Initial water maturation process

[icepick5587]

I set up a brand new 24g nano cube, put roughly 25lbs of excellent live rock in it, and let it run for about two weeks. I went on vacation and didn't get a chance to monitor the chemistry of the water. (I later found out that I forgot to turn my lights off in the tank for 1 entire week of the vacation )

After two weeks, there was lots of growth. I also got the chance to run the first tests: 8.0 pH, 0 nitrate, 0 nitrite, normal salinity, and almost no Ammonia.

1. Has my water even started to mature, or is it just done already?

2. I've also heard that it isn't possible to fully cycle a tank with only live rock and that you need a hardy fish, such as a damsel, to actually get the cycle going. What is your take on this?

 

[Sk8r]

Depends on how live the rock is. My rock is so inhabited it practically crawls with worms---collectively, they produce enough waste to cycle, for sure.
A damsel is just an added headache and it's hard on the fish, potentially fatal. I'd suggest throwing in a minuscule serving of Formula One flake and doing it daily for a week. If the tank is handling it and keeping the nitrite/trate/ammonia from spiking, then I'd say it's pretty stable. If it spikes, just let it cycle a bit longer.
Your next step after the cycle should be your invert base. Depends on what kind of tank it's to be, for what you do after that.

 

[bertoni]

I have cycled a number of tanks, all of mine, actually, without fish, using live rock as the filtration, and wouldn't consider using a fish. The fish might not make it, and it can bring diseases into the tank.

If the live rock was well-cured when you got it, you might never measure any ammonia in the tank. That's happened to me twice at least, so far.

I would wait for 3 weeks of zero ammonia on your test kit, and then start adding animals slowly.

 

[icepick5587]

That's pretty much what I always thought... I guess the guy at the pet store just has never used any decent live rock.

 

[DrBDC]

If you don't know what type of food to buy because you don't know what fish you will get you can always go to your local grocery store seafood dept. and ask for a single shrimp. Ask if they have used any preservatives (can have phosphate in them). Then just throw a single one of them in there and wait, wait, wait. Good live rock should do it w/o that though.

 

[icepick5587]

Cool beans. The local fish store literally gave me a free damsel and told me to put it in the tank to help it cycle... the fish is doing fine after a few days and the nitrates, nitrites, and ammonia are fine. can tanks cycle that fast?

 

[DrBDC]

Yes but it's better to wait a few weeks with a check every few days. It can almost put your mind at ease if it does cycle with big spikes so that you know it's done. But still wait a bit to see before adding more.

 

[icepick5587]

right on

 

[PatMayo]

I would not use a shrimp with live rock. It's not necessary and you will not help matters with it, in fact it can do more harm than good.

Regards,

Pat