Dry rock
- Thread starter daniel rinebolt
- Start date
- Tagged users None
XNavyDiver
Insightful answer loading... please wait.
You could, but most will cure it for a while to avoid the breakdown of any leftover organics that might be on it.
daniel rinebolt
Community Member
- Joined
- Mar 7, 2018
- Messages
- 67
- Reaction score
- 6
So your saying if i don' cure it, just take longer for my tank to cycle
Tony Thompson
Active Member
Hi IMO, like @chefjpaul mentioned, it depends on the type of rock. If its dry live rock (dead rock with dead organics on it) I personally would not let it cycle in the tank, especially if its not been cleaned. IME your phosphates levels could be very significant. You could always try a manufactured rock like real reef rock. IMO a much safer and sustainable option.
Jason mack
Monti madness
Yes this is true , but the die off you get will also help with starting the cycle ,some use a dead shrimp , some add ammonia from the supermarket ,I started mine with dry rock and never cured it first , never had any problems. the cycle will take between 10-14 weeks ..
daniel rinebolt
Community Member
- Joined
- Mar 7, 2018
- Messages
- 67
- Reaction score
- 6
Thank you ive been hearing the mostly dry and some live to seed it.
XNavyDiver
Insightful answer loading... please wait.
Yep, I started with dry pukani and I used dr. toms with a pure ammonia source. For months I struggled with low/no nutrients.
daniel rinebolt
Community Member
- Joined
- Mar 7, 2018
- Messages
- 67
- Reaction score
- 6
So
Do you just rinse yours off
Jason mack
Monti madness
Yes with rodi water , use pincers too remove any dead crabs , sponges ,en so forth, give it a good shake too and see what falls out .. and too fix the stones for your aquascape I can highly recommend this aqua forest stone fix .. can be used under water too !
Jason mack
Monti madness
Here’s a good thread for you too read on cycling a tank and the different methods !
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/cycling-an-aquarium.306554/
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/cycling-an-aquarium.306554/
rkpetersen
walked the sand with the crustaceans
Cycling rocks in the tank will work, but there are real benefits to doing it outside the tank in a Brute or other similar container, and then transferring them.
1. Pretreat rocks with dilute muriatic acid to remove much of the organic matter.
2. Treat rocks with a large amounts of lanthanum chloride to remove phosphate. Rinsing after treatment keeps excess lanthanum out of your DT.
3. With the smaller amount of water, and use of ammonium chloride and seed bacteria, the nitrifying bacterial cycle can be greatly accelerated (2 weeks to 0 NH3, 0 NO2).
4. After cycling is complete, transferring the rocks to DT leaves behind the typically large amount of nitrate produced by the accelerated cycle.
I used all dry rock on the new 100g tank I just started; a mix of Marco, Pukani, Fiji, and Tonga rock. I processed it as above and was at the end of the cycle in 3 weeks start to finish. When I put it in the DT, there was a 1 day nitrite bump to 0.2. That was the last of nitrite or ammonia. Now 3 weeks in, with no water changes so far, nitrate is 0, phosphorus is 13 (phosphate .04), other parameters are spot on, there are 5 fish, 6 BTAs, a large Aussie Elegance, a Frogspawn, and a variety of shrimp, all doing well. Very mild algae growth on the rocks. Chaeto, transferred from another tank, growing like a weed in the sump. Frightening amount of pods on the glass already (must have come over on the chaeto; took 6 months to appear in the other tank.) Still working on establishing coralline algae.
I like this method. It seems to work. I still don't think it's nearly as impressive as what you can achieve with live rock, but the cost difference is huge, and the absence of nasty hitchhikers on dry rock is really nice. I thank everyone who developed these procedures and shared info on how to proceed successfully.
1. Pretreat rocks with dilute muriatic acid to remove much of the organic matter.
2. Treat rocks with a large amounts of lanthanum chloride to remove phosphate. Rinsing after treatment keeps excess lanthanum out of your DT.
3. With the smaller amount of water, and use of ammonium chloride and seed bacteria, the nitrifying bacterial cycle can be greatly accelerated (2 weeks to 0 NH3, 0 NO2).
4. After cycling is complete, transferring the rocks to DT leaves behind the typically large amount of nitrate produced by the accelerated cycle.
I used all dry rock on the new 100g tank I just started; a mix of Marco, Pukani, Fiji, and Tonga rock. I processed it as above and was at the end of the cycle in 3 weeks start to finish. When I put it in the DT, there was a 1 day nitrite bump to 0.2. That was the last of nitrite or ammonia. Now 3 weeks in, with no water changes so far, nitrate is 0, phosphorus is 13 (phosphate .04), other parameters are spot on, there are 5 fish, 6 BTAs, a large Aussie Elegance, a Frogspawn, and a variety of shrimp, all doing well. Very mild algae growth on the rocks. Chaeto, transferred from another tank, growing like a weed in the sump. Frightening amount of pods on the glass already (must have come over on the chaeto; took 6 months to appear in the other tank.) Still working on establishing coralline algae.
I like this method. It seems to work. I still don't think it's nearly as impressive as what you can achieve with live rock, but the cost difference is huge, and the absence of nasty hitchhikers on dry rock is really nice. I thank everyone who developed these procedures and shared info on how to proceed successfully.
Last edited:
