Live Rock with Shrimp Cycle

[awetzel]

Hey Everyone -
First I wanted to say thanks! I've been reading various posts over the last several weeks and it's certainly helped me become acclimated to this new hobby.

I'm in the process of cycling my 120 gallon with some raw fish. Amonia is at 3, and the tank is really starting to stink. I have 100 lbs. of Marco Rocks in the tank as I didn't have the cash to buy a ton of live rock right now. My plan was to add around 40 lbs of live from my local fish store.

Should I add the live rock now or wait until the cycle finishes with the shrimp? I was planning on holding off but based on some of the posts I've read I think I should probably add it now so I don't have another cycle, yet I don't want to kill anything on the live rock with my amonia being so high.

Thoughts?

 

[Kurt_Nelson]

Unless you want to add fully cured live rock, or cure it yourself in a separate tank, you need to add it now to avoid another cycle.

You can always control the amount of ammonia during your cycle by doing water changes. It *may* prolong the cycle, but you're in ultimate control when it comes to how high of ammonia you want to allow.

 

[roka64]

I agree or you could buy the LR a piece at a time (if uncured) and add it to the tank after the cycle. The beneficial bacteria should be able to take care of the die-off, but have some spare pre mixed PWC ready....

 

[match55]

if u can, just buy all the rocks you can and put them in to cycle, since even the LFS said it cured, you never know.
if you can't get the rock all at once, then follow roka's suggestion.

if you wanna save $$$, I would go for not uncured LR and let them cured+cycle now in your tank.