Natural Cycling

[stevenlv]

Hi.

 

I just got my Nano Cube Deluxe last week and I've been fortunate enough to get some help from 2 people I would consider pretty knowledgable about marine aquariums. First, I do have a 55 gallon tropical freshwater tank which I've taken very good care of for 2 years now so I'm not a newbie to the hobbie, just to marine aquariums.

 

The Nano Cube is 12 gallons and I've purchased 11 pounds of live sand (very high quality) and 10 lbs of live rock that's been cured.

 

Now, the Nano Cube comes with a baggie of Activated Carbon and a baggie of white rings as part of the filtration. What my two resources have told me is that I don't ever need to have the Activated Carbon or the rings in my tank because the live rock and live sand will naturally filter my tank.

 

I'm currently cycling and was thinking "Wouldn't the carbon and rings help with any ammonia, nitrite or nitrate spikes?" One of my resources convinced me to get a cleaner shrimp and a hermit crab already which I'm now kind of wishing I'd held off on.

 

I was just wondering if any of you out there had any schools of thought you could pass along to me.

 

Thanks!

[mandelbloom]

I would say lose the rings as they have been known to cause spikes. However you would be ok keeping the carbon. I have chemi-pure in mine which has worked out very well. You shrimp and hermit should be ok hepefully they are pretty hardy. Although I did have a cleaner shrimp keel over on me for no obvious reason once.

[CSMReef]

Yes, take out the ceramic rings, the carbon bag, and all the sponges. Replace all of this filter media with LR rubble.

 

Yes you should have waited until after the main cycle was finished before adding a hermit crab and a cleaner shrimp. I'm not too forsure about the hermit crab but it's probable that the shrimp might die. They are really sensitive to changes in water, even though your LR was cured there is still going to be a cycle and in turn will cause spikes in ammonia, nitrite and nitrate.