Cycle question about barebottom tank.

[SDiver]

I'm setting up a barebottom tank. I bought some live rock from a established tank. Will I see a cycle?

 

[leviburns89]

You will always need to cycle.

You can buy a cycling additive like smartstart, or biospira. But it will still take a week or two to complete the nitrogen cycle.

If you haven't already, I would highly recommend buying a salifert test kit for ammonia, nitrate, and nitrite to monitor the cycle.

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[thegrun]

I respectfully disagree. If you kept the rock wet during transport there is no reason for the tank to have a cycle. Your rock already had an active bacteria population living on it, there is no reason to believe a cycle is going to occur. I would go slow on your fish additions to the tank but again if the rock didn't dry out to a point where there is going to be a lot of die off, there will be no cycle.

 

[leviburns89]

I respectfully disagree. If you kept the rock wet during transport there is no reason for the tank to have a cycle. Your rock already had an active bacteria population living on it, there is no reason to believe a cycle is going to occur. I would go slow on your fish additions to the tank but again if the rock didn't dry out to a point where there is going to be a lot of die off, there will be no cycle.

Well, you would be expecting the existing bacteria on the rock to be enough to populate the total water volume, and convert all immediate and long term ammonia into nitrates-nitrites.

This is all very very unlikely, unless you have an insane amount of rockwork, which would have to be placed directly into the new tank without exposing it long enough to kill said bacteria. (Takes about 2 minutes for beneficial bacteria to die via exposure to air).

I have read about 3 thousand "starting out" threads, and not once have I seen a successful tank that neglects the essentials of a nitrogen cycle.

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[CStrickland]

If you kept the rock wet during transport there is no reason for the tank to have a cycle. Your rock already had an active bacteria population living on it, there is no reason to believe a cycle is going to occur. I would go slow on your fish additions to the tank but again if the rock didn't dry out to a point where there is going to be a lot of die off, there will be no cycle.

+1 happens all the time. That's the point of live rock.

 

[SDiver]

Thanks for the replies! The rock was transported in water and wet newspaper. I will watch my levels.

 

[Ron Reefman]

I don't understand the concern about whether or not there will be a cycle. I wouldn't even consider starting a new tank or moving stuff from an existing tank without watching for (and expecting) some amount of cycle. If you aren't watching for it, you aren't being vigilant enough with monitoring your tank. IMHO.

And I'll respectfully disagree with the comment, "That's the point of live rock." The point of live rock isn't to avoid a cycle, it's to jump start the cycle by adding bacteria with the rock.