Cycling with cured rock

[joewong93]

Hi all, i am new to this hobby & started to cycle a new 20gallon nano tank with cured rock and live sand.
Basically I just followed the aquarium owner’s instruction using microbacter7 and brightwell biofuel only.
This is day 4 and the test kit is not picking up any ammonia or nitrate.
Is these products sufficient to cycle the tank? I feel like nothing is going on here

 

[Garf]

Hi all, i am new to this hobby & started to cycle a new 20gallon nano tank with cured rock and live sand.
Basically I just followed the aquarium owner’s instruction using microbacter7 and brightwell biofuel only.
This is day 4 and the test kit is not picking up any ammonia or nitrate.
Is these products sufficient to cycle the tank? I feel like nothing is going on here

So this is liverock, from a running tank? Is the sand from a running tank also?

 

[joewong93]

So this is liverock, from a running tank? Is the sand from a running tank also?

No the rock is transported wet, a lot of things has been cleaned out. & the sand comes from a sealed plastic bag

 

[EZKLR]

need to introduce some ammonia load to see if it coverts to nitrite and then to nitrates. Unless you have some fish in there, you'll have to introduce ammonia another way. if you introduce and nitrites stay at zero, you're good to start slowly adding fish

 

[Garf]

No the rock is transported wet, a lot of things has been cleaned out. & the sand comes from a sealed plastic bag

I would expect that you have bypassed the traditional cycle. When are you planning on get livestock? You could ghost feed it first to see if the ammonia jumps (just to be certain) but maybe not necessary. I’m assuming you’re not going to quarantine so finding a quality reliable source is important.

 

[427HISS]

Go very,....slow. If you rush anything in our hobby, it usually doesn't turn out well. Add one fish and lightly feed a few times per day. Preform tests everyday as well to see how the cycle is doing, especially in small tanks as things can change quickly.

 

[Garf]

No the rock is transported wet, a lot of things has been cleaned out. & the sand comes from a sealed plastic bag

I’m curious of the source of your water, RODI or tapwater?

 

[KrisReef]

Hi all, i am new to this hobby & started to cycle a new 20gallon nano tank with cured rock and live sand.
Basically I just followed the aquarium owner’s instruction using microbacter7 and brightwell biofuel only.
This is day 4 and the test kit is not picking up any ammonia or nitrate.
Is these products sufficient to cycle the tank? I feel like nothing is going on here

You need to look very, very closely at the surface of the live rock to see the bacteria growing there. It's probably already grown enough as live rock you could have added fish and corals from day one. The advice to go slow is from folks who have watched new tanks get filled inside the first month of existence with all kinds of fish and coral. They will look ok for awhile, but then something will happen and algae, diatoms, or pest organisms will grow out of control and then coral and fish start dying and you will wonder how come it's all going south.

So, go slow, it's ready for some life but add and watch and move slowly for best results.

Welcome to Reef2Reef!

 

[joewong93]

I’m curious of the source of your water, RODI or tapwater?

RO water

 

[joewong93]

You need to look very, very closely at the surface of the live rock to see the bacteria growing there. It's probably already grown enough as live rock you could have added fish and corals from day one. The advice to go slow is from folks who have watched new tanks get filled inside the first month of existence with all kinds of fish and coral. They will look ok for awhile, but then something will happen and algae, diatoms, or pest organisms will grow out of control and then coral and fish start dying and you will wonder how come it's all going south.

So, go slow, it's ready for some life but add and watch and move slowly for best results.

Welcome to Reef2Reef!

Oh ok but how would I know if bacteria is growing on the rock? Are they visible in some form?

 

[KrisReef]

Oh ok but how would I know if bacteria is growing on the rock? Are they visible in some form?

Microscope to see anything, but they probably will feel like a slimy film.