Dry reef rock question.

[A sea K]

I have some old dry rock that is curing while I build my new 30gal system. Should I need to add a source of ammonia to start cycling the rock or will it build up bacteria on its own anyway?
Not sure if will make any difference but this rock went through a muratic acid bath.

 

[W1ngz]

You'll need to add a source of ammonia. A piece of frozen shrimp is what most people use. Personally I use 10% ammonia from the hardware store cleaning aisle. Just be sure you get pure stuff, no coloring, perfumes, detergents or surfactants.

 

[A sea K]

Will do then, any tips on how much to add?

 

[Zer0.]

You'll need to add a source of ammonia. A piece of frozen shrimp is what most people use. Personally I use 10% ammonia from the hardware store cleaning aisle. Just be sure you get pure stuff, no coloring, perfumes, detergents or surfactants.

Ace janitorial strength ammonia is the only one i found around here.

 

[Zer0.]

Will do then, any tips on how much to add?

Google something along the lines of ammonia fishless cycle calculator and you should be able to find a calculator where you enter the amount of water in your system (remember to try an subtract out rock and sand) and enter the strength of ammonia (ace is 10%) and it will tell you how much to add to get to your desired strength, alot of people have different opions on where to aimed for 4ppm at first then doesd up to about 2ppm when ever the ammonia level would dip under 1ppm. However if you are using all dry rock i would also throw in a few fish flakes or a small shrimp for a few days as the bacteria also need a small amount of phosphate to thrive. (i think this and/or low o2 saturation kept my cycle from starting for a while :worried:

 

[A sea K]

OK Thanks.
I have ammonia but it says contains a surfactant(soap?). I have some left over flakes from previous, I'll just toss a few in there every few days.

 

[Xavibear]

OK Thanks.
I have ammonia but it says contains a surfactant(soap?). I have some left over flakes from previous, I'll just toss a few in there every few days.

Shake the bottle. If it suds up, don't use it.

 

[RatReef]

you can generally find clear ammonia at Ace hardware or dollar stores...I personally have never seen it at any of the big box stores or Walmart.

+1 on the suds test above

 

[A sea K]

Good tip on the suds test, the bottle I have failed miserably.