New to reef, How to cycle tank?

[Jcon]

Hello everyone, I've decide to bite the reefbug. After constant haggling from my brother-in-law, I'm setting my tank up as a reef system and decided to check you guys out here. I've been keeping sw for many years succesfully.

So here's the deal. How does cycling differ in a reef, from a regular SW? What should I do?

Here's my stats:
90 gallon tank, 100lbs of base rock, 250w ice cap ballast with a 20k lamp, Euroreef Skimmer (I forget what model, nice x-mas gift from my bro-in-law.) Oh yeah it's also going to be a bare bottom tank. So I've had the water running for a couple of days. What do I do?
Why's the search always down? Servers that busy?
Jcon

 

[piranhaking]

Not any different. Either with the die off from uncured live rock or with some coctail shrimp. But dont use fish.

 

[bertoni]

[welcome]

If you have live rock, there's no need for cocktail shrimp, ever. I would just measure ammonia, and wait for a few weeks of zero readings before adding any animals. You might never measure any ammonia, nitrite, or nitrate. That happens with clean live rock with minimal die-off.

 

[wiley0717]

Re: New to reef, How to cycle tank?

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=6635054#post6635054 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Jcon
Hello everyone, I've decide to bite the reefbug. After constant haggling from my brother-in-law, I'm setting my tank up as a reef system and decided to check you guys out here. I've been keeping sw for many years succesfully.


Jcon

If you have been keeping sw you are only a couple of steps away from converting to reef in your existing tank. Need to add some sand as some corals need it to keep from being damaged by expansion/ contraction, abraided tissue could result. After your sand settles in you can slowly add corals. Keep in mind that not all corals are compatable and do research them before aquiring them to be certain everybody will get along.

Happy reefing!