Cycling question

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Stratoquarius

Fire Eel
MFK Member
Oct 22, 2011
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Calgary
Hey all, just a few quick questions.

the tank has been cycling for about 4-5 days right now with live argonite sand, the correct SG (at last) and filtration with the help of an aditional powerhead to help the salt to dissolve (at first).

My question is, can I add some live rock this weekend? and when would be the best point to get some mollies to help cycle the tank?

I would use damsels, but I believe mollies are better at coping with cycling because you can cycle fresh and brackish with mollies which shows how hardy they are.
before someone gets all ethical we are on a forum where 80% of the members feed live fish to their fish, at least i won't be killing the mollies.


when is the best time to consider the tank cycled, 2 weeks or 3 weeks, it will be fish only and will be stocked with robust species.
 
It's best to start the cycle with the live rock already in there but adding all of the rock this weekend isn't going to be an issue as there's nothing in there to kill; adding more live rock (vs. adding more dry rock) when you have livestock will cause issues as it will undoubtedly start a mini-cycle. I also suggest that you remove any carbon or other chemical filtration media from your filters if you have not already done so as that sort of media will work against you & will make the cycle way longer.

As for adding fishes for cycling, it's pointless to add any fishes at this point as there simply is no need to do so; the live rock will sustain the cycle on its own if you go with live rock vs. dry rock. Even if you go with mostly dry rock, the aquarium will still cycle just fine with just a piece of shrimp tossed in there as the ammonia source. Cycling with fishes is unnecessary & does cause damage to even the sturdiest fishes.

You will know when the system is cycled once you see the ammonia spike, nitrite spike, & nitrate spike; these spikes signal that the necessary beneficial bacteria colonies are formed & are doing their jobs. You can add fishes once the ammonia & nitrite are at zero, and after you've done a big water change to remove most of the nitrate.
 
Thanks for the extremely informative and helpful answer Wiggles92! just a few further questions, if I do have carbon media what kind of media should I replace it with? right now I only have a few rocks in there about 4 and one is a ceramic fake rock. I was hoping to only add a few pieces of live rock.

when i have the above conditions how long on average would you think it would take for the tank to stabilize and get those spikes?

I had no idea that the rock cycles the tank just as fast as live fishes would.
 
Stratoquarius said:
Thanks for the extremely informative and helpful answer Wiggles92! just a few further questions, if I do have carbon media what kind of media should I replace it with? right now I only have a few rocks in there about 4 and one is a ceramic fake rock. I was hoping to only add a few pieces of live rock.

when i have the above conditions how long on average would you think it would take for the tank to stabilize and get those spikes?

I had no idea that the rock cycles the tank just as fast as live fishes would.
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You can add the carbon media back in once the cycle is complete; just leave the space for it empty during the cycle. As for the rock, plan on having around a pound of high quality rock per gallon in order to be able to keep as many fishes as the aquarium can handle; plan on greatly reduced stocking with less rock.

The cycle time can vary greatly; some aquariums will cycle in days while others may take a few weeks. Testing is really the only way to determine if the cycle is over, and it's best to wait a few days longer rather than rush things.
 
yeah thanks, I will be testing the tank regularly. last night there was ammonia so I know that its actually advancing in progress.
So are we talking a pound of live rock per gallon, or a pound of any rock per gallon? (i know that live rock will colonise other rocks and turn them "live") do they have to be a particular type of rock, or just any old rock?
 
Stratoquarius said:
yeah thanks, I will be testing the tank regularly. last night there was ammonia so I know that its actually advancing in progress.
So are we talking a pound of live rock per gallon, or a pound of any rock per gallon? (i know that live rock will colonise other rocks and turn them "live") do they have to be a particular type of rock, or just any old rock?
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It's a pound of high quality live rock and/or high quality dry rock per gallon. The rock must be highly porous, or you will need more than a pound per gallon; you might be able to get away with less than a pound per gallon if you use the highly porous stuff that BRS sells. Any old rock will not due, and I personally would remove any rocks that are not dry rock or live rock as artificial rocks & other non-matching rocks tend to look unsightly as they don't match (maybe that's just me though).
 
Thanks for the info, youre like a one man marine how to book.
the ornament is one of those fountains for lizard terrariums, it stopped working and ended up flooding my terrarium ages ago. so i cut the power chord off and use it in fish tanks. it makes a hell of a cave an it has ultra realistic grooves and bumps. much like live rock. so i was hoping it would get encrusted in purple calcium and just blend in with live rock (and create a nice little cave).

1 pound per gallon, I will have to work out what that is in KG now.

Actually thinking about it, its not as much rock as I thought. cause I have a 25 pound dumbell and it would be double that and a little more. and I know that live rock can be pretty damn heavy in large chunks so should be fine. Does the dry porous rock have a particular name that it goes by in LFS?
 
Stratoquarius said:
Thanks for the info, youre like a one man marine how to book.
the ornament is one of those fountains for lizard terrariums, it stopped working and ended up flooding my terrarium ages ago. so i cut the power chord off and use it in fish tanks. it makes a hell of a cave an it has ultra realistic grooves and bumps. much like live rock. so i was hoping it would get encrusted in purple calcium and just blend in with live rock (and create a nice little cave).

1 pound per gallon, I will have to work out what that is in KG now.

Actually thinking about it, its not as much rock as I thought. cause I have a 25 pound dumbell and it would be double that and a little more. and I know that live rock can be pretty damn heavy in large chunks so should be fine. Does the dry porous rock have a particular name that it goes by in LFS?
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I wouldn't bother with the lizard decoration; it may not be saltwater compatible.

The dry porous rock will almost certainly cost more in an LFS than online, but you may as well check out both to see which one has it cheaper. I'm not aware of any special names for it although the LFS may try to talk you into something that you don't want or need, so be careful when taking their advice.
 
Yeah I am always aware of the LFS's. they always try and tell me to use aquarium salt to make brackish and they must think I'm an idiot or something. There are some better LFS in my city so I will probably use those to get the rocks.

The decoration as far as I can see is just ceramic. I removed the pump from it.
 
I cycled my 125 fowlr fish tank in a week using 25lbs lr and 90 dry rock and added fish during the time in which I was dosing my tank with Seachem Stability and on the 7th day my tank was cycled and the thing actually worked, now two months later and my fish are doing great
 
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