Cycling tank

[TheDeltaFlight]

So I’ve been out of the hobby for almost 6 years now, meaning I’ve forgotten a lot of things about this amazing hobby. 

 

Im putting together a 15g AIO with about 15lbs of dry rock, but I’ve never cycled a tank with dry rock before. How do I go about this.(I’ve tried searching on Nano-Reef, but didn’t find too much info. 

 

Im more than willing to mix some live rock in the tank, but what’s the fastest way to cycle dry rock?

[sadie]

not really sure, but welcome back!!

[1891Bro]

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/the-microbiology-of-reef-tank-cycling.214618/

[WV Reefer]

16 minutes ago, TheDeltaFlight said:

So I’ve been out of the hobby for almost 6 years now, meaning I’ve forgotten a lot of things about this amazing hobby. 

 

Im putting together a 15g AIO with about 15lbs of dry rock, but I’ve never cycled a tank with dry rock before. How do I go about this.(I’ve tried searching on Nano-Reef, but didn’t find too much info. 

 

Im more than willing to mix some live rock in the tank, but what’s the fastest way to cycle dry rock?

  The fastest way is to not use dry rock.  lol

 

You will need an ammonia source to start the cycle.....most will dose ammonia directly.  You could also use some live rock to help seed the tank.  There are tons of cycling threads on here.

[shoonjai]

My tank is currently cycling and I used the link 1891Bro posted as a reference before I began. I used all dry rock (watching the rock slowly start growing things and growing coraline is one of my favorite aspects of a new tank, didn't want to use live rock) and sand that I rinsed 12 times (until the water was no longer cloudy).

 

I added bottled bacteria (Bio-Spira) and dosed ammonia (Dr. Tim's) to ~2ppm and am now letting the cycle run its course. In two weeks, or once all the parameters are back to 0, I will dose ammonia again and see if it is able to be filtered out by my rocks within 24-48 hours to see where things are at. If the rocks are unable to do so, I will add a second bottle of bacteria, dose ammonia to 2ppm, and let that run another 2 weeks. After that as the link 1891Bro referenced, the tank should be 100% cycled, even if no parameter testing was done.

[Clown79]

Cleanest way to cycle dry rock- bacteria and ammonia dosing.

 

Fastest cycling ith diversity of life - use liverock

[TheDeltaFlight]

2 hours ago, Clown79 said:

Cleanest way to cycle dry rock- bacteria and ammonia dosing.

 

Fastest cycling ith diversity of life - use liverock

Do I need any dosing if I use solely love rock? It’s like a 2-3 week cycle right?

[WV Reefer]

14 minutes ago, TheDeltaFlight said:

Do I need any dosing if I use solely love rock? It’s like a 2-3 week cycle right?

To cycle a tank you need an ammonia source.

 

For dry rock you have to add the ammonia...... for live rock the ammonia is produced from any “die off” on the rock. 

 

You really need to read up on the ammonia cycle so that you will be educated on what happens next.  The “cycle” is only the beginning. 

 

 

[Clown79]

54 minutes ago, TheDeltaFlight said:

Do I need any dosing if I use solely love rock? It’s like a 2-3 week cycle right?

I would highly recommend reading up on cycling and the nitrogen cycle.

 

It's very important to understand it.

 

Liverock requires no dosing. Wet rock that's established often has no cycle, possibly a small spike.

 

Dry rock needs an ammonia source added.

[shoonjai]

Dosing ammonia to live rock will kill off some of the living beneficial stuff that you want, which is why you started with live rock in the first place. If using live rock, no ammonia dosing required. If using dry rock, an ammonia source (dosing would be the cleanest) would be needed to kickstart the cycle.

 

Your tank would still cycle with dry rock and no ammonia added, but that would take a long time.