Cycling DRY live rock progress thread (with photos)
- Thread starter TPetty84
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prsnlty
Jackie
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I agree
prsnlty
Jackie
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I agree with,Rayn also. We posted at the same time I guess.
You can cycle with a hardy fish, raw shrimp, even flake food. It needs either poop or something that will decay to get the process going. Once it begins to decay then the bacteria goes to work...
You can cycle with a hardy fish, raw shrimp, even flake food. It needs either poop or something that will decay to get the process going. Once it begins to decay then the bacteria goes to work...
rayn
Bluefin Believer
Ghost feed. In other words feed as if you have fish in there. Just a couple times will show if you have ammonia or not. Do a large water change at the end, as you should anyway, and you are good.
kfoerster
Community Member
Just found this thread while searching for help with cycling 30 pounds of BRS dry rock. I currently have it in a tub with saltwater at 80 degrees and a power head. It has been soaking since 12/16/14. On 12/30/14 I added a cube of frozen marine food. I have the tub completely covered to prevent algae growth and evaporation. I have been testing for ammonia every few days. On 1/4 ammonia was at .50 and has remained there. No nitrites are forming as of yet. I read through this forum and I now have a couple concerns about my method. 1) I possibly don't have enough aeration because the tub is covered. 2) I don't have a good form of bacteria to start the cycle. Based on where I am at today, what next steps would you recommend I take? Begin adding additional ammonia? Continue to wait? Bottled bacteria? More aeration? I am still several weeks away from tank setup so I am not necessarily in a rush but don't want to find myself stalled here for weeks. Any suggestions are greatly appreciated!
Karen
Active Member
Try a bit more aeration. Some extra bacteria would possibly help too. Ghost feelings or some other method of introducing ammonia. I've never started with only dry rock. My last set up had a mixture of both dry Rick and live rock.
jerseypete
Active Member
You only been at this for only 10 days. It took me 9 weeks to see nitrite. But my temp was probably 55 degrees. At 80 it will be a little faster. But i think you need to bring ammonia up. I started at 4 ppm. If you use pure ammonia. Can get it at any cleaning store. Just make sure dosnt contain anything else. Fragrance etc. Its much easier that way you can get an exact ammount. Dosnt make the container stink like shrimp either. ive dont this a few times and never had problems. You should mark the inside can also so you know where to top off to. So your salinity dosnt go to high. It just takes time. I also used brs rock. You might also want to throw a bag of gfo in the container to help pull any phosphate out. It will leach out of the dry rock some. All the additives are junk. Save your money. Dont use a piece of live rock either. The whole point of buying dry rock is to not start out with pest or problems to begin with. This hobby is all about patience. Now is a good time to start .
kfoerster
Community Member
Okay Jerseypete I will go out and buy some ammonia and add gfo to a media bag to throw in as well. I agree, patience is the key but also wanted to make sure I was taking as many steps as I could to prepare the rock and move the process along if possible. Thanks so much for the help!
jerseypete
Active Member
Your doing it the right way.
TPetty84
Active Member
Anybody have any idea how much ammonia I should dose in my tank to start the cycle. Running 24gal aquapod. So we have 24 gallons minus the displacement of a bag of arag-alive and the roughly 24lbs of live rock. No sure how much water that leaves us haha. Thanks for any help
jerseypete
Active Member
Dose till you read at least 4ppm. If your using api. Till its dark green
jerseypete
Active Member
Probably a teaspoon. Then wait awhile. Then test.
kfoerster
Community Member
Okay jerseypete here is a question for you and the thread audience. I added ammonia and gfo to my tub of dry BRS reef saver rock on 1/11 and no sign of nitrites or nitrates as of yet. I am assuming that it is because of the lack of bacteria since I'm using reef saver rock. So I added another cube of marine food yesterday. I am waiting to test again but as of last night my ammonia was 4.0, may even be bit higher. I'm using a API test kit and after 4.0 it jumps to 8.0 and determining the color variance is difficult. Today I broke down and bought a bottle of Bio-Spira to possibly jump start the process but haven't put it in yet. My question is this, if I choose to use the Bio Spira should I bring my ammonia down with a water change first? I'm reading conflicting reports on having too much ammonia when using bottled bacteria.
kfoerster
Community Member
Nevermind! LOL Oh how this hobby is teaching me patience. Decided to test water just now and I HAVE NITRITES!!!! Whoot! Finally! I am learning so much through this process. Guess I'll return the bottle of Bio-Spira or use it to jump start my QT tank. :bounce:
Ammonia: 2.0
Nitrites: 1.0
Nitrates: 0
Salinity: 1.023
pH: 8.0
I'm on my way (I hope!)
Ammonia: 2.0
Nitrites: 1.0
Nitrates: 0
Salinity: 1.023
pH: 8.0
I'm on my way (I hope!)
jerseypete
Active Member
Adding ammonia or a cube of food is the same thing. The outcome is ammonia. Just the bottle form is cleaner. Dont get to happy yet. Now continue to add some ammonia to maintain at least 4 ppm. From nitrites to nitrates took me like 3 weeks. Buy like i said my water was like 60 deg. You haft to keep feeding tha bacteria. Once you go from 4ppm to zero in 24 hours your good to go. You'll be able to add 3-4 fish at that time. Dont use any water from the container it will be really high nitrates. And if your not ready to put the rock in the tank just add a little ammonia or flake food to maintain a food source for bacteria.
jerseypete
Active Member
Dont worry that its too much ammonia. Dont use bottled stuff. It only masks the ammonia. U could of bought a frag or fish with the money spent on the biospira. Your only recreating an overstocked tank without the fish by maintaining the high ammonia. Just keep going till you process 4ppm in 24 hours. Dont stop the first sign of nitrates. My tank never went through the algea outbreaks that most new tanks went through.
