First Time Cycling Tank - Questions.

[Brent Thomann]

Running tank for the first time.

I added my live rock thats been soaking (pumps/heater) in my basement for about 3 months, all 200 lbs of it is pretty much white now so I think its dead. Only one or two pieces have a VERY LITTLE purple on it. I added my Home Depot Sand and filled it up with the proper water.

My question is should I add the cocktail shrimps to start the cycle? I hope so cause I throw in 6 small ones in my sump before I left for work today. 180 gal tank, 40 gal sump/refuge. I added the rock/sand/water last night.

Thank You.

 

[zimmy1979]

Hi,

You added 200lbs of uncured? live rock and you have been letting it sit for 3 months. I don't think you need to add any cocktail shrimp because your tank probably already cycled. What do your water tests say?

 

[Blown 346]

If the rock is completly dead there will be nothing to start the cycle with.
By ading the shrimp you shouldhelp the cycle get started, I would check the levels once you get home.

 

[Brent Thomann]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=6545982#post6545982 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Blown 346
If the rock is completly dead there will be nothing to start the cycle with.
By ading the shrimp you shouldhelp the cycle get started, I would check the levels once you get home.

What if its not completly dead? I sure it is. Would the shrimp do them a lot of harm?

Where can I read up or find out what my levels should be during the cycle or even all times. I made sure I bought a test kit for everything.

 

[bertoni]

If you're worried, a small bit of fish food for a few days should be fine. I wouldn't go with a whole shrimp. It's overkill and can smell pretty bad. If there's any life left on the rock, the shrimp approach would also kill at least some of it.

 

[Blown 346]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=6546373#post6546373 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by humpn247
What if its not completly dead? I sure it is. Would the shrimp do them a lot of harm?

Where can I read up or find out what my levels should be during the cycle or even all times. I made sure I bought a test kit for everything.

When your cycle starts, you will have readings of Ammonia,Nitrite,Nitrate.
The Nitrate will slowly drop off to nothing or close to it.
Once the Nitrite reads zero your Ammonia will be close to zero as well and your cycle is over. To get rid of the ammonia you can do a small water change.

 

[TekCat]

humpn247: If you had you LR (initially it was LR) in saltwater with the proper environment( temperature and salinity). Then you have cured (or even cooked) you LR. Meaning, that it is still a LR with all the bacteria needed to cycle your tank, nothing else needed. If there were no lighing where you cured your LR, then coralline on the rocks will bleach, it is normal, and it'll come back.
No shrimp needed to cycle, just take it really slow when you populate your tank with fish, etc...

 

[maloga3]

I agree w/ TekCat...I started to cycle my first tank in September and was finished in roughly 4-5 weeks...I kept the lights off, but all other normal conditions remained...the bad smell of rotting eggs lets you know that the Nitrogen cycle is occurring. First is the Ammonia spike, then the Nitrite spike, and finally, the levels of Nitrate will begin to slowly rise...once the absence of Am and nitrite is determined, your cycle is complete...I didn't use any thing extra in my cycle, just the rock, salt water and live sand and powerheads- I've heard that the shrimp can speed up the process but opted for a more natural approach...anyway, it sounds like your cycle is over, considering the amount of time has transpired...

 

[Brent Thomann]

Tank is now clear! Live Rock has no significant life on it and is still real white in color. There are a color smaller pieces that have a little purple but just a little bit. I did end up taking the shrimp out of the tank after about 8 hrs of being in it (from your suggestions). There is a nasty layer of brown as you can see from the water settling.

Here are my water test results-
Ammonia .25, Nitrite 0, Nitrate 0, PH 8.2, Phosphate 2, Calcium 460

Suggestions please, what should I do, wait..., buy some more live rock -errh, add shrimp?


Here's a pic, below- (still setting things up) Here's a earlier photo- http://partydamage.com/fishtank/09.jpg

 

[dlish89]

Homedepot sand ?!? Did you put play sand in your reef tank?

 

[ipiniowa]

That's one way to keep track of your kids.

 

[Brent Thomann]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=6550556#post6550556 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by dlish89
Homedepot sand ?!? Did you put play sand in your reef tank?

yes, its the right stuff, calcium based. I did mix in a very little live sand too.

the layer of brown you see in the photo isn't nearly as bad as it looks. for some reason it only looks like that in the photo.

Anyways, can someone help me with my last post please. Thank You

 

[bertoni]

No need for shrimp. Sounds fine in general. A reasonable rule of thumb is 1-1.5 lbs of live rock per gallon, depending on what you want to stock.