Who is correct?

[SlicVic]

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

It is so nice to have this site to ask questions! Thank you so much because I'm definitely going to do it fishless!!

 

[SlicVic]

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.

Thank you so much! I have so many questions and I'm so stressed out about hurting anything!

 

[SlicVic]

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

Wow! Thank you for all this information! I knew this site would help me way more than the people at the local fish store! Wish me good luck

 

[SlicVic]

@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.

The rock is wet and was being fed a food drip of some sort at the store. My tank is the salinity correct and the sand in the bottom and the temperature correct. I just was going to get the live rock on Monday and let it cycle. Some say to add bacteria.

 

[SlicVic]

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?

I'm very sad because the information was from a local the store and the person is a lover of saltwater aquariums. I thought everything you said was true but now I'm seeing that that may not be the case! Thank you for your info

 

[SlicVic]

I'm very sad because the information was from a local the store and the person is a lover of saltwater aquariums. I thought everything you said was true but now I'm seeing that that may not be the case! Thank you for your info

It was supposed to say everything he said was not true! I'm sure everything you say is true! Thanks again!

 

[Rmckoy]

Wow! Thank you for all this information! I knew this site would help me way more than the people at the local fish store! Wish me good luck

I think you have the research and luck under control .
You’re heading in the right direction for sure .

I do want to say ….
Don’t trust lfs saying rocks are live .
I recently bought a large 15lb rock they sell for $10/lb
Essentially it’s wet . Sitting in a large container of water but …. Can we guarantee it’s live ?
Is there enough bacteria ? I don’t know if I would rely on their opinion .
a simple test to see if the rocks are capable of processing x amount of ammonia in a short time before sacrificing any living fish .

happy reefing .
Please keep us posted . Pictures are always welcome .

 

[Impala67]

It was supposed to say everything he said was not true! I'm sure everything you say is true! Thanks again!

Well let’s put it this way I’ve been reefing for about 10 years now and I still ask beginner questions all the time just to make sure and I know a lot of these people on here have been reefing for years as well. I think every long time reefer has made every mistake in the book. So who would you trust more someone trying to sell you stuff to make money or lots of people who don’t gain anything helping you out.

 

[Rmckoy]

Well let’s put it this way I’ve been reefing for about 10 years now and I still ask beginner questions all the time just to make sure and I know a lot of these people on here have been reefing for years as well. I think every long time reefer has made every mistake in the book. So who would you trust more someone trying to sell you stuff to make money or lots of people who don’t gain anything helping you out.

Too many years of reefing and I’m sure I also have made every possible mistake .

Correcting those mistakes and moving forward .
Mistakes in life are good as long as we learn from them

 

[SlicVic]

Well let’s put it this way I’ve been reefing for about 10 years now and I still ask beginner questions all the time just to make sure and I know a lot of these people on here have been reefing for years as well. I think every long time reefer has made every mistake in the book. So who would you trust more someone trying to sell you stuff to make money or lots of people who don’t gain anything helping you out.

I'm definitely going to be asking everybody on this site for help as I go along! Thank you so much for your input! Wish me luck! If I ever have any thing in my tank I will send pictures hahaha!

 

[Rmckoy]

I'm definitely going to be asking everybody on this site for help as I go along! Thank you so much for your input! Wish me luck! If I ever have any thing in my tank I will send pictures hahaha!

Seeing as the rocks , sand and water is at correct salinity .
have you purchased any test kits ?
in order to cycle you will need some sort of ammonia source .

things have changed a lot since I’ve cycled my first tank . But what I did was add a raw shrimp from the seafood counter and let it decompose .
test for ammonia and when it’s zero you should see either nitrites ( irrelevant to saltwarer ) or the start of nitrates increasing .
when you only have higher nitrates you’re ready for a large water change and to start adding livestock slowly .
Continue to test ammonia to be sure to stay at zero .
Hope this helps

good luck and happy reefing

 

[Dysert]

It is so nice to have this site to ask questions! Thank you so much because I'm definitely going to do it fishless!!

I would download/print this and follow it. From the research I've done, this is the best guide available today.
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/the-supreme-guide-to-setting-up-a-saltwater-reef-aquarium.138750/

 

[vetteguy53081]

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 can place live rock up front while also adding liquid bacteria such as Microbacter XLM