New User Rock Question - Dry/Live Combo

[ksSTL]

I just purchased a 75G tank I want to set up as a reef tank. This is my first! For cost purposes, I believe I am going to go with mostly dry rock and purchase locally a couple pieces of live rock to let the bacteria, etc multiply onto my dry rock.

1) I've been researching. Most say to "cure" the live rock, but also the dry rock. Can you do this together in the tank? Let it "cycle" together? On average, how many weeks does it take?

2) And... do I have to do all this with salt water that I've purchased? Then re-do all the salt water after this 3 or 4 week cycle?

3) Does this cycle/getting rock established have to be done before getting any cleaner organisms such as snails and shrimp?

 

[Reef noob_]

i used all dry in my most recent tank to avoid hitchiker (stupid apistia) and just let the coral and macros that i added put life into the tank, copepods and amphipods made it in allright.

that said my FIRST tank was a mix of both leaning more on the dryrock side of it and it was really interesting to see all the critters on it and figuring out what they are.

1) yes you can just cure them together but wash and scrub the dry rock to reduce clouding from dust on it.

2) yes if it is liverock parameters must be good to keep the organisms alive, test the ammonia nitrate and nitrite to read the cycle. once all levels are close to zero you should do a 40 ish % WC wait a few days to stabilize them you can add your CUC (i like reefcleaners.org personally)

3)see above, must be fully cycled before a cuc.

ps if you didnt know cuc is short for clean-up-crew.

good luck!

 

[acabgd]

I
1) I've been researching. Most say to "cure" the live rock, but also the dry rock. Can you do this together in the tank? Let it "cycle" together? On average, how many weeks does it take?

2) And... do I have to do all this with salt water that I've purchased? Then re-do all the salt water after this 3 or 4 week cycle?

3) Does this cycle/getting rock established have to be done before getting any cleaner organisms such as snails and shrimp?

1) LR is usually cured. You can wash the dry rock in case it was sitting outside, or in a garage. The small amoint of LR you will add does not need to be cured (although LR you get at your LFS is usually already cured). It can only help with your cycle.

2) You don't have to "redo" anything. Fill the tank with saltwater, let it cycle. Once cycle is over you might have residual nitrates. You can lowwr these by making a large water change. I would suggest to get a bucket of reef salt and a RO/DI filter so you can make your own water. Hauling buckets of water from your LFS gets boring very quickly.

3) Yes. It can take a few weeks, with a larger amount of dead rock it will probably take more than a month. The only way to really know when your cycle is over is testing for ammonia and nitrites.