Live Rock Question

[kdogg85]

A fish store owner told me that when i go to cycle my tank, i add the live rock and wait for the ammonia and nitrite to spike, and wait a week or two till nitrates spike, do a water change to bring them down, and then add fish. He made no mention of adding ammonia and told me the rock will do the job itself. Now what I understood was you added live rock and then brought the ammonia up to 4 ppm and kept it there till nitrite eating bacteria showed up and then backed off to around 1-2 ppm ammonia. Was he right on the rock sustaining itself or is adding ammonia the correct way of cycling for sw tanks?

 

[thincat]

In alot of tanks today they are using just uncured or even cured LR to cycle their tanks. It can be done and if you do it you need to monitor your ammonia readings and watch for the rise and fall of the ammonia and nitritesa and the raise in nitrates as this willl be slight and could be missed. If you go to long your cycle could die and you would be back to square one again, I hope that made sense!

 

[kdogg85]

so add rock, let the spikes come and go, add a couple fish, repeat. Is that correct?

 

[melosu58]

http://www.aquariumadvice.com/articles/articles/3/1/Cycle-your-salt-tank/Page1.html

 

[thincat]

so add rock, let the spikes come and go, add a couple fish, repeat. Is that correct?

If you chose not to use the shrimp, then yes that is the way to go. IMO I would add a fresh shrimp to get the additional bacteria growth. The bacteria can compensate downward easier then upward. In other words more bacteria is better then less.

 

[kdogg85]

Ok, so the rock may have some dead material that creates ammonia in it when you buy it. When I add rock, should i let it do its thing first(ammonia and nitrite go up and then drop off) after that add shrimp or when i put the rock in put the shrimp in with it at the same time?

 

[melosu58]

If it has enough die off then that`s all you need. If it`s pretty clean then you might need a shrimp.

 

[thincat]

Yes as Mike said, if you don't think there is enough dead stuff on your rock, add the shrimp at the same time. You did not say what size tank you have, but one shrimp per 20-30g would do. Add to a hign flow area.

 

[kdogg85]

its a 75 gallon. should the ammonia be brought up to 4-5 ppm as in freshwater?

 

[thincat]

Does not really matter. Just add the shrimp and let nature do it's thing. The 4-5ppm is if you were using straight ammonia out of the bottle.

 

[kdogg85]

oh ok thanks for the advice

 

[kdogg85]

So what would be a good live rock to cycle with? Some of the rock i like says only put in established tanks. And could i get mostly base rock(50 lbs) and some premium or decorator rock(30 lbs), would the growth on the decorator rock take over the base rock? Also who would be a good vendor online to go to?