tiffanydunk Posted December 23, 2008 Share Posted December 23, 2008 Hi there. Am thinking of setting a tank with cured live rocks with newly mixed salt water. The problem is, will there be even be cycling kick starting if i were to dump in a market prawn for ammonia to kick off? Or the liverocks are so efficient in the biological filtering that it will simply breaks down the ammonia real fast? Link to comment
Rocket Posted December 23, 2008 Share Posted December 23, 2008 What you just said makes no sense to me. LR breaks down ammonia into nitrite then into nitrate completing the Nitrogen cycle. You only need to add some dead stuff if the LR's are dead rocks. If you buy your LR local you could pick up already cured Live Rock. If you ship I do not see the point in paying more for already cured rock when you have to cure it again at home. You should have enough die off with shipped rocks to start the curing again, nothing needed to "kick" the cycle off. If you purchase already cured LR local you could have an instant tank setup. I'd still wait a week before Live stock though. Additionally if you purchase uncured LR for shipping you will get a lot more variety of life. Not to mention save a lot of money in the process. If you are wanting to speed up your cycle process, don't. No fast way to get it over with. And as many would say, "patience" for this hobby is the only way. Link to comment
tiffanydunk Posted December 23, 2008 Author Share Posted December 23, 2008 Thanks for the reply. As you have mentioned in your post saying that LR breaks down ammonia. And mine are fully cured liverocks. So the point here is, i do not have to introduce any ammonia agent to "recycle" the tank right? All i have to do is wait for a week before putting any livestocks in it? I have no experience with already cured rocks. That's why i'm asking. Link to comment
Rocket Posted December 23, 2008 Share Posted December 23, 2008 Pretty much. You will not need to add anything to the tank. Wait at least 1 day then test your water. Then wait 1 week and retest water. If the test is good you should be fine. Add livestock slowly. The LR only has enough bacteria to filter what is currently in the water. If you add too much bio-load too fast this will overload the bacteria and ammonia will start to build. As more and more livestock is added the LR compensates. Just takes time. Link to comment
Scott Riemer Posted December 23, 2008 Share Posted December 23, 2008 Pretty much. You will not need to add anything to the tank. Wait at least 1 day then test your water. Then wait 1 week and retest water. If the test is good you should be fine. Add livestock slowly. The LR only has enough bacteria to filter what is currently in the water. If you add too much bio-load too fast this will overload the bacteria and ammonia will start to build. As more and more livestock is added the LR compensates. Just takes time. +1. I started with fully cured LR and never saw a noticeable cycle. So, I stocked slowly to build up the bacterial colonies to deal with the increasing bio-load. Too quick and you can spike ammonia and crash your tank. Link to comment
psykobowler Posted December 23, 2008 Share Posted December 23, 2008 If you have cured live rock you could add certain fishes 1 to 2, the same day you purchased the rock. Given that you know it is really cured. It will be odorless "no stink" when you smell it. You do not have to wait a day or so but that is recommended so as to keep the parameters stable when you add the fish. I purchased cured rock and 2 clownfishes in the same day and basically put them together without any issues. I've done it multiple times with 3 different tanks without any issues. This works because clowns are hardy and more tolerable if there was a cycle. If you choose not to add fish, do add some food - a shrimp or so. In setting up a new tank with cured rock, I added a squirt of fish food. Live rock needs to consume some waste to keep it alive. Just don't get carried away with too many fish too soon. Link to comment
Scott Riemer Posted December 23, 2008 Share Posted December 23, 2008 I don't recommend adding fish the same day. I'd rather be cautious and be sure nothing is going to spike, JMHO. Link to comment
lakshwadeep Posted December 23, 2008 Share Posted December 23, 2008 +1 to scott. While clownfish are hardy enough to survive minor problems, I would hesitate to do the same with other fish. Link to comment
psykobowler Posted December 23, 2008 Share Posted December 23, 2008 +1 to scott. While clownfish are hardy enough to survive minor problems, I would hesitate to do the same with other fish. I should have made it clear what fish you could add. I did not intend to generalize. I would not add anything else but clownfishes or damsels. If you really have good cured live rock, adding one or 2 clowns will not harm the clowns or cause it to suffer. The LFS that I go to purchase my rocks has fishes in the same tub that I pick the rocks from. I would not need a better proof to verify they are cured rock. Link to comment
Noobeef Posted December 23, 2008 Share Posted December 23, 2008 I should have made it clear what fish you could add. I did not intend to generalize. I would not add anything else but clownfishes or damsels. If you really have good cured live rock, adding one or 2 clowns will not harm the clowns or cause it to suffer. The LFS that I go to purchase my rocks has fishes in the same tub that I pick the rocks from. I would not need a better proof to verify they are cured rock. Yep. I had cured live rock to start my 29 gallon and the highest I ever saw my ammonia was .5 and .25 was the highest I ever saw nitrates. Link to comment
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