Help Cycling Dry Rock

[nater]

i am setting up my new 220 and i have 150 pounds marco dry rock and 30 pounds of dry shelf rock from BRS. how should i go about cycling everything? should i put the rock and sand which i have to get in the main display and cycle there? should i use a piece of live rock or just go with bacteria? can i use live rock and bacteria? any help and input to get me on my way would be helpful. thanks all

 

[BigFeesh]

For bacteria take the skimmate from your skimmer and pour like a cup of that in there. Also I would seed with some sand and small liverock

 

[_Alex_]

Put sand and rock in tank and get parameters straight and add a couple live rock. Then just throw in several table shrimp and let it do its job. Wont hurt ro add mb7 or instant ocean bacter, shouldn't take it long if you seed it with some live rock and a couple cups of live sand.

 

[nater]

never heard of using the skimmate from my skimmer before, that sounds yummy , lol. i guess i just need to get my sand and get my scaping done and fill the tank already! been working on this for a while and want to start it off right.

 

[nater]

what if i wanted to start my cycle in buckets? should i also cycle the sand as well in a container? or should i just cycle/cure everything in the main display?

 

[emerald525]

I used the brs eco rock and had it in a rubbermaid tub with a heater and a power head with a few pieces of live rock for 2 months while we worked on planning the build. We used dry sand. This worked well with minimal cycle. We had no nitrate spike or ammonia spike.

We also used the "old water" from our other tank to fill it up. It helps when u have 2 150 gallon tanks

 

[nater]

got ya , so i guess i could just start the cycle with the rock alone until i get the sand this week and then once the room is done i'll put everything in the display and continue from there. i'll be posting my tank thread soon , just been busy with everything and have not had time to get it going. i may use a small amount of my tank water to diverse the bacteria as well.

 

[Striike]

I would recommend leaving the sand out until the cycle is complete...if you can help it. The sand bed will absorb a lot of the bad stuff, and will in turn take longer for everything to be "processed" by your biological filter. Using old water, and maybe even a cup of skimmer soup may help kick start your cycle, but my approach, with a tank this size, would be to just take it slow. Once your rock and sand are in place, start with a couple of pieces of live stock. Before anyone assumes I am referring to the old "use a damsel to cycle the tank" please remember, we are talking a much larger volume of water. A small fish won't raise your levels to dangerous in this much water, but it will begin to kick start your biological filter. Of course, use the precautions of constant monitoring, but as long as you take it slow, it should be fine. My last suggestion is to acquire a piece of cured live rock from a local member, or your LFS, this would help populate the rest of your tank.

Just my 2 cents.

 

[nater]

thanks strike. i have been talking to a few people about it and your right about the size of the system and how long it will take to get bacteria growing in the amount of dry rock i am using. i will get the rock started first then throw in the sand around two weeks into the process. figure i can use some rock from my lfs and some live sand from them as well. i was also thinking about using prodibio bio-digest? thought it can't hurt to add some diverse bacteria or is this not worth the money?

 

[Striike]

I can't speak about this product you are asking as I have never looked into it, or used it myself. You seem to be on the right track. Have fun

 

[Troylee]

I would skip the live rock personally unless it's from your personal tank and pest free!!! I mean most people use dry Rock is to get Rid if problem algae or pests etc... Use a shrimp and some mb7 and if you have any other tanks use your old water from a water change and all will be well... I just set up my latest tank 2 months ago and I used all brand new dry Marco rock I filled it with 40 gallons of my old display water placed 2 rocks in there and moved my sps over the same day... Haven't lost a piece nor had any problems..

 

[nater]

ok , sounding easier by the minute , lol. i am going with all dry due to all the issues you mentioned. i do have a 5 micron filter bag i can use to filter my existing tank water for this tank. i plan on letting the rock soak for a bit so i'll use some tank water , some light shrimp feeding and some mb7. i could probably throw some live bacteria as well from the lfs. my friend might donate some pest free rock. i appreciate all the help. i'v never started from scratch and want to do it right. my guy at my lfs says i need to put some sort of fish in there as well to help feed the bacteria? is this true or can i do this with adding straight ammonia?

 

[Troylee]

The shrimp is your fish it's all you need, no reason to put a live animal at risk to cycle a tank... Mb7 and shrimp is the perfect cocktail..

 

[rygh]

I cycled my 220 with chopped frozen shrimp about 8 months ago. Same deal, all dry sand and dry rock.
I think I used about 5 shrimp. But my rocks were not super clean.

But I did have one problem, which I regret. In not using live rock, there is no coralline algae coverage,
and no coralline to seed the other rock quickly.
As such, hair algae got a bit established on all the bare live rock, and it is proving to be
more of a nuisance than usual.
So when you put the lights on after the cycle, my advice is to make sure you seed with coralline at the same time.

 

[grouse]

Ya dont need to go crazy, just did a 125 & moved my corals in as soon as the water got up to temp get Your rock
ready in totes or plastic garbage cans with circulation after a few days do 1-2 water changes a week with old tank water after bout 2 weeks Use stuff vacumed off the bottem of an established clean healthy system water will cloud up & clear in a day or two after water clears
Your about ready for a light bioload after that feed Your rock a lil fish food 1 or 2 times a week till Your ready to use & keep it dark to prevent algae add rock to tank after water is well mixed , vented & up to temp

 

[Irishguy]

thanks strike. i have been talking to a few people about it and your right about the size of the system and how long it will take to get bacteria growing in the amount of dry rock i am using. i will get the rock started first then throw in the sand around two weeks into the process. figure i can use some rock from my lfs and some live sand from them as well. i was also thinking about using prodibio bio-digest? thought it can't hurt to add some diverse bacteria or is this not worth the money?

Had a better cycle from using the mb7......awesome product no spikes and the first corals went in same day as the mb7 dose, and live stock was put in 3 days after coral no problems at all

 

[nixer]

when i did my 180 i ran it skimmer less and no light with ( brs pukani) rock only for 2 weeks. stunk real bad. adding mb7 as directed on the bottle.
then after 2 weeks started skimmer. week later i kicked on the lights which started cyano i also added a bad fish to the sump from my other tank. light period was 4 hours. after another 2 weeks i changed water and added some coraline scrapings and put cheato in the refugium. then i just took my time with the rest.once the cyano died off i put more fish. around a month later i added some starter frags from another tank

 

[Striike]

Since you are starting with all dry rock, this won't affect you. But just in case you decide to use a piece of live rock from another system, remember that its "live" rock. Allowing ammonia and nitrite levels to spike to high levels will kill the beneficial stuff. Again, only if you decide to go with the live rock: make sure you run your skimmer and keep a lot of spare water ready for massive water changes should you need it.

 

[btkrausen]

I'm doing the same thing right now on my 220. I did all brand new sand, all dry rock from BRS, and new water and salt. Right now, I have two large uncooked shrimp in there that I'll leave for a week or two, and then take out. Hopefully that starts the cycle. Plus, I'm adding MB7 this week, as I'll be traveling out of town next week, I plan to let it go til I get back from Texas mid August, and then test my parameters.

 

[tomle]

live rock will hold a lot of bacteria.