Natural cycle?

[Djmike]

Is there such a thing? I have finally filled my new tank and I used live sand and dry rock from BRS. I've tested the water and readings are:
Ammonia-0
Nitrite-0
Nitrate-2
PH-8.2
Kh-2.7
Temp 76.7
Will the tank cycle naturally or do I have to add something? I see people say raw fish and then others say not to do that. Then I read fish food or bottled bacteria. What happens if I don't add anything? Just a little confused.
Mike

 

[marine2463]

I think with just live sand you don't have to add anything but it's gonna take forever to cycle

 

[BummersReef]

Yes it will take awhile... Patience! You can try and speed it up with bottled stuff or a little fish food but you just never know ... It will go at its own pace. With no live rock at all it will be longer. Consider one piece of fresh live rock if you have a good local fish store nearby - how big is the tank?

 

[Djmike]

34 gallons. I was all prepared to add the shrimp this morning but changed my mind when I read someone's post who said the water was nasty smelling because of it and very cloudy, and wished he didn't do it. I had asked this question before and was also told about the shrimp but didn't hear any negatives by doing so. If you can even call it a negative. I just want to make sure I don't mess up the whole tank and have to start all over again.
Mike

 

[marine2463]

I used the raw shrimp to cycle my tank.... I had no issues .. I put it in a mesh bag in the tank to make it easy to remove .... The bottles stuff also works good with no issues
Even using these 2 ways your still looking at about a month of cycle

 

[Djmike]

So the shrimp wont totally decompose? Is there an amount of time I should leave it in? Time is on my side. I've been looking at an empty tank for almost 6 weeks waiting to get everything I needed. Yes it was killing me but I know going in I wont see any life form until September sometime.
Mike

 

[marine2463]

I took it out before it completely decompose by then you should have a ammonia spike
Then you want to ghost feed the tank to give the bacteria something to eat
If they don't have an ammonia source you will stall the cycle

 

[Djmike]

Ok I get it. Thank you for the responses.
Mike

 

[reeferfoxx]

I did the live sand and brs reef saver rock with bio-spire per BRS video. I poured bio-spira in the tank. It was good to go in 48 hours. Added a azure damsel from QT and 30 days later I turned the lights on. Never had an ammonia or nitrite spike. I returned the Azure damsel back to the LFS and added my two clowns from another tank I have. Tanks been running for 7 months now. Pods growing, sponges, I even seeded some brittlestars from the other tank.

 

[Djmike]

Well it's been 3 days since I put the raw shrimp in the tank and today my house smells like we just fried a ton of fish.. Any ideas? I thought I smelled it a little this morning before work but now its pretty bad. Should I remove it from the water? It seems to be getting worse now.

 

[Djmike]

You cant make this stuff up... Ok so now that I made a total fool of myself... The smell is not from my tank. My wife said my son had fried calamari for dinner last night and threw the scraps in the garbage and forgot to take out the trash... Please hold back the laughter... The shrimp in the tank will stay!!
Mike

 

[Travis Rider]

I used a bottle of Bio-Spira to kick start my cycle. I set up a 75G tank with dry rock and only one piece of live rock. Within 2 weeks I was ready for live stock. I recently set up a BioCube and used a bottle of Bio-Spira and it cycled in one week. I also used live sand and rock to start it though. I have heard several success stories of using raw shrimp and/or a little tank feeding a couple of times to jump start the cycle. Each process takes time. I have learned in this hobby to be patient, although I hate it at times.