Cycling dry rock

[Jbissell1289]

So with the coming tank upgrade, I’m trying to decide how to cycle the dry rock that I’ve gotten from a couple different reeders here on the forums! Thanks again, @Saint04 and @JPags!

Since it is a tank upgrade, I will not be able to cycle rock in the tank without a light as I have coral unless it is in the sump.

 

[JPags]

You can add some new rock to the tank if you have existing live rock. I don’t think you will see a large ammonia spike if they have been bleached.

The rest you can cycle in a bin with seed rock or any other method should work

 

[afboundguy]

How big is your current setup? I have had great success adding small amounts of dry rock over a few weeks and avoided the mini recycle...

 

[Jbissell1289]

Going from a 20 gallon aio, so 16-17 gallon display to a 47 gallon display. I also have some other live rock @Saint04 gave to me too. So it’s not all dry rock at least.

 

[ChrisPchef]

Add the dry rock into the tank with your live rock and current corals. The bacteria and life on your existing live rock/coral will slowly seed the rest, no problem. Ammonia levels will not affect your corals like it will fish. Your fish might experience gill burn from the ammonia, your corals will be unaffected.

The idea of “cycling” a tank is old news, people have a misconception it should be done with fish. This only hurts and agitates the fish, with the potential to kill them. There is a wide array of videos online explaining this.

This past November I put this ideology to the test and my second tank is running very well. I did not experience any “ugly phase” either.

 

[ChrisPchef]

Add the dry rock into the tank with your live rock and current corals. The bacteria and life on your existing live rock/coral will slowly seed the rest, no problem. Ammonia levels will not affect your corals like it will fish. Your fish might experience gill burn from the ammonia, your corals will be unaffected.

The idea of “cycling” a tank is old news, people have a misconception it should be done with fish. This only hurts and agitates the fish, with the potential to kill them. There is a wide array of videos online explaining this.

This past November I put this ideology to the test and my second tank is running very well. I did not experience any “ugly phase” either.

Here is a great explanation. If you skip to 19:34 they begin talking about the misconception of cycling.

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[afboundguy]

I agree you should be able to add it in with minimal issues...

 

[Jbissell1289]

Add the dry rock into the tank with your live rock and current corals. The bacteria and life on your existing live rock/coral will slowly seed the rest, no problem. Ammonia levels will not affect your corals like it will fish. Your fish might experience gill burn from the ammonia, your corals will be unaffected.

The idea of “cycling” a tank is old news, people have a misconception it should be done with fish. This only hurts and agitates the fish, with the potential to kill them. There is a wide array of videos online explaining this.

This past November I put this ideology to the test and my second tank is running very well. I did not experience any “ugly phase” either.

Yeah, my plan was to put all of my live rock in to the tank right away. I just wasn’t sure how much or what to do with my current dry rock. I’ll listen and see.

 

[ChrisPchef]

Yeah, my plan was to put all of my live rock in to the tank right away. I just wasn’t sure how much or what to do with my current dry rock. I’ll listen and see.

I would just add both the dry and the live together, you’ll be fine.

 

[nickeg79]

If your adding more dry rock than live rock you might have issues.

I had mostly new rock with a few pieces of live restarted 80 gallon deep blue.

I’d say 25 pounds live and 40-50 dry rock that was never put in a tank.

I had a decent amount of fish and corals and BtA’s. They weren’t the issue.

I had a hard time keeping up the good bacteria and I had dinos and cyano outbreaks for over a year. Most of the issue was on the sandbed. The sand was completely new.

It took like 2 years to balance out. I wasn’t doing water changes. That started killing the corals off. It wasn’t easy to get everything balanced out.

I got it under control with microbacter and adding 4 conch to the aquarium.

It’s much easier to just put a piece of shrimp in with dry rock and let it sit in the tank for a month. Not for the cycle but for the good bacteria to establish itself before dinos and cyano.

 

[Jbissell1289]

Yeah, that is what I’m worried about. I guess I should clarify in the original post. The cycle will be fine for the fish. That isn’t what I’m worried about. It’s the ugly phase with possible Dino’s. I am already dealing with cyano, so don’t want to add to the mix

 

[afboundguy]

They have silicate phyto strands that are supposed to help with Dino's and cyano. I just got a starter culture that I will be starting a culture on Friday.

Here's more info and a link to a product - https://rlutah.com/products/dino-buster

I will have all 4 of those strands once I get the new cultures up and running!

 

[dz6t]

For dry rocks, my biggest concern is potential contamination such as pesticides, household cleaners etc. i will cycle the dry rocks in their own tank with a few pieces of live rocks as seeds.

 

[Jbissell1289]

For dry rocks, my biggest concern is potential contamination such as pesticides, household cleaners etc. i will cycle the dry rocks in their own tank with a few pieces of live rocks as seeds.

Im leaning towards doing this method anyways as I don’t have the corals to fill in the rock anyways. Better to take it a little bit slow.

 

[Jbissell1289]

They have silicate phyto strands that are supposed to help with Dino's and cyano. I just got a starter culture that I will be starting a culture on Friday.

Here's more info and a link to a product - https://rlutah.com/products/dino-buster

I will have all 4 of those strands once I get the new cultures up and running!

I really wish I were closer to you. I was wanting some of the pods you had posted for fragsgiving, but the tank wasn’t going to be ready, and now you’re doing these! Lol

 

[afboundguy]

I really wish I were closer to you. I was wanting some of the pods you had posted for fragsgiving, but the tank wasn’t going to be ready, and now you’re doing these! Lol

I may dive into shipping so who knows!

 

[Jbissell1289]

I’ll send you a pm! I’ll be a guenie pig! lol

 

[dz6t]

I may dive into shipping so who knows!

Winter is the better season to ship phytoplankton due to the low temperature. Simply use a cooler without heat pack when night time temperature is above freezing. Use a heat pad when night time temperatures drops below freezing.
When night time temperature above 45 degrees, you don’t even need a cooler.
UPS ground can get the package delivered in 1 day within New England areas.