Curing/Cycling of Dry Rock

[VW_TDI_02]

I'm in the process of setting up a 20 gallon long as a reef tank with only soft corals and two clowns and was having trouble with figuring out the rock situation. I understand the nitrogen cycle and have done it multiple times with freshwater tanks but this is my first dip into saltwater. As of now I have 22 pounds of dead Florida base rock as well as 15 pounds of CaribSea Aragonite Special Grade sand. I know I'll need to get about 5-10 more pounds of the substrate but that's not the issue. I'm going to break this thread down into two sections and if anyone responds then please make sure to make it clear as to which process (curing rock vs cycling the tank) you are referring to as to prevent any misunderstandings.

 

Curing

I've been inspecting this rock very carefully and I do not see anything on it at all other than some dust. I know that I have to give it a really good rinsing in order to get any loose stuff off as well. Since this is completely dead and there aren't any visible organisms that will break down, is there anything more that I have to do other than give it a good rinsing? I've heard of people soaking it in a bleach water solution followed by heavy rinsing and dechlorinator but I'm not sure if that is necessary in this case.

 

Cycling

I'm going to be using Brightwell Aquatics Microbacter7. I'm a big fan of these bacteria-in-a-bottle products and have had much success in my freshwater tanks. After rinsing the rocks really well and possibly doing the bleach solution (probably won't unless otherwise advised), I was going to put the rocks into the tank along with the sand and then start the cycling process. I would be using some fish food in order to provide the ammonia source and I'm just going to feed a couple of pellets. During this time I'm going to be leaving the lights off in order to help prevent algae growth. Would it also be possible to simply do a fish-in cycle by adding the two clownfish when I add in the bacteria? That's how I've done it with my freshwater tanks and it has worked very well but I'm not sure if it would also work for saltwater.

 

 

From the research I've done, there can be a bit of overlap. In this case, I'm referring to "curing" as the process of breaking down the organic matter that is currently on the rock. This does not necessarily refer to the cycling of a tank and the creation of beneficial bacteria although it can occur at the same time. Since I am using dead rock, there isn't much, if any, dead organic matter on the rock that needs to be broken down. As a result, I'm under the impression that I would only have to rinse it well and then I can start cycling the entire tank using the Brightwell Aquatics product and some fish food as an ammonia source. So this is my understanding of these two processes but I'm still not 100% sure if I have this process completely ready so if anyone can confirm or simply provide some advice/clarification then I would appreciate it very much.

[Benny314]

Curing: Dead rock can sometimes have dead organic material that will cause an initial ammonia spike as well as hold phosphates that will cause algae problems later. Curing is to keep the rock in a vat of water that has heating and circulation for a period of months with regular large water changes and testing to ensure phosphates are not being leaked into the water/have all leaked out before going into the aquarium.

 

Cycling: Is as you understand it from your FW experience. You can use bacteria in a bottle or get some live rock/sand and use that to seed the dead rock. Remember to feed the tank so there's a reason for the bacteria to multiply.

Curing can be done at the same time as cycling in an initial set up as it will not disrupt an established tank and you just have to wait longer for your parameters to come good.

 

I set up a fluval edge 46 with reef bones that had only been RO dipped not recurred, I had no issues with unwanted seepage of phosphates and nitrates.

[VW_TDI_02]

That's great to hear. I think I'm just going to give it a good rinse and dip in RO/DI water and then add it into the tank. What do you think about cycling with two clowns along with Brightwell product?

[Benny314]

It's risky. Yes you need bio load to get a cycle going, and yes clowns are considered hardy. But ammonia is fatal in very small amounts and even if there isn't much of a spike it's still unnecessary and avoidable stress to the fish.

I'm sure plenty will disagree and over here in the UK ATM stuff like colony has suddenly become the in thing and you can fully stock a reef on the day you bring your tank home.

But personally I feel it's best to set the system up, add some live rock/sand to seed the system and feed it with some form of ammonia (food or pure liquid from a pharmacy etc) and at least let some bacteria get established before adding hardy clean up crew to deal with initial algae and diatom blooms and then slowly add stock so as not to overload the natural filtration. As the bio load increases your bacteria will multiply to keep up like in FW. Add to much to quickly and the bacteria can't cope and your stock suffers/dies needlessly.

Waiting sucks, but I wouldn't like to think I was making my stock suffer.

[VW_TDI_02]

I think I'm just going to go the route of using some fish food or pure ammonia in order to cycle the tank along with the brightwell product. Once I see the ammonia/nitrite spike and then everything goes back down to 0 then I'll start adding the clean up crew and after a couple of weeks to a month I'll add the two clowns. Ideally I want to go with the black/white clowns but they are a good bit more expensive than the regular ones so I'm not interested in risking $80 or so just to save a few weeks time. Only tough part will be calculating how much ammonia I will need in order to reach the 2 ppm level.

[Benny314]

Half a frozen prawn will do the same job...........