I work at a LFS in San Antonio and i maintain large fresh and salt tanks. I dont don’t do wc until there is only nitrates when there is no ammonia or nitrite. Always fish in cycles with turbo start. Keep lights on under an hour regardless of type. Almost no algae then start ramping up length of light.
Thank you for the advice it’s greatly appreciated. This is my first reef tank always had fresh water with high end fish but I’ve always wanted a saltwater tank
I kind of was out of the hobby the past 3 years and I'm just revisiting here and there.... Have you noticed the entire dynamic of your channel has changed it's not bad but I miss what I was seeing 4 years ago ✌️
It makes sense if you watched the whole evolution. Ryan learned a lot setting up a 360 gal in his house and ultimately failing with that system and seeing what helped and what made things worse. I think that experience sent him back to the drawing board and re-think a lot.
@@insanity4224 in my opinion you can't have it all without sacrificing something and he was trying to have it all without sacrificing anything...hope it makes sense, not your average bird 😉
@@insanity4224 and to be honest and Frank with you I've seen the complete evolution of this channel from him being overweight and not being able to speak properly like me then he became strangely underweight now he's getting back to a healthy weight I've seen it all bud.... I don't know why I fell off but after Randy's departure I was kind of done 👍
@@freemansaquatics5326fair enough sometimes when you watch something enough it just wears off on you. I stopped watching a bit around the same time but I see a lot potential in 52 weeks part 2. Ryan does show and admit to mistakes and shares his experience good and bad. Also I appreciate that he goes back to those mistakes to figure out what went wrong. I’ve learned a lot from that, even though I’ve been doing this for ~20 years.
The cycle is done when your nitrates are at zero. How long it takes depends on how much rock, starter bacteria, etc you used. Once you start adding fish, you do a water change as often as you need to to keep the nitrates at or below 10. Again, this depends on your set up, how many fish you have, how often you feed, etc, etc
@@dianes2300 thank you I am starting a brand new 125 gallon with a 40 gallon sump and have about 120 pounds of rock with a 125 gallon brightwells kit for new tanks
I work at a LFS in San Antonio and i maintain large fresh and salt tanks. I dont don’t do wc until there is only nitrates when there is no ammonia or nitrite. Always fish in cycles with turbo start. Keep lights on under an hour regardless of type. Almost no algae then start ramping up length of light.
Thank you for the advice it’s greatly appreciated. This is my first reef tank always had fresh water with high end fish but I’ve always wanted a saltwater tank
I kind of was out of the hobby the past 3 years and I'm just revisiting here and there.... Have you noticed the entire dynamic of your channel has changed it's not bad but I miss what I was seeing 4 years ago ✌️
It makes sense if you watched the whole evolution. Ryan learned a lot setting up a 360 gal in his house and ultimately failing with that system and seeing what helped and what made things worse. I think that experience sent him back to the drawing board and re-think a lot.
@@insanity4224 that tank crash and Randy leaving shortly after was when I became disinterested 🍻
@@insanity4224 in my opinion you can't have it all without sacrificing something and he was trying to have it all without sacrificing anything...hope it makes sense, not your average bird 😉
@@insanity4224 and to be honest and Frank with you I've seen the complete evolution of this channel from him being overweight and not being able to speak properly like me then he became strangely underweight now he's getting back to a healthy weight I've seen it all bud.... I don't know why I fell off but after Randy's departure I was kind of done 👍
@@freemansaquatics5326fair enough sometimes when you watch something enough it just wears off on you. I stopped watching a bit around the same time but I see a lot potential in 52 weeks part 2. Ryan does show and admit to mistakes and shares his experience good and bad. Also I appreciate that he goes back to those mistakes to figure out what went wrong. I’ve learned a lot from that, even though I’ve been doing this for ~20 years.
So how long would you let you take cycle? When the cycle is done do you start them or give it a week or two
Every tank every system is different all I can say is go slow and patience is your greatest virtue in anything especially new systems ✌️
The cycle is done when your nitrates are at zero. How long it takes depends on how much rock, starter bacteria, etc you used. Once you start adding fish, you do a water change as often as you need to to keep the nitrates at or below 10. Again, this depends on your set up, how many fish you have, how often you feed, etc, etc
@@dianes2300 thank you I am starting a brand new 125 gallon with a 40 gallon sump and have about 120 pounds of rock with a 125 gallon brightwells kit for new tanks
@@freemansaquatics5326 thank you
Awesome! Good luck! Have fun! Do lots of research - it'll save you a lot of $$ and headaches in the long run!
My 120 gal. reef is 25 years old. I haven't done a water change in 15 years.