Need help with live rock
- Thread starter Shawndre
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ritter6788
Coral Fraud Private Eye
Welcome to R2R!
You're going to need test kits for Ammonia, Nitrite and Nitrate. Basically you want to soak the rock in saltwater and aerate until you get an ammonia reading. Ammonia then converts to Nitrite so you should be testing for that also. Once Ammonia and Nitrite reach ZERO you should get a Nitrate reading and you rock should be close to, if not fully cycled. I always wait longer to avoid any mini cycles that can occur after the initial cycle.
You're going to need test kits for Ammonia, Nitrite and Nitrate. Basically you want to soak the rock in saltwater and aerate until you get an ammonia reading. Ammonia then converts to Nitrite so you should be testing for that also. Once Ammonia and Nitrite reach ZERO you should get a Nitrate reading and you rock should be close to, if not fully cycled. I always wait longer to avoid any mini cycles that can occur after the initial cycle.
cfcheong
Community Member
Welcome to reef2reef, I am one month old in this hobby and I can share you some of my newbie expreience.
First you get your tank cleaned, put some nice live sand and live rock, full the tank up with RO/DI water with salt mixed which helps a lot, I didn't have a RO/DI system when I started so I just used tap water with conditioner and I experienced a diatom bloom, all live sand turning deep brown, which is normal, they will go away. You need to mix the salt outside the tank and make sure no more salt is left at the bottom. 25% water change every week, use the salt water test kit taking reading 2 to 3 times per week. You may wanna put one or two petco $3.99 damsels into the tank to speed up the cycle, instant ocean bio-spira helps a lot too. I did what I suggested to you and my tank is cycled in 4 weeks.
First you get your tank cleaned, put some nice live sand and live rock, full the tank up with RO/DI water with salt mixed which helps a lot, I didn't have a RO/DI system when I started so I just used tap water with conditioner and I experienced a diatom bloom, all live sand turning deep brown, which is normal, they will go away. You need to mix the salt outside the tank and make sure no more salt is left at the bottom. 25% water change every week, use the salt water test kit taking reading 2 to 3 times per week. You may wanna put one or two petco $3.99 damsels into the tank to speed up the cycle, instant ocean bio-spira helps a lot too. I did what I suggested to you and my tank is cycled in 4 weeks.
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Hello and welcome to r2r. Your cycle will be started with a source of ammonia which you will get from the die off on your live rock. If you don't have a basic test kit yet for testing ammonia nitrites and nitrates you will want to pick one up do that you can monitor those levels during your cycle.
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MaidOfDishonor
Community Member
I'm glad you asked this. I'm going through the same thing right now. I added live sand and rock almost two weeks ago and now I guess I should change the tank water. 25% will do? What percent do you change after it's cycled and how often?
I have seen two lines of thought on this. Some say that doing a wc during the cycle can slow the cycle down. While I have also read that doing wc during the cycle will not harm it and could actually help the cycle along. Myself when I first set up my tank and was cycling I held off on wc until my cycle finished. Once my cycle was done I started doing wc in a biweekly basis of about 10 to 15%.
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I also did not do any water changes during the cycle. One thing I disagree with that is startled above. Do NOT ad a damsel to your tank. Once you get your reef established and your cycle is long gone you will still have the damsel. It will turn into the boogie man and be as elusive as big foot when you want to get it out of your tank. 
I did my first water change a couple of days before I added my first livestock and that was a few days or so after my cycle.
Moral of the story...... No damsels.... Ever.....
I did my first water change a couple of days before I added my first livestock and that was a few days or so after my cycle.
Moral of the story...... No damsels.... Ever.....
Pappy
Valuable Member
I also did not do any water changes during the cycle. One thing I disagree with that is startled above. Do NOT ad a damsel to your tank. Once you get your reef established and your cycle is long gone you will still have the damsel. It will turn into the boogie man and be as elusive as big foot when you want to get it out of your tank.
I did my first water change a couple of days before I added my first livestock and that was a few days or so after my cycle.
Moral of the story...... No damsels.... Ever.....
+1 if you wanna start the cycle use a piece of shrimp instead.
Mike D "like the beastie boys" Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
cfcheong
Community Member
I also did not do any water changes during the cycle. One thing I disagree with that is startled above. Do NOT ad a damsel to your tank. Once you get your reef established and your cycle is long gone you will still have the damsel. It will turn into the boogie man and be as elusive as big foot when you want to get it out of your tank.
I did my first water change a couple of days before I added my first livestock and that was a few days or so after my cycle.
Moral of the story...... No damsels.... Ever.....
You two were right, the two damsel have been removed
