How To Cycle A Saltwater Aquarium In 2022 - Quickly And Properly 

Working in an aquatics center, I've seen a number of people use this method with pretty hit and miss results. Personally I find cycling with bottled Bacteria and letting the bacteria dye off is a safer bet. Leading to less uneeded fish mortality. Patience is the biggest thing I wish we could bottle and sell these days.

Super helpful video. Hands down most concise, informative fish in cycle video I’ve seen

Great video mate. I loved how you explained it in simple terms but also informative. Little to no confusion for a beginner. A big thumbs up from myself in the land down under 👍🏼

This is very clear and concise, but super useful information! Thank you!

Just the info I was looking for! Adding water and a couple clown fish this weekend. Long time coming. Thanks for the great video

Great video as always Alex! 😀👍

Thanks Alex for another great video. You cannot appreciate the bacteria enough. I always add a little bit after each water change to increase bio diversity which helps me to keep Cyano at bay

Really great video Alex 👍

Nice video Alex and a great guide if you want to take this route. 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻

I have just finished my cycle, and have done what you have mentioned. I use seachem prime to help detoxify ammonia an stability for bacteria. Full initial cycle happened in 9 days. Now its just diatoms and green hair algae.

great and informative video as always! I wanna start my first tank in a few months! your videos helped me a lot in preparing for it

Thanks for the video

Great video, thanks :)

NEEDED THIS FROM YOU

Alex your absolutely great 👍

awesome video

Brilliant vid 👏 👌 👍

Good advice. I'm on day 28 of cycling. Its diatom time and the snails are killing it. Its not growing back quickly where the escargot have gone. The basic cycle took 18 days and Gramma Loreto went in day 19. Its going really well. There is now a baby Hepatus doing great too after I took him out of the bristle worm tank.

Prodibio Start Up has given me much better results in a long-term in a stable way 👍

great info ;)

Thanks a lot for the info by the way I have just purchase a 10 g and I turned it into a salt water tank and it's at the cycling part as we speak and I do have an damsel in it. But after the cycle part I will purchase a peacock mantis shrimp at a local fish shop I really can't wait I'm so excited about the salt tanks I always wanted to start one up but I was Afraid of the cost and maintenance on it but now it's not all that hard to do it but like I said great job on this vid

I have a display tank which i'm cycling with the Reef Mature Starter Kit from Red Sea, In the meantime I have also setup a quarantine tank, but without live sand and rocks. I was persuaded to start this with AMT Colony and also Cupramine from Seachem as the LFS runs their fish tanks with about 0.3 ppm Copper. The initial dose of Cupramine is 0.25 ppm and the suggestion is to increase this to 0.5 ppm after 48 hours. My first two Clowns didn't make it through this initial period. One died after 24 hours and the other a day later. It was suggested that I should wait a week and start again with a full dose of Colony again. I decided that although Cupramine has benefits it is only slightly less toxic to fish than the parasites that it targets. So, I have been removing the Copper with activated carbon in a bag in the filter. I have two replacement Clowns and the plan is to wait and see if they need the Cupramine rather than add it from the first day. Fish already have a hard enough time until they arrive in our tanks, have acclimation to contend with and so don't perhaps need a further upset from the Cupramine? If I do introduced it again, it will be in stages - where a 20% water change could reverse the last increase. A further disadvantage of Cupramine is that it prevents using AmGuard from Seachem - so that if their Seachem Alert indicates too much free Ammonia, this can't be used to quickly lower the level. It seems that at start up the potential for Ammonia to increase is greatest compared to an established tank, so monitoring and having a backup plan is always a good idea. I also have two full containers of RO/DI and Saltwater in RO/DI available to manage water issues. Simon

Have used atm and can say it does as it says

Nice. Can’t imagine setting up a new tank and adding a frozen shrimp to rot … and how nasty that would smell! I went with Seachem Stability and a pair of clowns. All good … 1.5 years later. 150 gal mixed reef: Planet Aquariums Mega Matrix with 40 gal sump.

great video would be excellent if you could do a video on your opinion on tank transfers .e.g. upgrading to a bigger tank or moving house cheers

Loved this video. Clear and concise, sound advice. Thanks from Ireland and I’m heartily reassured that I’m on the right path. Have pretty much taken all the steps outlined, in the correct order…..elsewhere I find there’s too much conflicting info and American ranting on the subject…..delivered at 100 MPH! Oh and I’m a “Cannister Cowboy” too. #dontcare #notapurist #marinetankmaverick #alliswell

Thanks for all the great videos. What are your thoughts on a 1 day tank transfer. I have a new tank coming that is going in the same spot the current tank sits at.

I agree Alex. Last year I did fritz zyme 9 bacteria. Added a. Bottle and two clowns to a 70g tank. Never saw ammonia and after a few days nitrates. No harm no fowl

Thank you for making reefing less intimidating 😅

I added my coral on day one, green star polyp it is.

Nice video! I'm excited that I can potentially add fish so soon in the cycling process. I thought I would have to wait a month or more. What about quarantining the fish? Is there a need to do that if the tank is new? Also regarding the adding a piece of live rock from the local aquarium store to help add nitrifying bacteria. What about the risk of introducing unwanted pests into a new tank. What are your thoughts on that? Total newb here, please excuse any ignorance in my questions.

This is my favorite cycling video so far! But I was wondering, won't turning the lights on grow a lot of algae on the rocks and sand though? 🤔

Very useful video for me as I look to start my first reef tank. Question - when should I turn on my sump? You mentioned to turn off the filter but what’s a good time to have it on?

When should i turn on skimmer after putting fish on the first day?

Great video, recently subscribed to your channel and have just finished filling my first marine tank (5ft), added a shrimp yesterday so waiting for the cycle to start - question is do I need my heater on at the moment? Seems a waste for it to be on right now if I'm not adding fish yet?

Most can NOT use tap, can't trust city to clean. I live in N Seattle our water is pristine, not as clean as RODI but clean enough. you started to lose me when you said you can't add coral from day one. I've always added coral from day one along with fish. I was pleasantly surprised for this very informative video. I posted my thoughts and shared my experience on this w/ social media and got flamed 8 months ago... lol aquarium police came out with their squad...

Great Vid - To the point without ambiguity - Q: Would you bother with live sand (dearer, less sand than dry sand per £) - If yes, then you still need atm colony/dr tims etc?

Thanks, really a clear and direct to the point information video. I am planning to start my first 100 liters reef tank soon. I wanted to add Caribsea reef rock because they have dormant bacteria but no pests as live rocks as far as I understood. Can I still follow your procedure?

Can you do a tutorial/guide regarding cuttlefish? I'm considering getting a beginner setup like the one you showed recently and perhaps eventually get a cuttlefish but I'm concerned that it would be too difficult because it's very hard to gain all the necessary information about what and how to get the equipment required for them. On top of that it would be useful to know where to purchase them and how to cultivate hatchlings. Keep up the good work and content!

How much live rock did you use I got just about 1kg but my colony didn’t make water cloudy

Ill be setting up a tank soon with HOB Filter and HOB Skimmer. Do I turn both of these off? How soon can I turn them back on?

Should I add fish in the day of adding Colony Marine or like the day after?

Hi , new subscriber here... . I have a 32 gallon tank that I top off with distilled water. I buy prepackaged seawater from my LFS for my original water and water changes. I heard that you can use distilled water for topping off for evaporation, is that bad? I don't have the room for a rodi filter and my tank has a lid so I don't get much evaporation.

Can you use a pre seeded bio block? Common practice in freshwater?

Can't give you enough Thumbs up, I am trawling trough all your video's to try glean as much info as possible, but my tank (Red Sea Max Nano) is arriving on Tuesday (2 Days), so this video i have now watched 3 times. I will use it as my bible come fill up time a day or so after i have the scaping and sand done. A couple of questions if i may please?: 1. I want to add and run with MarinePure Gems at the bottom of my filter sock section (white fine floss for polishing on top)....Can i add and leave these two items from the start and during the Cycle? 2. I also want to run a small amount of the Red Sea Carbon that comes with the tank, but an i right in understanding that this carbon should NOT be used during cycle? Thank you Reef Dork, and i have loads of your video' to go through yet, but no doubt i will view this one again before Tuesday and have it on screen ready to refer with during my tank start up. (BTW Subscribed and notifications on)

When do you turn your protein skimmer/algae reactor on?? Great video :)

This video somehow answered a lot of my questions I have about cycling. If I would like to start a reef only with some inverts tank, is that the same cycling schedule?

Hi my seachem alert is showing green, can i use seachem prime alongside ATM colony?

In my experience the best way to cycle a marine tank is to use RODI water, add a small fraction of shrimp at the very begining and every 4 days one or two flakes of fish food, then wait till ammonia and nitrites go to zero (local marine fish store can test them for you), the whole cycle lasts 1 month and a half aprox. During the cycling process you might add nitrobacter7 (one bottle, daily dosed as indicated by manufacturer), a couple of pieces of live rock from a VERY reliable source, light for just 6 hours a day (mostly blues/actinics), wavemakers at 100% and also filters (skimmer not necessary in this stage). After that, once tank is cycled, you start introducing fish (one every other week max), some CUC and a couple of soft corals. Skimmer and lights at full regime, weekly 10% water changes. Cheers.

The seachems ammonia chart card can fail horribly as well! I have had it happen a few times and it was well under year, one it took 3 months.

Any tips on picking live rock to help the cycling...nasties or warning signs to look out for

RODI is mega expensive, even in SE Asia where it costs $300 for a set up. No neeed for that, especially if you have 5-15 gallon tanks

i kept reading up that urchins eat zoas as well. so i am so conflicted to get one. i think one more advice that you should add to newbies is that, a lot of information you find about reefing is anecdotal.

I'm psyching myself up to move from fresh to salt water... not quite there yet, hopefully will be ready to go next year but I'm a notorious overplanner and researcher. I know I won't pull the trigger on something this expensive until I feel fairly sure I can do it without killing everything I put my hands on. I'm just saddened at the lack of actual plant life I'm seeing on this side. Other than people saying they put chaeto in their refugiums I haven't really seen any plants. Are there any decorative plants for the salt side of the hobby or is that just not a thing?

I’ve had my salt water tank for about a month now the allergy is going crazy, but I’m starting to control it slowly my main question is what do the chemical levels need to be in the tank before you can add fish and corals

Hoping to start my salty journey soon. Most people seem to start with Clowns because Damsels are hardy - but I've read they can be territorial and I might be better to let more peaceful fish establish first, so the Clowns are not as boisterous! Can any fish be used for this method, for example, a Goby or Firefish or should you go for a fishless cycle method with less hardy first fish?

Do I remove filter pad and carbon bag from my media rack while cycling ?

ive been in the terrarium and freshwater hobby for soooo long and now i want to start with saltwater. im still kinda scared about this hobby since it sounds so complicated. do you also have a video about how you make your saltwater?

Hi. Im cycling my 50gal tank with seachem stability and prime from 03/03/22. 09/03/22 i added one mini fox face + 1 vial of Prodibio Biodigest and 1 vial of biotim and then 14/03, i added 2 more fish: 1 unicorn tang, 1 bristletooth tang and they’r both 3finger size… 17/03/22 i added 4 Fauna Bacto Ball. Now my Seachem Alert always show 0.05ppm, test with Sera: No2 - 5, No3 - 50. So i asked if my tank is good to go or overload?

Hi Alex, at what point can I feed more and how many times a day should I feed? Thanks in advance

Hi Alex quick question having set up my first saltwater aquarium with the method you shown, you advise not making water changes for the first 2 weeks. What is your advice if my tank is reading high nitrate and nitrites only a couple of days in. Thanks

How many weeks until we need to do a water change? And should I still keep the skimmer off?

How long should I let my tank cycle before adding clowns and cleaner shrimp?

Could you have a tailspot blenny and hermit crabs as cuc

How often should I dose the bacteria during the cycling? Is it just once at start up or every couple days? Thank you for the amazing video 🙏

if i wanet to make a clown fish aquarium with just two ocelaris clown fish and no corals what tank sise would you recomend??

Please help. I used dr Tim’s one and only. 4-5 days later I added 2 clown fish. Fish are doing fab and are very happy. I’ve now had them 9 days and my ammonia is 1.5. I test and dose with prime and stability daily. When will my ammonia drop to 0?

How long do you leave the filter off after adding the liquid bacteria

I'm very new into the hobby and I added GSP, mushrooms, rose BTA and rock flower anemone right after cycling and I just use water from my faucet. I never had any issues so far. 🤞

I don’t have any where I could run a RO system. 3 fish stores here in town in Toronto said as long as I used the Red Sea water declorinator in each mixed bucket of water I introduced into my new tank (3 days old) I’d be ok. Will I be ok as hearing only RO water has now made me nervous. I’ve just spent 1500$ on my 40 gallon tank. I was just gonna stick to dry rock and fish. I was going to get 2 clown fish, a wrasp and a blue or yellow tang. My tank is also sitting at a 1.024 salinity. Will I be ok guys???? P.S I also put a small bottle of turbo Fritz in that treats upto 25 gallons. And a ammonia product by Fritz that you put 4 drops per 1 gallon into the tank. They said it speeds up the cycling process. I pray I didn’t screw this tank up using tap water like the stores told me I could do ☹️ Great content and I just subbed

i was told its best to do a fishless cycle. would you recommend against that? i dont mind waiting a few months and i planned on adding decorum and water, then ammonia and bacteria, waiting for the tank to establish, adding soft flowy coral only (atm not a fan of hard corals), then fish, and when alge grows, CUC. do you see a flaw in this method?

since when can you not use distilled water to mix with a reef brand sea salt?

Can i ise distilled water just to do the top off everyday ?

would adding some clean ocean water to the tank have any benefits? I am aware of a few negatives, but would there be any positives doing so?

I would make sure it’s fully cycled also the alerts arnt accurate

Sup, can i use cycled salt water water instead of bottlized bacteria?

So that I understand correctly. Sand rock water and bacteria boost bring water up to temp @ 79 degrees and add 2 clowns the next day. Run filter without the carbon pad for circulation until no ammonia??

When you do the clown fish method do I do a water change or anything when the ammonia levels spike since I have 2 clown fish in the tank or do I let the tank do its thing if anyone can help me thanks

If you cycle a tank do we need to add water if it evaporates?

If i do 20% water change everyday should i add salt?

Those bacteria bottles sit on the shelf for months and need to be mixed thoroughly- much more than a person can mix even shaking the bottle. Skip it and buy a dead shrimp and throw it in. Much more *consistent* results.

Distilled water is different than tap water, why cant i use it if i am getting mineral content from my marine salt?

Hello Alex! Just set up my first tank and added a bottle of ATM Colony and 2 small clowns on Saturday evening! When would you advise to turn my skimmer on and also replace the bubble trap and filter sock? Thanks!

Is that dry rock?

Why do you do such regular water changes? I thought if you had a good enough skimmer and auto dose daily this minimises water changes? I only need to do them around once every 6 weeks due to this. I know it depends on tank size and stocking levels

If you already own an established tank. I can't recommend just using biomedia, old filters, or established rock enough. If you buy a piece of live rock from LFS do yourself a huge favor and dip the hell out of it if yoy dont want pests or add a wrasse right away

Good video but you haven’t kept anemones?!??! I did not expect that

Does this method still work in 2023

I don’t see why distilled water would be a problem as it’s TDS is close to zero.

Dechlorinate tap is totally fine. Don't be fooled

But really, why not distilled water? It’s even cleaner than rodi, isn’t that better?

That was a shrimp

Cannot understand why still these kind of videos are being produced. How to cycle a tank in the 80s is the right header. Or the legend of cycling a tank. Or how to grow everything in a tank but corals. Water, Corals, then fish. Corals use Ammonium as food source. Corals have bacterias with them. Maybe you should start to learn a little bit more than what people thought 40 years ago was right. I bet 100 Euros that you can start here on youtube a tank with this way and it will succeed!!!

Lots of bad advice in this video, I guess it matches with the fact this kind of setup for a novice is just a sea creature killer so why should the advice be any different...."only spend as much money as you are prepared to lose as there is every chance it will fail and die"...... sums up the lack of care and completely irresponsible advice in this series. Why set these new people to the hobby up to fail, why instruct them to have zero care that these are living creatures and knowingly kill them in the name of entertainment?