DAMSELS! LFS says only way to cycle new...

[Angel*Fish]

Don't want to do the damsel thing again!!!:mad: Don't get me wrong -- they are really cute fish ... just don't want to put them through #%* !!!

Book says there are other ways -- has anybody tried other ways?

I have a 30 g right now .. planning 2nd aquarium -- will be MUCH bigger.

Would anybody would share their experience with this?
Thanks..:)

[dragon0121]

Toss LR into tank and let cycle, simple as that. If the LR is completely cured, then you won't have a cycle. Just add the critters slowly!

[Fishwife]

The "best" way to cycle IMO is to just use live rock. It will cycle your tank just fine. If you want to really make sure you see an ammonia spike toss in a fairly large piece of shrimp. I did that once. Very stinky!

Now I just use the rock and feed the tank a little bit.

[tyoberg]

I have to agree. Your LFS is wrong (get used to it).

Ty

[ZippyBoy]

The "old fashion" way of cycling a tank was to take a hand full of gravel (sand) from a cycled tank, buy a clam (yes a regular old live clam from the fish market*), open it and lay it on the bottom of the tank. The natural bacteria will soon blossum and eat the clam, when the clam is gone...your ready to go. (I used this method to start at least 20 SW fish tanks over the past 30 years).

Live rock or live sand (either is good) works MUCH better but it depends on how much $ you have and what you want your tank to look like.

As stated before, just start adding your display fish slowly and avoid the beginners trap of ...oh I like that one and that one and......

BUY YOURSELF SOME TEST KITS (Ammonia, Nitrate, Nitrite) and test the water before torturing your new additions. When everything is within a "normal" range, start adding creatures. Remember, bacteria need food too, but there is usually enough "food" in the tank for them to flourish without too much help from their new owners.

If you want a reef, use live rock and feed the copepods/amphipods/etc a SMALL amount of sinking fish food. Allow that population to grow, then start with the fish/corals/inverts/etc.

* You can also use an especially dumb LFS employee but the law tends to frown on cutting them in half :D

[Angel*Fish]

THANKS!!! How simple!!!! About how much LR should I put in per gallon?

I'm getting SO used to bad advice from LFS...

Can you believe I've been keeping my SG @ 1.019 on their expert recommendations??? I thought they knew something my book didn't... No wonder my maroon clown is so laid back -- he may not feel so perky:(

THANKS! :)

[Angel*Fish]

ZippyBoy -- thanks, too..

And as for the info with the * , LOL!!!!!:lol: :lol: :lol: Good one !

[Q-ball]

Zippyboy...I must disagree very strongly with one facet of your advice. Everyone knows that 1/2 a lfs employee is simply not enough for cycling any tank over 10 gallons...at least one full lfs employee, and maybe as many as 5 are required for most marine tanks. Please try to avoid giving such poor advice to our newer members;)

Mantis...all the above info is right on, get yer sandbed in there, toss the rock in, watch the tank clear...you should see your nitrate levels go down to commonly accepted levels within 2 to 5 weeks depending on how ripe the rock is:) HTH & Good luck!

Q!!!

[Scholesy]

Things that I've found DON'T work (at all or hardly):

Fish to cycle the tank
Mussel to cycle the tank
Hagen cycle

*grumble-grumble*

I do have 5lb of live-ish rock which I'm hoping will help.....

:(

[Scholesy]

p.s. I tried an LFS employee but it polluted the water too much; kept the skimmer busy non-stop for a week......;)

[ZippyBoy]

Scholesy,

I have a cousin-in-law that lives in Christchurch. R you on the north or south island?

I had a 14 hour layover there last year on my way back from PNG. Beautiful, but the weather reminded me of Seattle.

BTW, the LFS employee only works if you scrub the dirt, grime and oil off of it!:smokin:

[Angel*Fish]

Q-ball, I'm still not sure on the quantities--- are you saying I need 1 lfs worker for every 10 g? I can relate, but that sounds like too many.. it seems possible that if you accidentally put in a smart one that nothing would happen (might even swim out!)I'm going to try it with fewer but with exceptionally empty headed ones that don't even care whether the fish live or die. I'll post the results in ~3 weeks:p

Seriously --is there a rule of thumb for a good amount of LR needed for cycling? Should I go with a pound /gallon initially?

[zep]

LFS employees to cycle? Are you nuts? You will end up with an illicit residue in your tank that will keep your fish high for years!

[Agu]

The amount of live rock depends on how much you want, whether or not you'll have a dsb or refugium, and how much you can afford. The old rule of 1 pound per gallon is....well old.

How you want the tank aquascaped should be the primary determinant.

A live dsb and/or refugium reduces the amount of rock that's necessary.

Can't help you on the afford part, but if you put all the rock in at once you won't have to set up a separate container to cure future rock. And some places give volumn discounts.

Agu

[Angel*Fish]

Zep, that would explain a lot....

Agu, thanks -- sounds like I have some leeway here. Are you saying that a refugium can sub for a live dsb?

My present 30g has ~ 40+ lb. LR -- no dsb -- I'm starting a refugium this week for that tank -- can I put a deep sand bed in refugium? I was just going to fill with LR....I really like LR. And I'm a little nervous re: possible pitfalls of dsb discribed in article in RC library.:confused:

[Angel*Fish]

:) Nevermind -- did some searches on refugiums...still a little nervous re: dsb pitfalls

[Agu]

Mantisagogo,

I'm not advocating a dsb, just pointing out alternatives, as I'm not a fan of the "wall of rock" look in some aquariums. A refugium filled with lr can do the job too. I'm setting up a 40 breeder lagoon tank, there's less than 10# of rock in the tank, and about #40 in the sump/refugium. So, if you don't want a dsb, don't have one :D .

Agu