Cycling with dry rock

[Aidanburkhardt]

I just set up my new 32 gallon tank and decided to try dry rock this time instead of lice rock. I’ve been adding food to the aquarium to produce ammonia and added bacteria in a bottle to jumpstart the process. I’m still seeing some ammonia in my tests as well as Nitrite and nitrates. Is this pretty normal to see and about how long should it take to cycle with the addition of the bacteria in a bottle 

[SeaFurn]

Yes that’s normal. It will take a good month for it to be truly effective and that’s if you’ve not OD’d it on ammonia. 

[Clown79]

It can take anywhere from 4- 6 weeks average. 

 

 

[mcarroll]

On 3/2/2020 at 9:48 PM, Aidanburkhardt said:

I just set up my new 32 gallon tank and decided to try dry rock this time instead of lice rock. I’ve been adding food to the aquarium to produce ammonia and added bacteria in a bottle to jumpstart the process. I’m still seeing some ammonia in my tests as well as Nitrite and nitrates. Is this pretty normal to see and about how long should it take to cycle with the addition of the bacteria in a bottle 

It takes 30-40 days to cycle a tank without using anything but saltwater and inert bio-media like dead rock.

 

If you're using bacterial in a bottle, it should take as long as it says on the bottle. 

 

If it makes no claims, it may be the wrong kind of bacteria and might be no better than waiting...in which case just do the waiting instead.  It's 100% reliable and time tested more than any other method you've heard about.  👍

 

Keep in mind that creating a bio-filter is not the same as creating live rock.

 

Live rock is composed of many types of reef-oriented microorganisms and more or less creates a whole microbial ecosystem. 

 

In contrast, a bio-filter like you're creating is composed of just a few strains of bacteria that has a very narrow range of functions...akin to an undergravel filter.  Like comparing the alphabet with an encyclopedia -- no comparison, not even in the same class of things. 

 

Although live rock DOES contain the same bacteria and perform the same fuction as a bio-filter....live rock just does a lot more as well.

[Aidanburkhardt]

On 3/5/2020 at 11:37 PM, mcarroll said:

It takes 30-40 days to cycle a tank without using anything but saltwater and inert bio-media like dead rock.

 

If you're using bacterial in a bottle, it should take as long as it says on the bottle. 

 

If it makes no claims, it may be the wrong kind of bacteria and might be no better than waiting...in which case just do the waiting instead.  It's 100% reliable and time tested more than any other method you've heard about.  👍

 

Keep in mind that creating a bio-filter is not the same as creating live rock.

 

Live rock is composed of many types of reef-oriented microorganisms and more or less creates a whole microbial ecosystem. 

 

In contrast, a bio-filter like you're creating is composed of just a few strains of bacteria that has a very narrow range of functions...akin to an undergravel filter.  Like comparing the alphabet with an encyclopedia -- no comparison, not even in the same class of things. 

 

Although live rock DOES contain the same bacteria and perform the same fuction as a bio-filter....live rock just does a lot more as well.

Would you recommend adding a piece of live rock as well to help speed up the process of establishing the Beneficial bacteria. I was also curious about any other recommendations to add such as copepods. Right now I’m testing every day and adding a large amount of food to the aquarium about every three days to produce ammonia. Ammonia and nitrites seem to fall back down to zero after 48 hours which is quicker than I’ve seen in the past few weeks so I believe bacteria is being established I just want to cycle the tank and create the best ecosystem I can. Thanks 

[mcarroll]

I'd use some or all live rock if it's available.  👍  If it's actual live rock, it'll take care of adding pods, etc.

[dling]

You could also add some water from  your LFS . That will also help the speeding up the process.

[mcarroll]

 

On 3/12/2020 at 10:55 PM, Aidanburkhardt said:

Would you recommend adding a piece of live rock as well to help speed up the process of establishing the Beneficial bacteria. I was also curious about any other recommendations to add such as copepods. Right now I’m testing every day and adding a large amount of food to the aquarium about every three days to produce ammonia. Ammonia and nitrites seem to fall back down to zero after 48 hours which is quicker than I’ve seen in the past few weeks so I believe bacteria is being established I just want to cycle the tank and create the best ecosystem I can. Thanks 

Definitely would help...live rock would have a good chance of adding lots of things like pods all at once.