Real Reef Rock and Live Sand Cycling

[Leccy]

Hi

I have set up my tank with Real Reef Rock (man made) and live sand. Have tested and parameters are Ammonia 0, Nitrite 0, Nitrate 0.25. LFS said it would not need cycling due to the type of rock and live sand... these parameters are after 7 days. What should happen next or is this it?

 

[Rover88]

Hi

I have set up my tank with Real Reef Rock (man made) and live sand. Have tested and parameters are Ammonia 0, Nitrite 0, Nitrate 0.25. LFS said it would not need cycling due to the type of rock and live sand... these parameters are after 7 days. What should happen next or is this it?

Have you been putting any ammonia sources into the tank? Food to rot, shrimp, any fish, etc?

Without an ammonia source, there is nothing to cause Ammonia, which would then convert to nitrite then to nitrate.

Throw some food in, test every couple of days. You might miss the spike, but if you put food in and a week later you are balanced out, you should be 'done'.

 

[mcgyvr]

If the rock was purchased from a local source and was already in saltwater for a sufficient time then it is already colonized by bacteria which means that you won't have a cycle as the bacteria that you already have is capable of processing ammonia quickly enough so that it does not register on the tests..

aka.. cycle already happened..
If thats true then you can move forward (adding fish,etc..) but do so slowly as to avoid increasing the "bioload" too fast an overpowering what bacteria is there..
The bacterial population is still increasing..

There is no need to add ammonia source if what I said above is true..

 

[Rover88]

If the rock was purchased from a local source and was already in saltwater for a sufficient time then it is already colonized by bacteria which means that you won't have a cycle as the bacteria that you already have is capable of processing ammonia quickly enough so that it does not register on the tests..

aka.. cycle already happened..
If thats true then you can move forward (adding fish,etc..) but do so slowly as to avoid increasing the "bioload" too fast an overpowering what bacteria is there..
The bacterial population is still increasing..

There is no need to add ammonia source if what I said above is true..

Very much true But a safe way to figure out if it is good to go, not knowing for sure if the rock was kept well, would be to put an ammonia source in and see if the cycle converts it away?

 

[Leccy]

Thanks for the quick replies. The rock was purchased from LFS and had been kept in saltwater for 3 months... so since that is true do I go ahead and put in at least a few CUC?

 

[Rover88]

Thanks for the quick replies. The rock was purchased from LFS and had been kept in saltwater for 3 months... so since that is true do I go ahead and put in at least a few CUC?

I only recently started, and my rock was kept in water as well. I never had an appreciable spike of anything, it all was 'good' from the get go.

Just don't add too much cleanup crew. There isn't anything in a new tank for them to really eat and live on yet!

I waited until I saw diatoms and algae

 

[Leccy]

Thanks for that Rover - yes, the tank looks pristine so if I add a few CUC will have to feed them.