How to cycle dry rock in DT

[moneymm22]

Is there a good how to guide for cycling dry rock in DT?

 

[Brady4000]

This:

Fritz-Zyme TurboStart 900 - Fritz

Rapidly cycle your aquarium in as little as 5 days! Start your aquarium's nitrogen cycle the right way by using only the best live nitrifying bacteria. TurboStart 900 contains proven strains of effective, live nitrifying bacteria in a highly concentrated form. TurboStart 900 reduces fish loss...

www.bulkreefsupply.com

And this:

Cycling an Aquarium

Cycling a new aquarium. One of the earliest topics a new aquarium hobbyist needs to learn is how to properly cycle their aquarium. There is a ton of information on this process and many different methods on how to accomplish it. There are many...

www.reef2reef.com

Also, this is helpful:


Good luck!!

 

[moneymm22]

thanks. if i go with the BRS video method.

put in dry rock, saltwater, any powerhead (flow isnt that important yet im guessing) and immediately put in a hardy clownfish along with 4 oz of dr tims one and only. or is this not immediate? should i be doing alot of water changes like i would if setting up the fish in a quarantine tank?

after that just monitor nitrates, ammonia, nitrites before proceeding to next steps...

is all this right?


during this time, what type of light schedule should i have the tank on? do i need to have my sump and filter running? i am still working on the stand, so my DT is just sitting on the floor, but i figured i should get the cycle ball rolling.

 

[brandon429]

their method is flawed because it instantly brings disease into your tank.


add the bottle bac, three pinches of ground up flake feed instead per Dr. Reefs bottle bac trick, wait ten days, you're cycled

before fish intro, select fish disease protocol.



@BRS

do you agree, anyone following your plan needs a fish disease plan selected

 

[ReefGeezer]

As far as the nitrogen cycle is concerned, all methods work. Dry rock is no different than any other substrate. Bottled bacteria or just letting nature provide it; providing ammonia with ammonium chloride, liquid ammonia, decaying shrimp or other food source, or by adding a fish; lights on, lights off; skimmer or no skimmer; etc.. The only difference is the speed at which the cycle... the complete cycle... is established.

Personally, I use the ammonium chloride/Fritzyme method & monitor the cycle until nitrite has risen and fallen to 0 on my Salifert kit. This cycle method generally takes 3 weeks for me as I am never in a hurry. I do think that some available organic carbon is necessary for the cycle to progress more efficiently. I always add a little flake food (just once, right at the beginning) to new, sterile tanks when cycling them. Oxygen is important to the ammonia/nitrite reduction part of the cycle, so a power head or airstone is important too.

The difference with dry rock occurs after the nitrogen cycle is established. It will mature much more slowly than a system using live rock. Generally speaking, the ugly stage will be longer and more difficult to manage. That's not bad, but needs to be expected to keep the frustration level down.

 

[moneymm22]

As far as the nitrogen cycle is concerned, all methods work. Dry rock is no different than any other substrate. Bottled bacteria or just letting nature provide it; providing ammonia with ammonium chloride, liquid ammonia, decaying shrimp or other food source, or by adding a fish; lights on, lights off; skimmer or no skimmer; etc.. The only difference is the speed at which the cycle... the complete cycle... is established.

Personally, I use the ammonium chloride/Fritzyme method & monitor the cycle until nitrite has risen and fallen to 0 on my Salifert kit. This cycle method generally takes 3 weeks for me as I am never in a hurry. I do think that some available organic carbon is necessary for the cycle to progress more efficiently. I always add a little flake food (just once, right at the beginning) to new, sterile tanks when cycling them. Oxygen is important to the ammonia/nitrite reduction part of the cycle, so a power head or airstone is important too.

The difference with dry rock occurs after the nitrogen cycle is established. It will mature much more slowly than a system using live rock. Generally speaking, the ugly stage will be longer and more difficult to manage. That's not bad, but needs to be expected to keep the frustration level down.

i have seen this over and over again, but I would love if there were some steps to follow one by one , so i can make sure im not doing something silly like putting the lights on too soon.

 

[ReefGeezer]

i have seen this over and over again, but I would love if there were some steps to follow one by one , so i can make sure im not doing something silly like putting the lights on too soon.

There really isn't much you can do wrong. Lights can be on or off... skimmer can run or not. I'll give you step by step instructions I use but someone else will differ with my method and recommend something else... and they won't be wrong either. Welcome to the hobby.

Step 1: Establish salinity and temperature. I leave the lights off to prevent algae, but turning them on doesn't hurt anything.
Step 2: Start power head, air stone, or some other method to move water and ensure aeration. I let my skimmer run to aid in aeration.
Step 3: Buy decent Test Kits for Ammonia and Nitrite. I use Salifert kits.
Step 4: Add Ammonium chloride, or liquid ammonia, a little at a time until ammonia test kit reads about 2 ppm. I use ammonium chloride because it is easy to measure and safer to handle.
Step 5: Add your choice of bottled bacteria product per the MFG's directions. I use Fritzyme.
Step 6: Add a pinch of dry fish food. I use small pellets.
Step 7: WAIT... Test for ammonia every few days.
Step 8: WAIT... When ammonia reads 0, add a little more fish food, and test for nitrites every few days.
Step 9: WAIT... When nitrites are 0 the cycle is complete. Do a 30% water change and start stocking the tank.

It is important here to stock slowly and feed sparingly for a while until you understand the carrying capacity of your biological filter. Note here that nitrates will be elevated at the end of the cycle but are not an issue. By limiting the initial ammonia dose to 2 ppm, and only adding a couple pinches of food you limit how high they can be. As the biological process matures it will be easier to maintain low nitrate levels. You may have to do water changes and use some other export methods early on in the process if you want to manage nitrates.

 

[Brady4000]

and immediately put in a hardy clownfish along with 4 oz of dr tims one and only

You can, and yes it would work. However, here is a quote from the article I gave you.

Adding a fish – while it will work as an ammonia source, why would you make a fish suffer in an environment in which it can’t properly shed its toxins?

Also what Brandon is saying should not be taken lightly, last thing you want is to cycle a tank and immediately go into an ich battle.

their method is flawed because it instantly brings disease into your tank.

Food for thought.

Also I would look into turbo start. Might speed things up for you. I personally used Dr Tim’s. But after reading the post below, I’ll use Turbo next time.

Bacteria in a bottle, Myth or Fact

Call me old school, back in the day we placed a deli shrimp in a tank to kick start the cycle. When tank reached 1.5-2 ppm ammonia we pulled it out and waited sometimes weeks to months for bacteria to colonize and drop ammonia and nitrites down to 0 to make tank safe for livestock. With recent...

www.reef2reef.com

 

[brandon429]

oops I mis posted here from another thread.