Is my tank gonna cycle? Does it need to?

[Trueerfan]

O.k., I just set up my tank (75gallon). I added 60# of live sand and 25# of live rock. My live rock did not smell. My question is, Is it possible that I don't get an ammonia spike? Does it have to? I know I could add a table shrimp or add some ammonia, do I have too?

 

[Sniperhank]

Yes, you have too. Cycling the tank builds up the bacteria level that allows your livestock to live in the tank. Without doing so the ammonia and nitrite levels will build up when you have fish in the tank, burning their gills and leading to death.

 

[nikki_kaiser]

O.k., I just set up my tank (75gallon). I added 60# of live sand and 25# of live rock. My live rock did not smell. My question is, Is it possible that I don't get an ammonia spike? Does it have to? I know I could add a table shrimp or add some ammonia, do I have too?

Get a mesh bag that they sell at petco and throw a few pieces of shrimp in it. Make sure you tie a string to it so you don't have it getting sucked into your powerheads or filter. That's the food source for your bacteria. Without it, it's not going to grow. You can also use pure ammonia but make sure it has nothing else in it. Ace Hardware sells it. Some people use fish food but I really think the shrimp or ammonia is the cleanest way to go (I wouldn't want all that sitting on my sandbed decaying). It would help if you went to your LFS and asked if they had any old filter pads as that has good bacteria on it. Just rinse it out in dechlorinated water before hand. It will help speed up the process.