About to start..want advice.

[Shimis]

I just received my biocube 32. I have reefsaver dry rock from brs coming tomorrow. Can I cycle my tank and cure my rock in the aquarium at the same time? I bought the corraline starter that is attached. Is there anything else I need to have to get started? Thanks for any and all advice.

 

[Shimis]

Also, I am going to have a barebottom tank. Not sure if that matters.

 

[MTBake]

Yes you can, and should cycle amd cure the rock at the same time.

I would save the coralline for later though. Add this once the cycle is complete.

I would add a piece of raw shrimp into the tank once you're all filled up and the rock scape is set. Remove it after 24 hours or so. While you're waiting for the cycle to finish, get used to using test kits. Test your ammonia at first. As it starts to drop, test nitrites. Once that starts to drop, test nitrates. Once you hit 0 on ammonia and nitrites, you should be good to add a fish. Doing a 20% water change before adding the fish wouldn't be a bad thing. Make sure you start slow. A fish every month is good. Perhaps 2 if they're a pair.

The cycle can be started with ammonia as well. I'm not too familiar with that method, so I'll leave that for someone else to answer.

Hope this helps.

 

[11cmortarman]

You can cycle in the display and cure the rock together. You can cycle with bottled bacteria and ammonia or with food such as shrimp or ghost feeding to get ammonia to read to get cycle going. Nitrogen cycle is important and always best not to rush. Api ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate kits are fine imo. Not sure about the bottle coralline stuff. Ive never used it. Coralline has just naturally appeared for me.

 

[RIreefGuy]

Hi Shimis! Welcome to R2R!! I Really like using starter bacteria, ammonia and testing to cycle a tank. Once you get your rock set up and add water, you add a bottle of bacteria (biospira, fritz, dr Tim's etc (even better to add a mix of a couple of them) this will seed your rock for your bio filter. Next you dose ammonia (dr tims) to 2ppm. You test until ammonia reaches zero. You repeat this until ammonia reaches zero in 24hrs time. To cure the rock just leave it in there for as long as you like/can stand to wait lol. Some recommend up to 4 months. While curing I would feed a few flakes and a few drop of ammonia here and there to sustain the bacteria. I also like to add a small piece of live rock from a good lfs to help the bio diversity. Hope this helps!

 

[Shimis]

Yes you can, and should cycle amd cure the rock at the same time.

I would save the coralline for later though. Add this once the cycle is complete.

I would add a piece of raw shrimp into the tank once you're all filled up and the rock scape is set. Remove it after 24 hours or so. While you're waiting for the cycle to finish, get used to using test kits. Test your ammonia at first. As it starts to drop, test nitrites. Once that starts to drop, test nitrates. Once you hit 0 on ammonia and nitrites, you should be good to add a fish. Doing a 20% water change before adding the fish wouldn't be a bad thing. Make sure you start slow. A fish every month is good. Perhaps 2 if they're a pair.

The cycle can be started with ammonia as well. I'm not too familiar with that method, so I'll leave that for someone else to answer.

Hope this helps.

Thank you

 

[Shimis]

You can cycle in the display and cure the rock together. You can cycle with bottled bacteria and ammonia or with food such as shrimp or ghost feeding to get ammonia to read to get cycle going. Nitrogen cycle is important and always best not to rush. Api ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate kits are fine imo. Not sure about the bottle coralline stuff. Ive never used it. Coralline has just naturally appeared for me.

Thank you

 

[Shimis]

Hi Shimis! Welcome to R2R!! I Really like using starter bacteria, ammonia and testing to cycle a tank. Once you get your rock set up and add water, you add a bottle of bacteria (biospira, fritz, dr Tim's etc (even better to add a mix of a couple of them) this will seed your rock for your bio filter. Next you dose ammonia (dr tims) to 2ppm. You test until ammonia reaches zero. You repeat this until ammonia reaches zero in 24hrs time. To cure the rock just leave it in there for as long as you like/can stand to wait lol. Some recommend up to 4 months. While curing I would feed a few flakes and a few drop of ammonia here and there to sustain the bacteria. I also like to add a small piece of live rock from a good lfs to help the bio diversity. Hope this helps!

Thanks for the advice

 

[RIreefGuy]

This is a good article that goes in to way more depth than my rambling lol

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/cycling-an-aquarium.306554/

 

[Shimis]

Hi Shimis! Welcome to R2R!! I Really like using starter bacteria, ammonia and testing to cycle a tank. Once you get your rock set up and add water, you add a bottle of bacteria (biospira, fritz, dr Tim's etc (even better to add a mix of a couple of them) this will seed your rock for your bio filter. Next you dose ammonia (dr tims) to 2ppm. You test until ammonia reaches zero. You repeat this until ammonia reaches zero in 24hrs time. To cure the rock just leave it in there for as long as you like/can stand to wait lol. Some recommend up to 4 months. While curing I would feed a few flakes and a few drop of ammonia here and there to sustain the bacteria. I also like to add a small piece of live rock from a good lfs to help the bio diversity. Hope this helps!

Can I use straight ammonia or do I need to buy ammonium chloride from a lps?

 

[11cmortarman]

i used the dr tims one. Janitorial strength ammonia from ace hardware is also recommended.

 

[Shimis]

i used the dr tims one. Janitorial strength ammonia from ace hardware is also recommended.

Thanks

 

[SeaJay]

I would save the coralline for later though. Add this once the cycle is complete.

If I’m not mistaken the short shelf life on this stuff requires it to go in the tank immediately. He’ll just have to buy more later if it doesn’t take to his clean dry rock.

 

[SeaJay]

patience, patience and then a little more patience. I can say this as a recent newb who did not exercise enough patience nor quarantine incoming livestock.

 

[Shimis]

If I’m not mistaken the short shelf life on this stuff requires it to go in the tank immediately. He’ll just have to buy more later if it doesn’t take to his clean dry rock.

It has a use by date of 5-1-19.

 

[SeaJay]

It has a use by date of 5-1-19.

Yes, I think they said it has to be used within two weeks of being bottled. Definitely nowhere near enough time to let the tank cycle first.

 

[Shimis]

patience, patience and then a little more patience. I can say this as a recent newb who did not exercise enough patience nor quarantine incoming livestock.

I'm in no rush for livestock atm. I will be getting a 10g tank for a quarantine tank soon. Thanks for the warning.

 

[Joshua Mummery]

RedSea has a good starter kit to help add bacteria and ammonia. Also, I have a full Rapid LED kit that fits under that hood for your lights