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A Guide to Cycling This topic is almost as old as reef keeping itself. But within the past decade, governments have placed restrictions on live rock collection, and there's been a shift to starting new reef tanks with dry rock. In this guide, I'll discuss the nitrogen cycle, as well as methods to cycle both live and dry rock (something which every new hobbyist should be aware of). I'll be using the following definitions: Bio-load noun - The wastes produced by the biological organisms in your tank Biofilter noun - The nitrifying bacteria which make up the nitrogen cycle Curing verb - The process of removing dead organics (an ammonia source) from your rock Cycle noun - The nitrogen cycle Cycle verb - To establish the nitrogen cycle And even if commonly used, I'll try to avoid using confusing terms like "cycle" to describe an ammonia spike. The Nitrogen Cycle The nitrogen cycle doesn't change, so I won't spend a lot of time on this well documented topic. When it comes to the cycle, we are primarily concerned about nitrifying bacteria and ammonia. However, nitrite and nitrate are also part of the nitrification process: Ammonia is produced by animals, including the breakdown of dead organic matter by heterotrophic bacteria. Nitrifying bacteria oxidizes the ammonia into nitrite (which isn't considered toxic in marine aquariums). Then nitrite is oxidized into nitrate (a critical nutrient for all photosynthetic life). Finally, excess nitrate can be exported via water changes. Nitrate can also be taken up by phytoplankton, macroalgae, seagrass, and animals with zooxanthellae (a symbiotic algae living within corals and other "photosynthetic" animals). More advanced methods of nitrate reduction include: supporting consumption by dosing liquid carbon, and by providing anaerobic zones for denitrifying bacteria. Notes: Nitrifying bacteria reside on the hard surfaces in your tank (like rocks, sand, equipment, and tank walls). Therefore, water changes will not remove this critical bacteria. In addition, you can transfer the biofilter from one tank to another tank by moving the rocks, filter media, etc. Cycling Live Rock Rock that has been taken from the ocean, or from another reef tank, is called live rock. When you purchase it, the nitrifying bacteria get transferred along with the rock. Plus, it usually contains more than just bacteria (including things like pods, worms, and coralline algae). This biodiversity can often help prevent pests like dinoflagellates from taking over without biological competition. For this type of rock, we should generally wait until total ammonia drops to a safe range (of 0.25 ppm or less) before adding livestock. Note: Fully cured live rock will produce less ammonia than it can process, so it won't elevate ammonia levels. Uncured Live Rock Since collection restrictions have made it harder to acquire uncured live rock from the ocean, you might find aquacultured and maricultured rock to be acceptable alternatives. To keep costs down, live rock is often shipped to you (or your local store) wet, but not submerged in water. This usually results in some die off, which will produce ammonia. As the name suggests, uncured live rock has not gone through the curing process (where heterotrophic bacteria breaks down the dead organic compounds). But generally, there's already enough nitrifying bacteria on these rocks, so it's just a matter of waiting until the dead organics are broken down and ammonia reaches safe levels (which could take a few weeks). During this time, there are usually temporary spikes in both ammonia and nitrite. The following graph represents a typical cycle when using uncured live rock: Figure 2: Nitrogen Cycle With Ammonia Spike[1] Note: Ammonia levels might remain slightly elevated following an ammonia spike. In addition (like in the ocean), tanks with livestock will always have some level of total ammonia, even if it's not detectable by our test kits. Cured Live Rock This rock has already been cured; so it has little to no die off, and is capable of processing more ammonia than it produces. On the other hand, rock which hasn't been fully cured, or has experienced die off during transport, can produce elevated ammonia levels. If it does, simply wait until total ammonia reaches a safe range (of 0.25 ppm or less) before slowly adding livestock. Cycling Dry Rock Dry rock is a term used for any reef rock which is currently dry. It doesn't contain any marine life (including nitrifying bacteria to process ammonia). This rock could have been manufactured or mined from the ground, or have come from someone else's tank or collected from the ocean (and then dried out). Because of this, it might or might not have dead organic matter on it. If you have any question about whether or not your rock might contain dead organics, I recommend testing it, and curing it if necessary. You can test it by soaking it in some water for a few days. If the water becomes discolored or starts to smell, the organics are probably starting to break down (and ammonia is being produced). You can test the water for ammonia to be certain. Curing Dry Rock If it turns out that your rock has dead organic matter on it, you should cure it like you would cycle uncured live rock. When you are done, and depending on how much ammonia was produced, it should have a working biofilter capable of handling a light bio-load. Adding Nitrifying Bacteria You can use a bottled bacteria culture (such as Instant Ocean BIO-Spira) to introduce or add nitrifying bacteria strains to your dry rock. The bacteria is immediately capable of processing ammonia, even when it's still free floating in the water column. And within 5 days, the bacteria should colonize onto the hard surfaces in your tank; after this, water changes will no longer remove the newly added bacteria. Uncured rock will produce ammonia; if it does, simply wait until the level of total ammonia reaches 0.25 ppm. If you stop there and slowly add livestock, your fish will usually be fine; although the ammonia levels could still become elevated until the the bacteria populations increase. This is sometimes referred to as cycling with fish (where the ammonia from fish is used to help build up the biofilter). However, if the ammonia level gets too high, it can be harmful to your fish. So prior to adding livestock, I typically suggest using the following fishless cycling method to build up the nitrifying bacteria on dry rock; although you might not always have time for this step when setting up something like an emergency quarantine tank. Fishless Cycling The idea behind fishless cycling is to use a clean source of ammonia to build up the biofilter on pre-cured dry rock prior to stocking your tank. This can be done in your display tank, or in a separate container with a powerhead for flow (a heater or light isn't required). While fishless cycling can be done without adding bottled bacteria, dosing nitrifying bacteria beforehand is recommended to speed up the process.[2] The ammonia source used, will feed the bacteria and promote its reproduction. Fishless cycling is a simple process of: dosing, waiting, and testing. The number of days that it takes isn't important; simply wait until your rocks are ready for the next step before proceeding: Dose ammonium chloride or another clean source of ammonia to elevate total ammonia up to 1 ppm (don't overdose). Wait for total ammonia to drop to 0.25 ppm (if the level of total ammonia continues to go up, your rocks weren't fully cured, which will add time to this step). Repeat until your rocks can process 1 ppm of total ammonia down to 0.25 ppm within 24 hours. When finished, your tank will have a working biofilter capable of handling a typical initial bio-load. Notes: Don't add ammonia or ammonium to rock containing non-bacterial life (like pods or other inverts). If using a pure ammonia cleaner as your ammonia source, make sure that it doesn't contain scents, surfactants, detergents, or dyes. Ghost Feeding Ghost feeding is an alternative method for adding an ammonia source to build up a biofilter. It involves adding fish food to a tank (without any fish in it) until the biofilter can process the ammonia being produced. And while effective, it's harder to control the level of ammonia, and the rotting food adds organics and phosphate, which could lead to future problems like cyanobacteria. Cycling a Combination of Dry and Live Rock We can add live rock to dry rock in order to introduce biodiversity. The longer that you keep the dry rock and live rock together, the more life (like pods, bacteria, and coralline) will spread to the dry rock. However, if the dry rock is uncured, you might choose to cure it separately, so as not to expose this beneficial life to the ammonia that is produced. Post Cycling After cycling your rocks (but before adding livestock), you can adjust the water's nutrient levels by: performing water changes to export excess nutrients, or by dosing nutrients if they are too low. If you won't be keeping corals, I'd change out enough water to reduce nitrate to less than 20 ppm. If you will be keeping coral and anemones, I recommend trying to maintain nitrate levels between 3 and 10 ppm (dosing up to 3 ppm, or exporting down to 10 ppm). Likewise, I recommend trying to keep phosphate levels between 0.03 to 0.10 ppm (dosing up to 0.03 ppm, or exporting down to 0.10 ppm). Once the cycle is established, and after you've adjusted the tank water's nutrient levels, I recommend adding livestock in smaller groups (waiting at least a week between additions). This will give the bacteria populations some time to adjust to the new bio-load before adding more livestock. Resources https://www.bulkreefsupply.com/content/post/md-2019-01-how-to-cycle-a-saltwater-tank-tips-to-help-you-succeed-with-your-new-aquarium https://www.drtimsaquatics.com/resources/library/quick-guide-to-fishless-cycling-with-one-and-only/ Also check out: A Look at Ammonia.
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Can I cure dry rock with AquaStik Underwater Epoxy Putty
WARGOreef posted a topic in Beginners Discussion
Hello, So I'm starting a new tank and will be starting the curing process for my dry Reef Rock 2.1 Can I cure dry rock that has AquaStik Underwater Epoxy Putty or any other putty attached to them or should I wait until after the curing process to use it to connect rocks?- 8 replies
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Hallo forum! Finally got the Fluval Evo 13.5 and I'm trying to make a plan for getting it up and cycling while I'm waiting to be able to afford, you know, sand, rocks, a powerhead, salt, RO/DI unit, ha ha ha (crying) After consideration I want to go with dry sand and dry pukani rock rather than start with live, and then I get a bit confused with overthinking. Should I cure the pukani before adding it to the tank and then cycling the tank? Or should I take advantage of the dead matter in the pukani to help me cycle the tank? I've read that you shouldn't cure rock in the DT? I AM leaning towards curing the rock and then adding it to the tank to then cycle the tank, just so that I can be thorough and make sure everything is clean and stable from the ground up - I don't mind waiting around so much because saving money for each little bit is going to be a slow process for me, plus I like to make sure I have everything laid out from scratch. That said, I don't want to do everything twice if I don't have to. I'm not THAT patient. Another point that I'm not sure about is this: when I've cycled FW tanks in the past I've always used done so by dosing 4ppm 'pure' ammonia and testing from there. It's taken some time but it's always given me a good cycle and a stable BB culture at the end of it. Reading about dry rock cycling online, I've only really seen the 'dead shrimp' method, which, no. I just wanted to find out if I can cycle a dry sand/dry rock tank with the pukani by dosing with bottled bacteria and then feeding with 'pure' ammonia, and if so, what ppm would be needed. I've seen 4ppm and 2ppm recommended? I like to get a large culture of BB going, esp because I think I might be on the heavy side of stocked at the end of it (I'll be using a mini fuge with chaeto and copepods and won't be using a protein skimmer so) I'd love to hear your input, especially from anyone who's done the above before, and if anyone can let me know on curing the pukani before and out of the tank or in the tank while it cycles I'd really appreciate it Thanks for your help nano forum!
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I picked up two bins of dry, old live rock that I want to start prepping for the future. I already have a batch of rock cycled for the 40g breeder I am building now. But I imagine I will want to upgrade even bigger in a year or so. I'd like to do everything right so I'm taking my plan to the forums before enacting it. 1st Stage - Cleaning 2nd - Phosphate Removal 3rd - Cycling 4th - Coralline Growth 1st: Cleaning will involve washing the rock off and scrubbing any old life that I can find. Bleach or vinegar solutions seem to be a common choice. 2nd: I am already using Lanthanum Chloride to remove phosphates on my cycled rock, I believe I will use this to remove it from this new batch. So far it has been working well. And it seems to be the most efficient method, combined with large water changes. 3rd: I prefer to do Cycling fishless, so I will be using a janitor's solution to provide ammonia to the bacteria. I want to get it heavily seeded and will dose ammonia multiple times to build up the bacteria 4th: Coralline Growth, what may be the hardest stage. If I could do everything I want, I would culture some coralline in its own aquarium first in order to get a clean sample. Probably won't have the resources to do that and will just scrape some from one of my tanks. I will also be adding a CUC to manage other algae during this ~1year process of growing out the coralline. The algae starter and CUC will be the first possible entrances of pests and something I would like to work on. Did I mess any secret techniques or is this a pretty solid plan?
