Cycling Advise?

[75Gallons]

I know this question has been asked 100 times but here it goes again. How do you all cycle your tank and do you have any advise on the best way to do it. My first tank I cycle'd it with a fish and had no problems. On the other hand I used a ton of live sand which may have made that possible. This time I'm not using any live sand so what do you guys think? Powerheads, skimmer on/off? Fish/nofish? Cleanup crew?

[an411]

You don't need live sand I cycled my tank with uncured live rock. I ran skimmer and powerheads. Also after about 2 weeks I started my light cycle. I had No fish and added a cleanup crew once the cycle was over. HTH

[75Gallons]

Are there any benefits to using uncured rock? My understanding is that uncured rock has more diversity then cured?

[an411]

The benefits of uncured rock is going to have stuff on it that is going to die once put in the tank and that is what is going to start the cycle. Where as cured rock is safe to put in a tank and there should be hardly if any ammonia increase

[wooden_reefer]

Originally posted by an411
The benefits of uncured rock is going to have stuff on it that is going to die once put in the tank and that is what is going to start the cycle. Where as cured rock is safe to put in a tank and there should be hardly if any ammonia increase

If "cured" means cycled, then it is safe even if no ammonia has been detected since you placed the live rock in. This will be true if the LR had been in the LFS's tank for weeks before you bought it. If you bought it just a few days after decay of the stuffs on it, then little nitification bacteria have grown on it. And if then you do not add an ammonia source, nothing much would happen no matter how long you wait.

If you have used only a fish to cycle, then the cycle was a weak one. A weak cycle can still be effective if you add livestock slowly. Indeed, this way may be enough for many reef tanks. This ties in with the concept of mini-cycling. A small increase of ammonia induces just enough growth of nitrification bacteria, assuming the small livestock can accept (suffer?) a little bit of ammonia. On the other hand, if you plan on getting even just one large fish after cycling, you should thoroughly cycle your tank. Your large fish will not accept mini-cycling.

I always thoroughly cycle my tank with sustained ammonia source for weeks. Why not? I like the freedom to place any livestock in my newly cycled tank, and the assurance regardless. A newly cycled tank can be quite aged in terms of nitrification capacity when thoroughly cycled. Mini-cycling, I think is just the "new tank syndrome", can be avoided easily.

[nctommy]

I cycled my tank a few years ago by adding an uncooked, unseasoned shrimp that I put in an new ankle high panty hose. I just clipped the panty hose to the tank wall. I ran my skimmer to help with disolved organics. I think I had to change it out once and add another shrimp. I didn't run any lights during the cycle. I think my cycle lasted 3 weeks. I agree that you don't need the live sand as I added one bag of live sand to help seed the tank and I don't think that it helped shorten the cycle all that much.

[wooden_reefer]

Originally posted by an411
The benefits of uncured rock is going to have stuff on it that is going to die once put in the tank and that is what is going to start the cycle. Where as cured rock is safe to put in a tank and there should be hardly if any ammonia increase

So which would you rather have "uncured" or "cured"?

It is interesting in the way you use the word "benefits" for uncured live rock.

I think the real benefit of uncured live rock is that it comes with lives. So why is death of the stuffs on it so beneficial? The ammonia that such death gives has the functional eqivalence of one 20 cent shrimp from the supermarket.

[an411]

What I meant is that since there is stuff that is living on it or was once living once you put this rock in the tank the dead stuff is going to start to decompose and create a ammonia spike which will initially start a cycle. I would rather get uncured cause its cheaper then cured and I have to do nothing besides put it in a tank to start the cycle no need to add fish or shrimp unless desired. Cured live rock is cleaned ready to go in the tank and should not cause a ammonia spike this to me would be desired if you already had an established tank. hopefully that answers your question I am no expert on this subject but this is what I have learned from reading correct me if I am wrong though

[wooden_reefer]

Originally posted by an411
What I meant is that since there is stuff that is living on it or was once living once you put this rock in the tank the dead stuff is going to start to decompose and create a ammonia spike which will initially start a cycle. I would rather get uncured cause its cheaper then cured and I have to do nothing besides put it in a tank to start the cycle no need to add fish or shrimp unless desired. Cured live rock is cleaned ready to go in the tank and should not cause a ammonia spike this to me would be desired if you already had an established tank. hopefully that answers your question I am no expert on this subject but this is what I have learned from reading correct me if I am wrong though

I am sorry, actually your remark makes a lot of sense.

I was just questioning the prevailing practice of using uncured live rock to cycle a tank through death of incidental livestock (that is what they are) on the live rock.

[75Gallons]

Ok I understand what you mean by the "cured" rock not causing an ammonia spike. At the same time its supposed to have the nitrogen fixing bacteria that will spread to the substrate of the tank. I think that something that will spike the growth of the bacteria would work best however so I'm going to try the shrimp and some uncured rock probably.