
fish which we felt was the red sea reef mature
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pro kit.
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I will be honest this is not the cheapest
or easiest way to do this and because of that
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probably not the most popular but it is likely
one of the best ways particularly for newer
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reefers to get a tank up and running because
it also address some other common issues with
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new tank cycling.
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There are four products included in the kit
the first one bring nitro bac which is a concentrated
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blend of nitrifying and denitrifying spores
designed to seed the bacteria population on
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your rock, sand and bio media in the tank.
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Bacto-start which is a blend of nitrogen and
phosphorus compounds that simulate the natural
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waste compounds from an active aquarium, basically
that phantom feeding we covered earlier.
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There is bottle of no3 po4 -x which is designed
provide a special food source for that type
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of bacteria which is going to complete that
last stage from nitrate to nitrogen gas.
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They add this because new tanks are particularly
prone to algae outbreaks.
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Using a product like this keeps the nutrient
levels down and combats algae outbreaks before
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they have a chance to take hold.
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The last bottle is called KH coralline grow.
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This is a bit misleading because it doesn't
contain coralline algae or anything that specific
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to coralline algae.
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It is more or less just an alkalinity additive.
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However maintaining alkalinity is probably
the single most important element for a reefer
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who is actively trying to get additional coralline
coverage in the tank.
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I since we are using this purple reef rock
two point one this really isn't a concern
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to us and we will be maintaining calcium and
alkalinity with different methods later.
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There is a series of steps you use which last
about three weeks, at which point you should
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be really confident the tank is ready for
fish.
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I do wish they offered larger kits because
I am going to need at least three of them
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for the BRS160.
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In conjunction with that I would advise most
people pick up a test kit like the marine
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care package from red sea which measure ammonia,
nitrite and nitrate so you know for sure the
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tank is ready for fish.
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In our case we are going to do something different
and install the Seneye monitor.
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I have seen this thing at trade shows all
over the world for years and to be honest
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I didn't fully understood the value until
they sent me a sample last week and the team
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started to play with it and really discuss
the roll of ammonia in the reef tank.
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Installed on the BRS160 I expect to be able
to use it closely monitor the ammonia levels
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during cycle progress as well as after each
major addition of livestock.
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Beyond that on a long term basis it going
to be able to tell me if there are ever any
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issues with my biological filtration set up.
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It does require that you change these small
tabs out once a month at the cost of just
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over ten bucks a month.
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It鈥檚 easy to shy away from that concept
but it is not all much different than other
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consumable testing elements like reagent refills
or PH probes.
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End of the day if you asked me if I found
a real time display and warning system based
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around free ammonia or PH I think I鈥檇 have
trouble selecting one over the other.
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The Seneye does offer some other benefits
like temperature level monitor and PH monitoring.
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It also has some really cool lighting features
which we will explore in detail in a few weeks
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when we get into lighting.
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Just to give you a quick concept of how we
will use it during the lighting episodes there
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are two main reasons why we light out aquariums.
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First is the tank is the single most expensive
thing in many of our homes and we want it
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to look nice.
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Today鈥檚 LED lighting allows us to adjust
all kinds of colors to try and make it look
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just right to our eyes.
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However we are also trying to provide proper
light to the colors which means the right
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intensity by not starving them with half the
light they need or burning them with twice
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as much as they need.
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This also means providing the right spectrum.
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The Seneye probe has a few cool lighting features
with a color compensated PAR meter designed
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around today's blue aquariums, but more important
than PAR it also displays PUR which is a percentage
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of that light which is in the usable spectrum
for our corals as well as a spectrum analyzer
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with a graph.
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With a tool like this it should be easy to
tune our ultimately lighting selection not
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only for what looks sharp but also make sure
we are providing the right amount of light
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to our corals.
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It鈥檚 a bit too early for me to give this
my personal seal of approval but I really
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think this could turn out to be a pretty valuable
tool to anyone who owns LED lighting and having
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trouble maintaining coral health or better
yet being successful to begin with.
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Next week we are going to dive into UV sterilizers.
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This one should be fun because there are some
pretty hotly debated theories on UV sterilizers
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and what they do and we are going to dive
right into the middle of it.
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So hit that subscribe button.
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If you are interested in learning more about
any of the stuff we talked about today check
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out this look.
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Also if you have thoughts or experience with
Seneye monitor the team here and BRS community
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in general would absolutely like to hear what
you think in the comments area down below.
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See you next week with week fourteen of the
BRS160 UV sterilizers.
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