Tank cycle

[Johnpaulrai]

Hi guys, 

I have a nuvo fusion 40 and I haven't set it up yet.I have 30lbs of dry rock 20lbs of live sand. I am going to set it up and let the tank cycle. I was wondering once the cycle is done if I could add ATM colony ( which is biological bacteria ) too as a extra protection when I add fish. Would It be a problem or mess with the rest of the biological bacteria?

[Clown79]

If you are using dry rock you will want to dose ammonia and bacteria to cycle the tank.

 

There are tons of threads on the process. I Don't know exact numbers on dosing as I use liverock but a search should get you that info easily.

 

There is nothing on the rock so without doing the above method you will be waiting a while for the rock to become an established biofilter.

[seabass]

http://www.drtimsaquatics.com/resources/fishless-cycling

 

[GregEmmitte]

That's interesting. Off topic but same theme: 

say I have a 20gallon tank that I want to fill with copper ( incase of ich ). Can I use 10 gallons from my existing tank and 10 gallons of new saltwater and not have to cycle?

[Clown79]

3 hours ago, GregEmmitte said:

That's interesting. Off topic but same theme: 

say I have a 20gallon tank that I want to fill with copper ( incase of ich ). Can I use 10 gallons from my existing tank and 10 gallons of new saltwater and not have to cycle?

No. Water doesn't provide the biofilter.

 

Many will add a small rock from their dt for the biofilter (not to be placed back into the dt after treatment)

 

 

Cycle the hospital tank prior to use

 

Or use a filter sponge/floss from the dt (just like in fw, the sponge is the biological filtration)

 

In emergencies some will just do daily waterchanges to reduce ammonia.

[GregEmmitte]

@Clown79 That's the impression I was under. Just curious as to how the LFS has empty hospital tanks.

 

[Johnpaulrai]

Sorry guys,I should have been my specific my bad. I have been dosing ammonia. What I meant was when the tank goes through the full cycle. And everything is ready for fish. And I decided to add some, if when I do that if I added some more biological bacteria like Colony from ATM. As extra insurance to make sure the fish is safe. Would it off putt any of the existing ready for fish bacteria that was through the nitrogen cycle?

[seabass]

If you've built up a robust enough biological filter, there is no reason to add more bacteria.  However, to answer your question, the addition of another nitrifying bacteria culture shouldn't cause a problem (assuming you follow the instructions on the bottle).