How to cycle your tank with out the use of fish.

[Brenden]

I just read this article in the FAQ section. Being a rookie I figure it is better to ask first than regret later. When it states set the tank up with salt water etc. does that include all my live rock? And if so will there not be a significate amount of rotting debris on the rock so I would not need the raw shrimp? Also what would be a good amount of fish to start with? P.S. 550 gallon tank not counting sump.

 

[NewInTown]

wow thats a huge tank! yes I would start it with the live rock. how many lbs of LR do you have? do a search in the beginner forum you will find lots of info their.

 

[MarineFlake]

Bio Spira ; )

 

[Brenden]

I had planned on around 400lbs of dry base and 300 of live rock.

 

[malkore]

Man Brenden, you must have a nice salary to afford an awesome tank like that

Yes, you can and should add your live rock if its uncured. If you're getting rock from Liverocks.com I wouldn't put it in, as their stuff is usually already cured, and full of hitch hikers you want to survive, and the cycle could kill them.

However all the dead/base rock...definitely add that prior to cycling, so it can get seeded with the necessary bacteria during the cycle.
I wouldn't waste time putting faith in Bio Spira. I've seen it fail to work as many times as I've seen it work. Why chance it?

 

[Brenden]

So here is the way I understand it. Setup my tank with sandbed and dry base rock only. Throw a few raw shrimp in to get the nitates/bacteria going. Once it stabilizes back to zero add my live rock and a fish or two.