do i need live rock?

[gonzalez78]

Just wondering if i need love rock to cycle my tank, tomorrow will be 2 weeks since my 40 breeder went wet and up to today i still don't have any diatoms or bad algae growing. Would it help to add live rock to the tank of just leave it as us? If i do need some lr anyone have a small piece to donate to the cause?

Thanks,
Luis

 

[Grant W]

Luis you probably should have some or at least some sand from an established system. Prob with the sand is nobody will have your black sand. So rock it is. If you are down my way we can find a piece or two for you from one of my sumps. Let me know.

 

[gonzalez78]

Luis you probably should have some or at least some sand from an established system. Prob with the sand is nobody will have your black sand. So rock it is. If you are down my way we can find a piece or two for you from one of my sumps. Let me know.

Actually Grant, in the sump i don't have black sand. I bought a bag of Hawaiian live sand and mixed in about 2 cups of sand from my biocube. Should that be enough? I also did add a bottle of the starter bacteria they sell at the store to the tank.

 

[lokii_37]

Are you adding anything to the tank to feed the bacteria, like ghost feeding?

 

[Grant W]

Should be but you should have at least a small ammonia spike, maybe from some fish food, to start the cycle or as time goes by you will have a series of small cycles every time you add to your bioload. Do some testing for nitrates etc.

 

[gonzalez78]

I see guess tomorrow i will add something to feed the bacteria so it will cycle. I have read to add some fish food or even a piece of raw shrimp to the tank so I'll try one of those tomorrow i think there is some shrimp in the freezer.

 

[Grant W]

Sounds right luis.

 

[coralfarmer]

Add a few fish and it will cycle. No frozen shrimp.

 

[gonzalez78]

Add a few fish and it will cycle. No frozen shrimp.

I did not add shrimp just some fish food, guess i need to buy some fish i won't be afraid to kill but then will need to catch later since i'm afraid the cycle might kill them.

 

[woodnaquanut]

It's also possible to cycle by adding just ammonia. I haven't looked for it yet, but you should be able to get it at a grocery or drug store. Make sure it's just ammonia - no soaps, detergents, fragrances, etc. IIRC you want to shoot for a 4ppm level.

Advantages:
not stressing cycling fish
not introducing any diseases from cycling fish
no need to catch and return cycling fish

It's also possible to add bacteria like DrTim's One and Only. It comes with ammonia to kick start the cycle. For those of us who just can't wait!!

Searching RC for 'fishless cycle' should give you a few hours of reading!

 

[EllieSuz]

The practice of using live fish to start a cycle may have been standard operating procedure years ago, but it is strongly frowned upon now. A piece of raw shrimp in a net bag for easy removal works great!

 

[justin_cutri]

Way back when I setup my 29g I used 5g of tank water as well from my bros system to help jump start the cycle.

 

[northbay-reefer]

Just put a Damsel in there and be done with it ... LOL

 

[gonzalez78]

I did use some water from my water change as well as some of that Dr. Tim's stuff but it was made by Coralife i believe as well as some fish food. Might stop by Caesars and pick up a sacrificial damsel.

 

[coralfarmer]

Luis, a fishless cycle is more involved than throwing some rotting shrimp in a bag. Just get some damsels or some cycled live rock and call it a day.

 

[justin_cutri]

I also put a pair of damsels in but when it came time to pull them out I had to remove half my rock out just to get to them >.>