The cycle continues...

[spryandspringy]

...and not without a few casualties.

Damsel number two gave up the proverbial ghost today, and I am now fishless. I went to the LFS and got another big chunk of completely cured and ready to go (i.e. from an established display tank) live rock. Ammonia has begun to decline, Nitrites are at 3.0ppm (Yeesh!) and Nitrates are at 40ppm (Double yeesh!) With the ammonia declining, I think/hope the worst is over. Even so, I'm going to bite the bullet and get some more live rock online to continue to supplement this tank, and wait for everything to balance out before I bring home any more sacrificial victims. (Please don't mistake my attempts at humor for flippancy; I really do feel badly that so far the body count is three on my first saltwater attempt.)

Now here comes the question -- I always have a question! If I'm not adding more fish right away, and doing a fishless cycle for the rest of it, can I just plop any live rock I have shipped to me right into the tank? Die off won't be an issue without livestock in there, right? Please answer before I kill again.

 

[guppy]

This is straight from Dr. Foster and Smith's site.

Fill tank with water at 1.023-1.025 sg and turn on filters. then,

1) set temp to 72-78 degrees F.
2) rinse uncured live rock to get the sand, etc. off.
3) place in stable formation in tank. 1-2lbs per gallon is recomended
4) keep lights off to discourage algae
5) do a 50% water change each week while it cycles and siphon off debris at same time
6)check ammonia, nitrate, and nitrite weekly
7) when levels hit zero do another 50% water change
8) wait 24 hrs then check ph and adjust if needed to 8.1- 8.4 ph

The whole process takes 2-4 weeks depending on your set up.
I have never done this but they sell the stuff and this is their work sheet.

Good luck!

 

[He_Man_81]

once you've got plenty of live rock, all you really need to dso is wait... that's the one thing that's so majorly different with saltwater, you've just gotta have patience...