ANOTHER Cycling Question

[mpatient]

This my first time cycling dry Marco rock in a container prior to putting it in the tank. I'm using about 50lbs Marco, 5-10 lbs of live rock, Ammonia, and Dr. Tims. Testing shows things are moving along as they should. My tank is about 2 months out from being ready for water. My question is once the rocks are cycled, what do I need to do keep them stable until the tank is ready? Do I add ammonia every now and then or just regular water changes, or nothing at all? Thanks in advance!

 

[Intense37754]

Do you have or plan on putting a clean up crew? If you don’t have something in there, when your numbers are where you want them you could add some and feed them for the time being.

 

[mpatient]

That is a good idea. Can I add light to kick start the uglies?

 

[Intense37754]

I don’t know the pros or cons but can’t wait to see what others have to say. I’ve always cycled, added fish and let it go.

 

[Samina]

I would not turn on the lights. This is how I did it and I cycled my rock in a tote for over 10 months (build was delayed!). Maybe seed some pods in there and feed a pinch of food every few days (I opted to dosing a bit of ocean magik from algae barn every few days). It’ll allow the pods a chance to populate and will give you a good chance to miss the uglies. I seeded various things from IPSF, Garf, a bunch of different types of pods. I skipped the uglies phase besides diatoms. When I transferred to the display tank, I once again seeded with some more pods (didn’t need to though) and after a week, turned on the lights because I added some softies. After diatoms started, I added a cuc. The diatoms quickly resided. And I haven’t had a problem with nutrients or any other micro algae taking hold. Coraline started to grow rather quickly, within a couple weeks of turning on lights.