1st Cycle what kind of LR and how much

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Alvarez

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I am starting my 1st cycle.. I have 2 pieces of LR in the tank so far and was going to add more. I was told for the 1st cycle it didn't matter how much LR I had in there the "Die off" would cycle the tank nicely. Some say just add base rock and some say add non cured and some say add cured. Does it matter?

I was going to add some more LR and then add the sand. Should I go with Cured or non Cured or would I be better off waiting on the LR for now? I don't want the 1st cycle to kill everything in the LR. I understand the 1st cycle there is a strong ammonia spike which then turns to nitrites. However I am not understanding if the "die off" is the organisms in the rock dying? Do you need to add more LR after the 1st cycle to "re-seed"? I am confused on this part.
 
Rock doesn't die. It is the organisms and life on on the rock that dies off. Don't worry, after the cycle/ammonina and nitrite spike, much more new and exisitng life (that made it thru the cycle) will be on that rock.

If you add more LR after the cycle (should only have one - not sure where the reference to "first" cycle keeps coming from), it must be fully cured. Or use base (non-live) rock at that point.

What do those 2 pieces of live rock weigh anyway? Sounds like you definitely gonna need more.

Are you watching the ammonia and nitrite levels?
 
I like to cycle the tanks with the sand and lr in all at the same time, this way if there is any die off it happens all at the same time and the cycle is started and there is no chance of another after adding more lr later.
What size tank..
Like stated above if you add any new uncured lr after the first cycle you will just have another one and this will keep going on every time you add more uncured LR. It may be shorter but you will probably have some type of spike in amm or nitrite.
so you only choice is to add either base rock or cured lr, and getting cured lr shipped in may even have some die off.
Why not just get all the lr you need now and get it over with? And the small amount of lr you added now may not have enough die off to even start a cycle.
If it was me I would get all the rock I needed now and add it all at once and then toss in a cocktail shrimp from the supermarket and get the cycle started and then sit back and ride it out.
 
If it was me I would get all the rock I needed now and add it all at once and then toss in a cocktail shrimp from the supermarket and get the cycle started and then sit back and ride it out.

Yeah. What he said. 8)
 
I too agree about getting all your rock at once, but IMO, your uncured rock will cycle the tank from its die-off so you don't really need the shrimp, but it wouldn't hurt either.
 
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