Cycling dry rock in trash cans

[Roachbeef19]

Any pros out there can give me advise on cycling dry rock in trash cans using dr.Tims with a heater and a pump

 

[Topekoms]

Use brute trash cans only. Also why not cycle it in the tank?

 

[Alan_J_MN]

Speaking for myself... my new tank is delayed in shipping. I have the rock. I have the RODI set up. I have the time to get ahead start on cycling the rock. Why wouldn’t I?

 

[lpsouth1978]

Any pros out there can give me advise on cycling dry rock in trash cans using dr.Tims with a heater and a pump

I currently have rock cycling in Brutes for a couple of builds that we are working on. The process is the same as if you were cycling in tank. Provide an ammonia source, bacteria, wait for things to start happening, and test your water. Once the rock is processing the ammonia in 24 hours or less, I plan on feeding it daily to simulate a full fish load. This way the tank should be ready for fish as soon as I get it wet. I will be moving everything from my 40b into the new build.

 

[Roachbeef19]

Use brute trash cans only. Also why not cycle it in the tank?

Tank is on order for 12 weeks so I might as well start seeding the rocks now

 

[Katrina71]

Cycle it and start adding pods to seed it.

 

[Roachbeef19]

So cycle like normal then once its cycled do a water change start adding food and pods

 

[fcmatt]

I would nuke the rock with muriatic acid.. rinse.. and then cycle it in a brute. No pests is alright with me. Open and porous.

 

[Roachbeef19]

Its dry rock never alive

 

[Peach02]

Fishofhex did a video on this here

 

[2Wheelsonly]

*EDIT: Didn't read the question right and responded based on wrong interpretation

 

[PatW]

I think it is a great idea. If you cycle rock in the display tank, you end up with a tank with high nitrates at the end of the cycle. It takes some doing to reduce the nitrates.

I suggest using a food safe container like a Brute trashcan.

I like cleaning rock with bleach to get out any organics. Just toss in a cup or two of bleach into the rock and water and bleach over night. Drain and rinse thoroughly. If the rock still looks nasty, repeat.

Muriatic acid is used to remove possible phosphates from the rock. Be careful. Only add the acid to water. Never add water to acid, the heat generated can cause a mini steam explosion in your face. I do the mixing outside ... that is a well ventilated space. Remember, your rock is made up of calcium carbonate. Muriatic acid will convert it to carbon dioxide and water. So anytime you add acid to rock, you are stripping off a layer of rock. I generally add relatively little acid to rock. It can really help the rock by opening up the rock and seemingly making it more porous.

If you have really funky, gunk covered rock, you will want to beach and maybe acid wash. But if you have nice clean, white rock, you might skip this step.

There is a problem with dry rock. Unlike live rock, it does not have much bacteria. I have gotten cyano when I have used dry rock... limited sample size. I think part of the problem is that I did not have a diverse bacterial population on the rock. There are bacterial additives sold for this purpose and you might think of adding some of them after the cycle.

 

[Piranhapat]

Everybody gave you good advice. I would add bacteria dr tim or brjghtwell XLM. and add some small fish after a week. . You want to feed the fish very lightly in the beginning. Without the fish and feeding your not making much progress. Keep temperature 78 or 80.

 

[2Wheelsonly]

What kind of dry rock do you have? I always used that Walt Smith 2.0 purple stuff but since that’s been discontinued I switched to the purple caribsea life rock that’s supposedly coated with a dormant bacteria that activates when added to the water. Neither of these seemed to leech po4.

 

[Roachbeef19]

Carib Sea South Seas Base Rock

 

[Curtis Rose]

I just finished that process myself. My tank has now been running for three weeks and I can say that it was nice having no cycle as I moved the existing tank into a bigger one. Don’t put the lid on the can I had trouble with oxygen levels in the can, slowed my cycle. As soon as I added aeration I had way better results. I used dry rock and bacteria, a pump and a heater for close to 2 months before the tank upgrade. My ugly stage hasn’t been bad so far but we are only a few weeks in. Surprisingly I also have some specs of coraline on the fresh rocks already! (I seeded with coraline heavily from the old tank during the upgrade)

 

[CK00020]

So when you are cleaning and power washing you dry rock it’s ok to use regular water?

 

[fcmatt]

So when you are cleaning and power washing you dry rock it’s ok to use regular water?

I do. Even with sand. I just let it dry completely. I know it will be quite a few water changes with a new tank before I drop in critters like fish or what not. Clean up crew is irrelevant in my mind. Drop in when the tank requires it.

 

[Peach02]

I just finished that process myself. My tank has now been running for three weeks and I can say that it was nice having no cycle as I moved the existing tank into a bigger one. Don’t put the lid on the can I had trouble with oxygen levels in the can, slowed my cycle. As soon as I added aeration I had way better results. I used dry rock and bacteria, a pump and a heater for close to 2 months before the tank upgrade. My ugly stage hasn’t been bad so far but we are only a few weeks in. Surprisingly I also have some specs of coraline on the fresh rocks already! (I seeded with coraline heavily from the old tank during the upgrade)

did you put any fish in the drum during cycle?

 

[Curtis Rose]

did you put any fish in the drum during cycle?

No I just fed the bacteria with ammonia