Cycling

[collosalness]

Sorry I know this has been brought up multiple times before…

As I start the researching process for my future tank, am looking into how I would start the cycling process.

When I was last running a tank I did shrimp/ghost feed cycles with live rock. I feel like there’s a lot of different options to start your cycle nowadays.

My lfs has cured live rock (and their tanks look fairly immaculate). I was contemplating doing live rock live sand, but is bottle bacs necessary when in theory the rocks and sand should be seeded already? Is there a need to do ammonia dosing to monitor the cycle or in theory small fish could be added (such as clowns) because this would be essentially moving established rocks to a new tank?

 

[sjslanina1992]

Even with live rock, adding to a new tank there will be some die off of bacteria. I'd still use something like Fritz turbo and then ghost feed or just add ammonia. That's what I did. Lot less stress on the fish. Especially dependent on size of tank. Need a proper bacteria ecosystem to combat that algae die off

 

[Cell]

If you are using live, wet rock from your LFS or fellow hobbyist or existing tank, don't waste money on bottled bac.

Live rock = skip cycle.

No need to dose ammonia. It's a good idea to just wait a day and test the water before adding livestock just to be safe but there should be minimal die off in a short trip from your LFS.

 

[Mr Fishface]

When I started my most recent tank, I used bottled bacteria as well as established live rock (bioballs) from a LFS. Then I bought some live sand and rock from one of those places you can buy from the ocean, gulf stream or something. All those together and I really skipped my whole cycle. Bought one springerii damsel to start with and had prime on hand in case of ammonia but never had any issues. After a while I bought a couple of clowns but it was a very easy process. A little expensive for the ocean rock/sand but it was something I always wanted to try.

 

[collosalness]

If you are using live, wet rock from your LFS or fellow hobbyist or existing tank, don't waste money on bottled bac.

Live rock = skip cycle.

No need to dose ammonia. It's a good idea to just wait a day and test the water before adding livestock just to be safe but there should be minimal die off in a short trip from your LFS.

Imagine even if there is a mild spike as long as live stock is introduced slowly and monitored it won’t be dangerous to the livestock?