Cycling New Tank Question

[MD11drvr]

I'm starting my second and last tank in this lifetime and was thinking of doing it a little differently than my first 110gal FOWLR which I started with wet live rock and live sand. Generally, the tank did pretty well and once things got stabilized it remained beautiful for many, many years with minimal maintenance. Lost that tank in a move. 10yrs later and missing the hobby, I'm starting a new 200 gal mixed reef tank and was thinking of going dry rock (to prevent hitchhikers which I got the first time), live sand and Dr. Tim's One and Only. The tank does not even have water in yet so I was thinking rock scape first, then water, then warm it up and bring to proper salinity (adding the salt directly since I don't have 200 gallons worth of containers) , adding the live sand and then lastly, the Dr. Tims. Any thoughts or advice on this would be appreciated.

 

[rainmaker]

If you go with dry rock you should cure the rock in a tote or other tank for a few weeks

 

[MD11drvr]

Thanks for the tip!

 

[rainmaker]

I learned the hard way shuld of done it my self

 

[Xclusive Reef]

I am in the process of cycling a QT tank, almost the same. From this experience all I can tell you is give it a good 16-17 days. I started with DR. Tim's and after 5 days I switched over to Seachem Stability (I am such a noob lol) thinking Dr. Tim's was bad. I did not have anything live in the start of the cycle, I started with some seachem matrix and Aquaforest Biofil.
I only started seeing my ammonia go down at day 16.

Depending on how much time you have and how much of in a hurry you are, I would do it all over the same way... You can speed up the cycle if you have a piece of live rock to start with. Since Mine was a QT tank, I did not want to introduce any pests into the tank. Your other option is ATM Colony, I have a friend that started with that cycle and added fish on day 1.

 

[deedubz]

Welcome to r2r! When I started my tank I ordered some dry rock from John at reefcleaners. It's mined from an ancient reef in Florida so there's no hitchikers or decay. It is dusty so you'd want to wash it off before dropping it in. I had no more algae issues than anyone else. I buy all my rock, inverts, and chaeto from him. Great guy

 

[MD11drvr]

Well, my tank is finally cycled! Thanks to all who provided advice! BUT - now I'm having a diatom issue that is turning my beautiful pink fiji sand and rock into a brown mess! Anybody have any ideas on the best way to remove it? Currently, the tank houses only a yellow tang, 2 Ocellaris clowns, 2 cleaner shrimp and a myriad of characters for the "cleaner crew" (emerald crabs, an assortment of snails and a few blue tip hermits). BTW my water comes from a well, goes through a water softener system and then still goes through my 4 stage RODI. Yes, my TDS is a perfect ZERO. My LFS still thinks its a well water issue in the area. I've been told to run Seachem Phosguard and Dr. Tim's Refresh. I'm also running Purigen and Matrix Carbon as I am a stickler for crystal clear water! I'm also keeping the lights off for all but maybe 1 hour/day (30 minutes in the AM and another 30 in the PM) to feed the fish. Any thoughts?

 

[rainmaker]

Had diatom also for a while part of the cycle still ,water changes help also run filter socks an change often. I personally started dosing nopox to bring down my nitrates it seemed to help also an continued to add bacteria. Still took about 4weeks to start to go away now mostly clean sand an rock only see a spot or two where I need better water flow. Oh yes an up your water flow in tank. Seemed to help to increase skimming ran a wet skimmate for a while also an blew off rocks with turkey baster every day or two

 

[Reafer]

If using dry rock I wold suggest using something like Bio-Spira, I have used it on a few tanks and it really kick starts the cycle.