Cycling with live rock

[Brenden]

I plan to do my cycling with live rock. Being a newbie I have several questions.
1. Do I need to add shrimp etc for the cycle since I have live rock to start the cycle.
2. How often do I need to do water changes and how much water should I change.
3. Shomeone tell me if I am doing this right of should I cycle then add the rock.

Specs are on my signature but I plan to have 200lbs base rock and 500 lbs LR to start.

 

[kukki]

you can cycle with lr, you wont need the shrimp . the die off from the rock and all should cycle it just fine

no need for water changes during cycle

if your getting LR from say LR.com and want most of the hitchhikers to survive id wait at least a week or 2 before getting the LR.. { i think most of them are fairly hardy and will survive thru a cycle but me personally id wait } ..

but the rock its self will cycle it good and you have no need for water changes .. actually rock might make the cycle much faster than just a shrimp or .. well thats a big tank, a few shrimp

 

[Jermz79]

I recieved different answers.

I was told to cycle with Un-cured LR as it will be better for the cycle! I was also told that adding a shrimp would be good as well to give the cycle more of a boost.

I have been doing both (1 week tomorrow) and havn't noticed a real big ammonia spike nor a trite spike!! My Ph is 8.2, ALK is HIGH (my stupid test kit), and my trates were reading around 12!

I would like to get some more opinions on this as well!

 

[pearsont74]

ur doin what i am and i didnt use a shrimp....i did notice and hate how the LR gets covered with the white stuff

 

[gooyferret]

There is no need to cycle with shrimp. Your ammonia will spike from the LR alone and no need to worry about the shrimp at all. I have cycled all my tanks with just LR and have had great sucess. Put all the LR in there for the cycle the LR will balance out the parameters of the tank by natural cycle. I dont understand why people would recommend adding more dieoff into a tank. WOW thats going to be a nice setup when your done. Hope to see some pictures later...PLZ 8)