cycling with "life rock" ???

pat

pat

Reefing newb
need some help please ,

I have set up a 150g in my office , I used 180 lbs of caribsea life rock , 120 lbs of caribsea dry sugar sand ,. in the refugium there is a one gallon on mineral mud (10 lbs I think) with 1 inch of sugar sand on top , then a few inches of caribsea coarse live wet sand and then some rubble of life rock.

I purchased 10 lbs of live rock from my lfs. to seed the tank ..

I am on day five with all my readings at zero ?

how would I start the cycle using the "life rock" ...AND not stink out my office (other people here get bitchy about that stuff )

is there anyone out there using the caribsea dry bacteria in fused "life rock" ? ?

it turns out that what I bought from my lfs was not "live rock" but it was real reef man made rock ,that has been in there holding tank .
 
The rock from your LFS will have the beneficial bacteria on it. As long as it was in a holding tank with other rock and saltwater. The pinch of food will feed you system enough to get the rest of the tank going. Welcome to the site !!!
 
pat said:
need some help please ,

I have set up a 150g in my office , I used 180 lbs of caribsea life rock , 120 lbs of caribsea dry sugar sand ,. in the refugium there is a one gallon on mineral mud (10 lbs I think) with 1 inch of sugar sand on top , then a few inches of caribsea coarse live wet sand and then some rubble of life rock.

I purchased 10 lbs of live rock from my lfs. to seed the tank ..

I am on day five with all my readings at zero ?

how would I start the cycle using the "life rock" ...AND not stink out my office (other people here get bitchy about that stuff )

is there anyone out there using the caribsea dry bacteria in fused "life rock" ? ?

it turns out that what I bought from my lfs was not "live rock" but it was real reef man made rock ,that has been in there holding tank .
Click to expand...
Do not rush it. You need to put some damsel fish in to cycle the tank . Everything you did is good you just need fish to cycle and you will see your nitrates and amonia spike after that you will be able to ads corals and nice fish.I would recommend a protein skimmer as well and a clean up crew of hermits and snails you can never have enough of them.Good Luck
20140401_154554.jpg
 
ClownKing said:
Do not rush it. You need to put some damsel fish in to cycle the tank . Everything you did is good you just need fish to cycle and you will see your nitrates and amonia spike after that you will be able to ads corals and nice fish.
Click to expand...

There is no need to cycle with fish. You get the same results with fish food, and you don't have to worry about fishing those little devils out later. Damsels are a**holes.

+1 everyone else on fish food. I cycled my 125g with a cube of frozen fish food. Did fine without fish, same (and humane) results.

You might not even see a huge cycle anyway if you got live rock. Just watch your levels then do a water change before you add livestock and you will be good to go.

Fyi, half my rocks are home made (GARF rocks). I don't even know which ones were from the ocean and which were the ones I made anymore :D
 
I was wanting to stay away from fish cycling,

I put a large pinch of fish flakes in on Friday, all my levels were zero Saturday afternoon, added some more on saturday ,and I'll check the levels tomorrow morning when I go into work.

I did notice that the 2 pieces of reef rock ( lfs holding tank)that have coral line on it are starting to get light brown , stringy alge on it ..

here's hoping. .

btw. Coralife 220g protein skimmer.

thanks for the help .
 
All zeros again this morning :/

but I'm definitely seeing more brown algae on the store rocks , and I'm getting spots on the sand .
1418643842926.jpg
1418643875172.jpg
 
What would happen if i left it alone for the next 2 weeks ? ? I have vacation time coming .i don't really want to add a fish if I'm not going to be there to monitor it's condition...

dose anything eat diatoms?
 
took readings again today and zero across the board.?!?

the diatoms seem to be gaining but after watching youtube about diatoms ,,im not worried about them at all... but I am getting more growth on the two real reef rocks that came from my lfs. brownish green and stringy , is this something I need to be concerned about ? i'll post a pic with my phone ..

I set up my ato system today , right now I'm using API tap water filter to strip my water ( still researching ro systems ) .
and I use a detoxifier just in case , is there anything I should add to the water ? ?

I plan on just fish and crabs , no coral , for the first six to eight months ..
 
ok, thanks,

how do I go about sizing a clean up crew ?
my tank is a 150 gallon( high) but its foot print is 48" x 24" with 190 lbs of rock with only 10 lbs of rock showing growth , sand bed is around 3 inches deep , thinner towards the back by the rock .
 
Alright. ! Now that's a link .. nice prices. .cool..

now let me ask you this , or anyone else that would like to respond. .

do you think the it would be ok to add a cleaner pack this week even tho I don't plan on adding a fish for the next two weeks ?

I am also concerned about there not being enough food for the cleaner pack yet .. diatoms just started to form on the other 180lbs of rock today ..

also ..if you don't mind. . I saw at reefcleaners.org that they have copepods. Would this be a good time to seed my tank and refugium? ?
 

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