• Looking to buy a cephalopod? Check out Tomh's Cephs Forum, and this post in particular shares important info about our policies as it relates to responsible ceph-keeping.

cycle

any shorter and your tank is likely to be chemically unstable and you will get nitrate/ammonia/pH spikes which can be fatal or at least really difficult to deal with. It takes this long to get all the bacteria established to deal with your cuttles waste (cephs produce WAY more waste than similar sized fish) and messy eating habits.

There are a number of chemical shortcuts that people use but to my mind the only way to cycle your tank is with patience and taking time!!

J
 
The longer you wait the better you'll be.

A tank is "cycled" when the nitrate, nitrite, ammonia all hit 0, but it takes a lot longer for a tank to be mature. That being said there are a lot of things you can to do to speed up the process, but they all take time too. I've kept live rock in a vat with powerhead and heater for a couple of months to cut down the time it takes for the tank to be ready, this should also help algae blooms since its only been exposed to a small amount of light.
 
A better bacterial booster is Fritz zyme. You need to get the saltwater chemoautotrophic bacteria. This will give you the bacteria that break down ammonia and nitrite. However, the other bacteria that are essential for a reef tank come on the live rock, these bacteria break down all the other organics that pollute your water, and no body sells these in a bottle, thus the recommendation for allowing sufficient time to cycle the tank. Your creating a whole ecosystem here, it takes time.
 

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