Live rock!

[Manuelnvrz]

This question has probably been answered a thousand times but havnt found a definite answer, I'm starting my new nano tank and was curious as to use uncured or cured live rock to start my tank cycle? Thanks!


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[justgotwet]

Cured live rock will help your tank cycle a little quicker. A lot of people go with mostly base rock and add 1 or 2 live rock to seed the base rock.

 

[Manuelnvrz]

So cured is better than uncured?


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[skinz78]

Cured is better but I prefer to use dry rock, then you don't have the hitchhikers.

 

[mike007]

Cured rock is sometimes better because alot of the nasty stuff that comes with the rock has time to die off. That means less problems.

 

[Manuelnvrz]

And this will start a tank cycle?


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[SeahorseKeeper]

I like to use mostly dry rock and then a nice piece of cured live rock that is hand selected.

 

[Manuelnvrz]

Ok so I have a 10g nano and I'm looking to put in some live rock to cycle, how many lbs of live rock should I get and how many lbs of dry? Dry is cheaper right?


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[Manuelnvrz]

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[MelissaKathryn]

With such a small tank, you can get 20lbs of rock. Initially, You can get 10lbs of base rock and then 5-10lbs of live cured rock.. or just one or two pieces. Just remember, the more rock you have, the more natural filtration you have, the more pods and other organisms for food grow, and the more hiding places you can make for your other critters.

 

[Rikerbear]

Common school of thought is 1 lb of rock per gallon.....me I do 1 1/2 lbs per gal.
So for your 10 gal nano, you could do 8 lbs dry and a couple lbs of cured live as seed stock.....you will still need to add an ammonia source (piece of raw shrimp or fish food)

 

[Manuelnvrz]

So the live rock won't be the ammonia I need to start my cycle?


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[MelissaKathryn]

We just used the live rock to cycle our tank.. we didn't know about the shrimp or anything. We added fish at about the 6 week mark in our 55 gallon, but added our "clean up crew" before that.. i think the first few at the 2 week mark? Wish I had kept better records! Then again, most of our rock was live rock from our friend.. soooo maybe we had a greater advantage?

 

[Manuelnvrz]

So with cured live rock I still need the dead shrimp?


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[Manuelnvrz]

Is there a way to uncure my live rock?


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[spznm]

You don't need live rock to cycle tank but it will just speed up the process... if you go dry rock then just add bacteria (sold in a bottle) and test often to see the ammonia spike, then nitrite, then finally nitrate...

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[Loki]

Yeah just dry the rock out


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[Manuelnvrz]

So when I dry it out, how long do I let it dry for? And will it stay "live" rock?


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[Loki]

I like all dry rock. When I started my 120 I put 92lbs of dry rock in it and 125lbs of sand. No shrimp, bottles of stuff, nothing. It took two months and I had a small cycle. I added a pair of clowns and let it go though the process again to catch up to the new bio load.

There is no "best" way to get rock or to cycle a tank. If I were you and since you have such a small tank I would pick one or two pieces (or more) of dry rock that fill enough of the tank to make your eyes happy. Then put the sand you like in there and let it do its thing.

Don't worry about trying to speed up the cycle because its actually a good learning experience and a good way to make sure you know your tank.


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[spznm]

Why you want to dry it? When you dry it you will kill everything inside it which is why its called dry because all living inside the rock will die.

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