24g AP cycling questions

[clowninaround74]

ok i just set up my new 24g aquapod and i have about 30lbs of fresh rock in there. i have heard many different things about what to do. i was under the assumption that i should do weekly water changes of about 20%-50%. recently i have heard that you should only do them when the ammonia reaches 1 and i have also heard that you shouldnt do water changes for a couple weeks and just let the bacteria cycle the tank on its own.

Just wondering what everybody elses expierence is with cycling their tanks.

Thanks,
Randall

 

[Illuminati]

I have a 24 gallon NanoCube (Similar to yours but better ) and I didn't do any waterchanges during the cycle. I did keep up on the top offs to keep the salinity in check. My cycle was around 3 weeks but I waited another week or two beyong that before adding my first fish, which was a clown (a very hardy fish, good for new tanks).


When you say fresh rock do you mean cured rock?

 

[clowninaround74]

yea it was fully cured but of course there was alot of dieoff during shipping and stuff. it was pretty smelly and the water is pretty smelly too right now.

 

[madnav87]

I had the exact same setup (with 30 lb. LR) and it took about 2 weeks to cycle. but i agree with colinadam, you shouldnt do any water changes during the cycle (that would defeat the purpose of cycling).
for future reference, if you wash off the LR with tank water (which you can throw out and treat it as a water change) then you can remove all the die off without killing anything on it.

 

[clowninaround74]

i did do that but im sure i missed some. i hope this cycles soon! im excited to start on another tank!