Cycling dry rock (reef saver from BRS)

[MuffinMonster]

Hey guys, I’m planning on upgrading tanks in the next few months to a RSR 250, I plan on buying 40 pounds of reef saver dry rock from BRS. After watching the BRS series with world wide corals I would like to cycle the tank for 4 months before adding livestock- my question is, does this have to be inside the aquarium to do so? If I buy the rock and marine pure blocks, can I throw it all inside a brute container with powerheads and dose ammonia to get the rock to pre-cycle while I save money to buy the tank and accessories? I know a lot of people refer to this process of allowing rock to soak in brute containers as “curing”, but it’s dry rock so I don’t need to run a curing process for months on end do I? I would ideally like to keep the rocks in a container while adding food and nutrients to it, then after 3-4 months I can get the full tank and stand set up and allow it to run for say, one more month, in the tank itself then add the fish and corals to it.

Sorry if this has been discussed in another forum- I’m new to this forum and couldn’t find one with this specific question.

Thanks for any advice~

 

[fishface NJ]

You don't need to place the rocks in the DT. Most people do it in a brute garbage can.

 

[timrocks311]

yes you can cure it in a container before hand and cycle the rock. If you're planning to take that long to do it all, that might be the best way to do it. I'd suggest adding a bacteria in a bottle. It worked well for me. Also if you have a light, you can introduce some rock with coraline algae and get that growing. You might have a mini cycle when you add it to the main tank, but just check and wait that out too. It should be quicker.

 

[brandon429]

They aren’t meaning four mos of letting filter bac build up, that’s done 100% at thirty days and waiting longer, or adding more bioload or ammonia, does -not- add more filter bac.


What they are wanting is four months of light, feed, water changes, perhaps additions of live substrates so that a food web is built and this won’t occur in brutes. They want time for coralline to show, which reveals nutrient history of anything it’s actively growing on. What it takes to grow coralline is what it takes to grow coral, they want you reefing for four months but fallow from coral, slowly building up light driven supports and variety in the sterile tank.

 

[MuffinMonster]

yes you can cure it in a container before hand and cycle the rock.

Awesome, ideally my plan is buy the rock now to start the cycle in a brute container, add a bottle of Dr Tim's one and only and feed the brute container 2-3 times a week just to keep the bacteria alive. After doing that for 4 months (while buying/ building my tank and equipment) i would like to set the tank up, add another bottle of Dr Tim's after i get everything set in the tank and introduce the lights. After 1 month of it running in the tank with lights i would then add the fish and coral. So the process would be roughly 5 months total, 4 months in a container with no light, 1 month in the tank with light.

 

[Katrina71]

Should get a pretty mild ugly stage that way.

 

[timrocks311]

They aren’t meaning four mos of letting filter bac build up, that’s done 100% at thirty days and waiting longer, or adding more bioload or ammonia, does -not- add more filter bac.


What they are wanting is four months of light, feed, water changes, perhaps additions of live substrates so that a food web is built and this won’t occur in brutes. They want time for coralline to show, which reveals nutrient history of anything it’s actively growing on. What it takes to grow coralline is what it takes to grow coral, they want you reefing for four months but fallow from coral, slowly building up light driven supports and variety in the sterile tank.

yeah I agree. you can cycle the rock in the brute container but the reason WWC waits so long is the tank establishment Brandon states.

 

[brandon429]

If you do it that way Muffin, then stocking the tank just after cycling is the same, no food web builds in dark brutes.

 

[MuffinMonster]

If you do it that way Muffin, then stocking the tank just after cycling is the same, no food web builds in dark brutes.

Great info! I was watching the videos last night, and they did specifically state that 3 of the 4 months they had no light and that they added light on the 3rd month mark, which means 3 months of no light and 1 month with light. which is why i was originally thinking i could do 75% of the cycle in the container and then do the light photo period in the tank. Maybe im wrong and misunderstood them though. What you are saying is understandable, how would i get coraline to grow in the tank though with using only dry rock? I will have to introduce it somehow wont i? Also i plan on running bare-bottom with no sand, just rocks and marine pure for bacteria filtration.

 

[brandon429]

Well done summary I’ve only watched a little of the video. they must be using that as a curing process, it will not boost biology if light driven reactions aren’t taking place. *they likely mean that as a bleed off time for phosphate/ new rock typical challenges / so we aren’t stocking corals during invasion peaks. In that case yes brute is great

 

[MuffinMonster]

I started watching the series last night since i want to upgrade soon and wanted more knowledge. I have a IM 30L nano right now, i wish i would have took more time but it was my first saltwater setup and rushed into it, as many new people do! Its been running for 2 years+ now though, no deaths outside of some inverts and 1 acro. As im upgrading to a new tank though i would like to take things slower and do it properly this time around to insure better success off the get go! WWC is also using a portion of their established live rock from other tanks when cycling new tanks for 4 months. Which probably adds to their benefit on new tanks for sure. I hate the rock i currently have in my nano, which is why i am trying to start everything in the new tank fresh, save for my fish livestock.

 

[Christoporia]

I have had dry rock stacked in a 20 tall tank with heater and power head for over 2 weeks now. Started by adding Fritzyme bacteria and a cube of frozen mysis. 3 days ago I added a small amount of NoPox as a carbon source to help feed the bacteria along with regular weekly cubes of mysis. I noticed today that the water is slightly white cloudy and I am confident that it is a bacteria bloom from the NoPox. My question is what steps should I take now? Water change? Let it ride and see what happens? I have not done any testing on the tank as of yet.

 

[MuffinMonster]

My question is what steps should I take now? Water change? Let it ride and see what happens? I have not done any testing on the tank as of yet.

Sounds like its going good, i would personally probably not use NoPox while cycling rocks, i have no good reason for that explanation though. I just would feed it once or twice a week after the Fritzyme (or in my case ill use Dr Tim's one and only) and let everything else happen naturally. I would let it ride out and measure your ammonia/nitrites/nitrates, i would wait to have 0 ammonia and 0 nitrites and if nitrates got above 40/50ppm, after ammonia and nitrites at 0, i would probably do a water change and keep nitrate sitting around 20/30ppm. Im not the master at cycling rocks by any means, hence my original post lol. But i would be patient with it and give it a while and monitor levels and let it happen naturally as you feed it. Give it time to establish.

 

[matthias_bln]

I’m in the same situation as OP right now and have the same question: How do I actually get Coraline Algae to grow in that scenario? Where could I find a source of it to introduce? Thanks!

 

[Silver14SS]

I’m in the same situation as OP right now and have the same question: How do I actually get Coraline Algae to grow in that scenario? Where could I find a source of it to introduce? Thanks!

Snails, hermits, and frag plugs usually have it. ARC Reef has bottled coralline that works really well

Purple Helix Coralline Algae in a Bottle + Nitrifying Bacteria & Live Spores

ARC Reef's Purple Helix Coralline Algae in a bottle contains 7 different species of live algae spores. Seed your aquarium with epiphytic purple coralline.

arcreef.com

 

[matthias_bln]

Snails, hermits, and frag plugs usually have it. ARC Reef has bottled coralline that works really well

Purple Helix Coralline Algae in a Bottle + Nitrifying Bacteria & Live Spores

ARC Reef's Purple Helix Coralline Algae in a bottle contains 7 different species of live algae spores. Seed your aquarium with epiphytic purple coralline.

arcreef.com

Thanks!

 

[Dine]

I didn’t see it mentioned but it may be worth soaking that rock in brutes just to get the phosphates out. My experience is the reef saver leeches it pretty bad. I’d start testing your phosphates early on and either do large water changes or run GFO to remove it. I personally let mine soak for 6+months recently. Ran gfo in the beginning, took it offline, let the phosphates build back up, repeat. When no more leeching was detected I let it cycle with bottled bacteria for another 30-60 days w/ pods in the tank.

 

[symon_say]

The 4 month period in their video is basically to keep SPS, they add fish and other creatures Tu the tank, specifically those that keep pest at check, this way those creatures will take care of that ugly stage without you even see it.

I think that's a great approach, I'll so it on the tank in building even if I won't have any sps, the first year of a tank is a roller coaster stage and a lot of people through the towel, because they are always trying to fight something, when you just need a little patience an let the tank stabilize.