Bacteria Cultivation

[ggNoRe]

Hello,

I am currently cycling rock and not in any hurry. My goal is to cultivate a thriving bacteria population. So far I have dumped a small bottle of Bio Spira in. Also I am using Microbacter 7 as per the directions. I am dosing Dr Tim's Ammonia Chloride as well as per the directions. I just started all this yesterday. My question is what should I be doing as far as ammonia dosing with cultivating as much bacteria as possible as the goal rather than cycling? Do I also need to throw some dry pellet food in there to feed the bacteria or do they feed on the ammonia directly? I probably won't have my actual tank setup for another 2-3months so my goal is that when I finally do transition the rock I have a thriving bacteria system in place helping me surpass the "ugly stage".

Thanks!

 

[brandon429]

the ugly stage will still come, requires hand guiding.

Per Dr Reef's bottle bac thread, adding a pinch of food for carbon moves things along nicely in your arrangement above.

what you have ready is great, let it all stew a week or two and you are set. (seems short, but biospira has the ability for instant start full reefs we have some threads on file, if you waited two weeks that two weeks longer than they waited lol)


the bacteria you want to carry a fish or snail/cuc bioload comes first and then as you let the whole system set wet further for months, that's the BRS method of allowing biofilms and surface maturation to catch up vs packing it all in with corals just because its technically cycled on the first or second day you added biospira.

the exact arrangement you listed above plus a pinch of fish food will work

*whether you feed the food a couple times or once, same outcome. Whether you dose raw ammonia several times or just estimate a few times, same outcome. the bacteria are feeding natural means along with our fare, they're not going to stall or starve.

 

[Garf]

Hello,

I am currently cycling rock and not in any hurry. My goal is to cultivate a thriving bacteria population. So far I have dumped a small bottle of Bio Spira in. Also I am using Microbacter 7 as per the directions. I am dosing Dr Tim's Ammonia Chloride as well as per the directions. I just started all this yesterday. My question is what should I be doing as far as ammonia dosing with cultivating as much bacteria as possible as the goal rather than cycling? Do I also need to throw some dry pellet food in there to feed the bacteria or do they feed on the ammonia directly? I probably won't have my actual tank setup for another 2-3months so my goal is that when I finally do transition the rock I have a thriving bacteria system in place helping me surpass the "ugly stage".

Thanks!

The ugly phase is inevitable unless you’ve got a big stash of live rock on hand. I throw a sprinkle of flake in during the cycle, every few days. This simulates feeding livestock and ensures the bacteria are up to the job.

 

[Dan_P]

Hello,

I am currently cycling rock and not in any hurry. My goal is to cultivate a thriving bacteria population. So far I have dumped a small bottle of Bio Spira in. Also I am using Microbacter 7 as per the directions. I am dosing Dr Tim's Ammonia Chloride as well as per the directions. I just started all this yesterday. My question is what should I be doing as far as ammonia dosing with cultivating as much bacteria as possible as the goal rather than cycling? Do I also need to throw some dry pellet food in there to feed the bacteria or do they feed on the ammonia directly? I probably won't have my actual tank setup for another 2-3months so my goal is that when I finally do transition the rock I have a thriving bacteria system in place helping me surpass the "ugly stage".

Thanks!

@Lasse wrote a nice article on starting an aquarium. Check it out for ideas.