Who is correct?

[SlicVic]

New to reefing. Just got a BioCube 32 oh, wash the aragonite and put it in the bottom, put all my saltwater which I mixed myself with the correct salinity in it oh, and now I wanted to put in my live rock for cycling. I've been getting conflicting information saying that I can't put live rock in without fish because there won't be anything to feed the live rock. I don't want to put fish in there because they will just die during the cycle. How should I cycle this How should I cycle the aquarium

 

[Impala67]

New to reefing. Just got a BioCube 32 oh, wash the aragonite and put it in the bottom, put all my saltwater which I mixed myself with the correct salinity in it oh, and now I wanted to put in my live rock for cycling. I've been getting conflicting information saying that I can't put live rock in without fish because there won't be anything to feed the live rock. I don't want to put fish in there because they will just die during the cycle. How should I cycle this How should I cycle the aquarium

From what I understand the live rock will be just fine without fish. I would just add some fish food without anything live in the tank just a little pinch a day like your feeding a ghost fish lol. Or you could add the live rock and use turbo start to get it going that would be good as well. Also if you don’t want to buy expensive fish I used a group of dalmatian mollies they survived the whole cycle and my tank was established a lot faster, I know people say this is inhuman but it’s also natural!

 

[Tamberav]

New to reefing. Just got a BioCube 32 oh, wash the aragonite and put it in the bottom, put all my saltwater which I mixed myself with the correct salinity in it oh, and now I wanted to put in my live rock for cycling. I've been getting conflicting information saying that I can't put live rock in without fish because there won't be anything to feed the live rock. I don't want to put fish in there because they will just die during the cycle. How should I cycle this How should I cycle the aquarium

You do not need fish. Bacteria are resilient and will be just fine with it without adding food.

Was the info from Facebook or something?

 

[Pistondog]

Welcome Slicvic,
Here's one thread, there are many about cycling

Thread 'Fishless Cycling question' https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/fishless-cycling-question.889615/

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

agree with above, no fish needed for rocks to be 'live'

 

[Big Smelly fish]

You can add the rock, depending on where you got the rock and how long out of water how much die off.

 

[Dburr1014]

New to reefing. Just got a BioCube 32 oh, wash the aragonite and put it in the bottom, put all my saltwater which I mixed myself with the correct salinity in it oh, and now I wanted to put in my live rock for cycling. I've been getting conflicting information saying that I can't put live rock in without fish because there won't be anything to feed the live rock. I don't want to put fish in there because they will just die during the cycle. How should I cycle this How should I cycle the aquarium

Just as stated above, ghost feed.
Put your rocks in so they are stable without the sand. Down the road if you get sand shifters and they tunnle under the rock they will tumble.

 

[Spare time]

New to reefing. Just got a BioCube 32 oh, wash the aragonite and put it in the bottom, put all my saltwater which I mixed myself with the correct salinity in it oh, and now I wanted to put in my live rock for cycling. I've been getting conflicting information saying that I can't put live rock in without fish because there won't be anything to feed the live rock. I don't want to put fish in there because they will just die during the cycle. How should I cycle this How should I cycle the aquarium

Is the live rock wet from the store or was dry rock?

 

[Rmckoy]

Put the rocks in .
any beneficial bacteria will only help and possibly speed up a cycle .
Depending if the rocks are actually live or not …
Just moving from one body of water to another you might experience some die off ( elevated ammonia )

but in most cases … you won’t see any ammonia spike , but won’t see nitrates either as there is no nutrients to be processed

 

[bruno3047]

Let me add my voice to the chorus of people who say you don’t need fish. There’ll be enough die-off on the live rock to sustain the nitrification process. Monitor your levels like you would any cycle. If you don’t see any appreciable increase in ammonia after a week, then you probably won’t cycle at all.

 

[Danroo]

I setup a new tank, added rodi water first in the tank half filled, let it get mixed thoroughly, added my life rock and added more rodi water to fill the tank, added more salt to get the right salinity, added heater and then lastly poured in the sand. Let it run like this for a day. Next day I added fritz turbo start and added one fish. Tested the tank no ammonia since day one and already had 2.5 ppm nitrates.

 

[SlicVic]

From what I understand the live rock will be just fine without fish. I would just add some fish food without anything live in the tank just a little pinch a day like your feeding a ghost fish lol. Or you could add the live rock and use turbo start to get it going that would be good as well. Also if you don’t want to buy expensive fish I used a group of dalmatian mollies they survived the whole cycle and my tank was established a lot faster, I know people say this is inhuman but it’s also natural!

Thank you for your information! I'm just so nervous about everything!

 

[SlicVic]

I setup a new tank, added rodi water first in the tank half filled, let it get mixed thoroughly, added my life rock and added more rodi water to fill the tank, added more salt to get the right salinity, added heater and then lastly poured in the sand. Let it run like this for a day. Next day I added fritz turbo start and added one fish. Tested the tank no ammonia since day one and already had 2.5 ppm nitrates.

Thank you for the information. I just don't want any animals to die drink cycling!

 

[IslandLifeReef]

Thank you for the information. I just don't want any animals to die drink cycling!

@SlicVic, is your live rock dry or has it been kept wet the whole time? If it is dry, it is no longer “live” rock.

This only matters in the amount of time it takes for your tank to cycle. With live rock, you are curing the rock, letting anything that may die off during the transfer to do so and the tank to process the material. If it is dry, then you need to build the bacteria on the surface of the rock for the nitrogen process to take place. There are many ways to do this, but the simplest way is to put the water and rock in the tank and let it sit for 30 days. The bacteria is in the air and will then make it into the tank and populate the rock. Then, slowly add your fish.

 

[Doctorgori]

…off topic a lil but you if you have the room, and money do your tank a favor and get at least one piece of gulf rock…You might find the added biodiversity circumvents a few issues later …BOLO for pest

 

[Lasse]

You maybe get some useful idea from this

15 Steps to Starting a Saltwater Aquarium: The Lasse Method

15 Steps to Starting a Saltwater Aquarium: The Lasse Method Display Tank. Photos are all courtesy of Lasse Forsberg. ©2019, All Rights Reserved. INTRODUCTION There are many methods to start a saltwater aquarium--each major aquarium product manufacturer has its own. Common to most, however...

www.reef2reef.com

Sincerely Lasse

 

[SudzFD]

New to reefing. Just got a BioCube 32 oh, wash the aragonite and put it in the bottom, put all my saltwater which I mixed myself with the correct salinity in it oh, and now I wanted to put in my live rock for cycling. I've been getting conflicting information saying that I can't put live rock in without fish because there won't be anything to feed the live rock. I don't want to put fish in there because they will just die during the cycle. How should I cycle this How should I cycle the aquarium

20 years in this hobby and haven’t heard that. If your LFS told you that, I think they are just trying to sell more fish knowing some will die. I hope that’s not the case but if so, find a new LFS.

some people, myself included add bacteria to the new tank to help the cycling.

either way you will be fine, just do long as you wait on your fish. Welcome to R2R. This forum is a wealth of information.

 

[Freenow54]

I cycled mine using the " How to fishless cycle a tank with ammonia " Worked great for me. I am afraid I do not know the author. One thing you need to use PURE Ammonia . Other question is that to me there is great confusion as to what classifies " live rock ". The stores may be calling it live rock when it is a manufactured product that they put in salt water. I do not know. I would think myself that if you add a full dose of ammonia 4 ppm. As the article suggests that adding organic matter ( fish food ) has to break down to produce ammonia, and adding ammonia straight skips that stage. Anyway you will be able to do this and confirm that the cycle is complete. The 4 ppm of ammonia should be gone in 24 hours. My idea anyway

 

[Danroo]

Thank you for the information. I just don't want any animals to die drink cycling!

Don’t worry this seems like a fool proof method. I messed up with my first tank where I added rock and sand first to the tank and just added Rodi water, which killed bacteria in my live sand. Also a failed dr Tim’s one and only made the cycle to take 3 weeks instead day one.

 

[SlicVic]

20 years in this hobby and haven’t heard that. If your LFS told you that, I think they are just trying to sell more fish knowing some will die. I hope that’s not the case but if so, find a new LFS.

some people, myself included add bacteria to the new tank to help the cycling.

either way you will be fine, just do long as you wait on your fish. Welcome to R2R. This forum is a wealth of information.

Thank you so much for the information! I am such an animal lover I almost quit if I was going to have to have a fish die because of the cycling process! I will let you know how it goes. The live rock will be kept wet when I get it on Monday!