Bacteria starter for new tank

[SteveDola]

Good Afternoon all,

Im starting a new tank and its been a while since Ive fresh started a tank. Back in the day I would use live sand and live rock and then wait till the Ammonia, nitrite were gone (a month or so) but now since Im using dry rock to cycle the tank I reading and watching that a bacteria starter is used. So i went out and bought some fritz turbo start to toss in my vat of dry rock that Im curing with a few pieces of LR. My thoughts were to start the colonies of bacteria on the dry rock as fast as possible to be ready to go when I do start up the new main display tank.

I guess my question is when I start the display up and move the rock over with new LS and fresh mixed salt water should I add more Fritz? add some microbacter7 for diversity of bacteria? Is it over kill?

Im just trying to provide the best environment for new tank to transfer over my existing 15g with the corals and fish so I dont lose anything. Also trying to avoid/mitigate the ugly phase of brown and green all over the tank. Thoughts? experiences? concerns?

 

[MCB85]

I have read a few post, I don’t remember if it was here or post on another forum. There’s no bad effects to adding more bacteria starter.

in my experience If you do it right per instructions it does work and cuts the cycle time.

 

[MarkSzy]

I used Fritz turbo start to cycle my new display with just dry rock, it did a great job of getting rid of ammonia and starting the nitrite to nitrate phase. I am now adding phytoplankton to help the beneficial bacteria get a hold of my tank after a large cyano outbreak. I did add more turbo start to help add more bacteria. I believe my cyano outbreak was because I let me nutrients get to low and not a problem with the starter bacteria. I will def use some live rock in mix with dry the next time i start a tank.

 

[Chris A.]

I cooked my dry rock for 3 months and still got some uglies when it started getting hit with reef lights. I also used fritz Bacteria and I did a great job of taking care of the nitrogen cycle.

 

[Drichards]

I've added an ammonia source in the past while adding nitrifying bacteria. Ive used microbacter start xlm

 

[ChrisV]

Good Afternoon all,

Im starting a new tank and its been a while since Ive fresh started a tank. Back in the day I would use live sand and live rock and then wait till the Ammonia, nitrite were gone (a month or so) but now since Im using dry rock to cycle the tank I reading and watching that a bacteria starter is used. So i went out and bought some fritz turbo start to toss in my vat of dry rock that Im curing with a few pieces of LR. My thoughts were to start the colonies of bacteria on the dry rock as fast as possible to be ready to go when I do start up the new main display tank.

I guess my question is when I start the display up and move the rock over with new LS and fresh mixed salt water should I add more Fritz? add some microbacter7 for diversity of bacteria? Is it over kill?

Im just trying to provide the best environment for new tank to transfer over my existing 15g with the corals and fish so I dont lose anything. Also trying to avoid/mitigate the ugly phase of brown and green all over the tank. Thoughts? experiences? concerns?

I've been thinking a lot about how to expand my tank when the time comes. I think I will plumb a sump onto my current tank and gradually add rock over the course of weeks or months until dry rock is colonized.

Adding extra bottled bacteria won't hurt anything.

 

[SteveDola]

Yeh Im leaning towards dosing both and documenting results of cycle and initial months of tank.

 

[BiGGiePauls33]

I used brightwell additives.Also, had some established live rock though.

Microbacter Dry Rock Bacteria Starter Kit

Everything needed for fishless cycling a new system with Dry Rock is in this kit! This kit is designed to be used with unseeded dry rock such as Marco Rock or artificial live rock replacements. Plain dry sand is recommended instead of so called 'live sand' which may have been seeded with...

www.bulkreefsupply.com

 

[JPags]

I used Fritz Turbo Start multiple times and dose ammonia. My neighbor just did the same things. Cycles in a few weeks. You get the ugly phase because you get the nitrate spike quickly, but once the nitrates go down the tank is ready.