Cycling vs. dry rock to live rock

[snowlynx]

Hi

Please clarify if the nitrogen cycle
is part of dry rock turning to live rock
or you can have completed cycle with
it still being dry rock?

It turning to LR is over long period of
time months to years.

Thanks

 

[LuizW13]

The way I imagine it, live rock just means there's beneficial bacteria living within the rock. I guess theoretically, you can have a cycled aquarium with live rock if there is enough bacteria within the water column and the sand. Like what if you have a small tank and you cycle it with just water and sand then you put rock, i would assume that your tank will continue to be cycled, but with less bacteria then you would have if you cycled the tank with the rock.

I'm also a noobie so, i could be wrong. By the way, if you have dry rock right now, or will be ordering dry rock, which i think is the best option for a few reason, you should totally "cure" them prior to doing so. I'm curing a few pounds of dry rock right now in a separate bucket, and half of my apartment reeks- there's so much dirt, junk, and little clams falling off, it's kinda cool in a way.

 

[mcgyvr]

"live rock" simply means that "rock" has been left in saltwater long enough that its now covered with bacteria necessary to take toxic ammonia to lesser forms of nitrites/nitrates quickly...(nitrogen cycle)

"dry rock" has simply been out of the water long enough that the bacteria has died off..
In time dry rock becomes live rock again when its put back into saltwater and bacteria begins to colonize (live) on it..

 

[snowlynx]

I'm using carib sea south sea dry rock right now and tank is cycling.

Seems most add some live rock to dry rock. Curious if anyone started with live rock only.

 

[mcgyvr]

Sure many start with all live rock too..

 

[LuizW13]

I chose dry rock for a few reasons. It's cheaper since i'm not paying for the water weight, and most importantly the peace of mind that i won't introduce any pests into my aquarium was the deciding factor.

Dry pukani rock was such a great deal for me that 10pounds for my 25 gal tank was way more than enough. I'm only using half of the rocks i ordered! Faster curing cycle with less water! Now i can use the extra rocks for decorating my apartment, lol? Or use a few pieces as additional biological filtration in my sump! Annnnnnd I bought it on sale with free shipping from MarineDepot!

 

[JTL]

I just added 70 lbs of reef saver dry rock to my tank. It has bee sitting in a tub with salt water some bacteria for about 4 weeks. It does not appear to have had an ammonia spike so I added some more bacteria and some ammonia.

 

[LuizW13]

I just added 70 lbs of reef saver dry rock to my tank. It has bee sitting in a tub with salt water some bacteria for about 4 weeks. It does not appear to have had an ammonia spike so I added some more bacteria and some ammonia.

Did you "phantom feed" you tank while you were cycling it? Phantom feeding just means you're adding fish food to the water so that when it decomposes, it will break into ammonia, thus fueling the bacteria population.

 

[JTL]

Did you "phantom feed" you tank while you were cycling it? Phantom feeding just means you're adding fish food to the water so that when it decomposes, it will break into ammonia, thus fueling the bacteria population.

I had a dead shrimp in there.

 

[LuizW13]

I had a dead shrimp in there.

Oh, i'm not sure then. You're a few weeks ahead me so i'm not sure what could be the cause. I guess maybe there's not enough food to cause an ammonia reading on your test, or maybe the test is reading the ammonia incorrectly. Or maybe there just hasn't been enough time yet?

 

[JTL]

Oh, i'm not sure then. You're a few weeks ahead me so i'm not sure what could be the cause. I guess maybe there's not enough food to cause an ammonia reading on your test, or maybe the test is reading the ammonia incorrectly. Or maybe there just hasn't been enough time yet?

It will all catch up, the good news is the phosphates are at zero. The water I soaked the reef saver rock in was 2.0.

 

[mcgyvr]

JTL.. you simply missed the ammonia spike or did not have one at all due to using bottled bacteria..

 

[LuizW13]

JTL.. you simply missed the ammonia spike or did not have one at all due to using bottled bacteria..

Ooo i didn't think that was a possibility. I'm going to cycle with a bottle of bacteria.

Thanks for the tip!

 

[JTL]

JTL.. you simply missed the ammonia spike or did not have one at all due to using bottled bacteria..

Why do you think that bottled nitrifying bacteria doesn't work? My lfs uses the Red Sea stuff on all of the new tanks. I pretty sure I didn't miss the ammonia spike I just don't think I had enough of the bacteria in the tub but we shall see very soon because I have now forced the ammonia way up and if the tank has cycled it should start to come down in a few days.

 

[LuizW13]

It could have been that there was so much bacteria already in water that it consumed ammonia faster that it took for you to measure it.

 

[mcgyvr]

Why do you think that bottled nitrifying bacteria doesn't work? My lfs uses the Red Sea stuff on all of the new tanks. I pretty sure I didn't miss the ammonia spike I just don't think I had enough of the bacteria in the tub but we shall see very soon because I have now forced the ammonia way up and if the tank has cycled it should start to come down in a few days.

I never said it doesn't work..
It does..
When using it you can almost instantly cycle a tank..
hence why I know you missed the ammonia spike..

"cycling" is the process of building up a sufficient quantity of bacteria in a tank to process any ammonia quickly.. When you add bottled bacteria you are essentially eliminating the process of building that bacteria up as you just dumped a crap load into the water at once vs allowing nature to more slowly establish that bacterial population..

The information you have probably read about (slowly seeing ammonia rise then nitrites then nitrates and then both ammonia and nitrites start to fall again) is really ONLY applicable to a "natural" cycling process (aka no bottles of bacteria).. You removed nature by adding that bacteria yourself..

 

[JTL]

I never said it doesn't work..
It does..
When using it you can almost instantly cycle a tank..
hence why I know you missed the ammonia spike..

"cycling" is the process of building up a sufficient quantity of bacteria in a tank to process any ammonia quickly.. When you add bottled bacteria you are essentially eliminating the process of building that bacteria up as you just dumped a crap load into the water at once vs allowing nature to more slowly establish that bacterial population..

The information you have probably read about (slowly seeing ammonia rise then nitrites then nitrates and then both ammonia and nitrites start to fall again) is really ONLY applicable to a "natural" cycling process (aka no bottles of bacteria).. You removed nature by adding that bacteria yourself..

I am not sure if it cycled or not but should know in a couple of days.

 

[snowlynx]

It could have been that there was so much bacteria already in water that it consumed ammonia faster that it took for you to measure it.

Curious if you are using sump or hob filter for your 25 gallon.

I'm switching over to a 17 gallon and using hob for cost space limitations

 

[LuizW13]

Curious if you are using sump or hob filter for your 25 gallon.

I'm switching over to a 17 gallon and using hob for cost space limitations

I have the Innovative Marine Nuvo Lagoon, it has a sump built into the back of it, but doesn't show in main display. I can't really say how good it is because this is my first and i haven't even put water in it yet. But it looks very well made, although i did read that a lot of people swap out the main return pump.
It looks really sexy though!