Dry Rock and Tank Cycling

[AugustWest]

My 70G cube has been up and running for 5 days now. The rock is 50 lbs of BRS Eco-rock and shelf rock.

Prior to setting up the tank I had the rock curing in a tub with salt water for about 8 weeks. I also added a few lbs of Live Rock. During this time I changed all the water once and fed some pelleted food to the tub a few times a week.

Is there enough beneficial bacteria on the rock to avoid another cycle ? I discarded all of the old water when I set up the tank.
It's been a few days and it doesn't appear to have any ammonia ( I don't have an ammonia test kit) Should I maybe add a raw shrimp to the tank?

 

[boogerCo]

sounds like you are on the right track for a good start. are you going to use dry sand or live sand.

If using live sand you will have another small cycle from the sand. should take a few weeks to run thru. dry sand you will not have much trouble with

 

[Chris27]

You are likely ready to add some livestock, an 8 week soak with some previously cured rock and an ammonia source is plenty long enough to have gotten the bio-filter started.

 

[Sugar Magnolia]

What test kits DO you have? Ammonia, nitrite and nitrate test kits will answer your question.

 

[AugustWest]

What test kits DO you have? Ammonia, nitrite and nitrate test kits will answer your question.

LOL. Yeah I know I should have those kits . I DO have Salifert tests for Calcium, Alkalinity,Magnesium,Phosphate and Nitrate.
Seems like you only need the Ammonia and Nitrite during cycling.... so shoot me for trying to save a few bucks.......

Thanks

 

[Dan49]

now that you have your tank running, what is your lighting schedule ? any breakout in algae ?

 

[AugustWest]

All 8 bulbs are on for a total of 8 hours. 2 Blue Plus bulbs run for a total of 10. I had a Diatom outbreak at about the 3 week mark. Added some Trochus snails which have most of it cleaned up. Still a little bit of diatoms but not much.

 

[justin_g]

I've heard of a lot of people having phosphate problems from this rock. Might not hurt to get test kit for that. Hopefully with your 8 week bake time on the rock that has been curbed.

 

[Dan49]

I just got my pukani rock yesterday from brs ,I never thought I could be impressed by rock but it looks great . I 'm going to cure it for a month. do you think adding live rock worked better for you than a raw shrimp?

 

[AugustWest]

I don't know that it worked "better" , but my thoughts were to " seed " the dead rock with Coraline,Pods,Bacteria that would be on the LR. Had I just added a shrimp I would have provided an ammonia source and that's it.

I can tell you that when I set up the tank the cycle was very short, if at all.