cycling a new tank

[got bait?]

If I start with 25lbs uncured and 25lbs cured LR, LS out of the bag, will the Amonia spike kill the already existing life on the cured LR. I know some will occur, but will it be so much I should have just gone with all uncured. Or should I just use all cured LR. But then wouldn't the LS cycling kill that too. I've also heard 50lbs. of uncured LR will stink up the whole house while cycling. I cycled my 12gal with uncured LD, but I didn't notice anything bad. But this was only 5lbs. not 50lbs. The yank is 100gal.

 

[Doan]

I do know that some die off will occur but depending how long you have it out of the water seems to make a big difference.. Is it being shipped via the internet or are you getting it from you LFS 15 min away?? My gut feeling is die off is gonna happen happend to me (just cycled with 50lb cured) so might as well just go with it will come back I promise..mabye not with exactly what was there but what makes it will make good use of the space.. The only way to truly kill LR is to bleach it..


hope this helps a bit

Doan

 

[got bait?]

Is it being shipped via the internet or are you getting it from you LFS 15 min away??

From the LFS. Plus, if I use the cured I wont need to wait as long for the cycle.

Start adding critters quicker.
thanks Doan

 

[Sam]

If you are getting it from your local LFS then chances are good that you will see little if any die-off. However, what that means is that you will need to cycle your tank by other means (usually with cocktail shrimp). The trick here is not to avoid the cycle. Using uncured LR allows the die off to trigger the ammonia-nitrite-nitrate cycle so that you have established bacterial colonies for when you do add livestock. The ammonia spike will not "kill" the LR and is essential to trigger the cycle. If by LS you mean the bagged variety, that will not do anything as far as helping you cycle your tank. I would not add critters (I am assuming you mean detrivores) until such time as your tank is fully cycled (about 4-6 weeks). Else they will starve to death. HTH 8)

 

[jks1]

i recommend going uncured and curing it in the tank. This way you are in control of hitchhikers, etc. remember if there is anything they can sell on the LR at a LFS they will remove it, and therefore you wont have it.

 

[got bait?]

I like the uncured option, cheaper and you get to watch the rock transform from start to finish.
I understand the whole 1-2 lbs LR per gallon of H2O, but does this factor include the water displacement factor. ie, a 100gal tank with LR, does not contain 100gal of liquid. My guess is, if I have a 100gal tank, with 100lbs of LR, there is probably only 60 galons or so of water. Sound right.

 

[Sam]

Couple of factors to keep in mind. You are correct in that there is displacement to consider. That is the key. Depending on the type of LR you get, 100 Lbs of rock can be a large displacement, or not that much, depending on the density of the rock itself. In my 135G, I have about 200 Lbs of live and base rock. I have about 110 gallons of water including my sump. I would suggest you note how much water is added in the initial fill up, this way you know how to measure for dosing and anything else like water changes etc. Makes a big difference. As mentioned before, be very careful in using uncured LR due to the potential presence of unwanted hitchhikers (i.e. manthis shrimp) HTH 8)