Curing/Cycling Questions

[ggNoRe]

I have 35lbs marco key largo base dry rocks ready for my 29g tank whenever it arrives and I'm trying to figure out the best way to cyle my tank. My initial idea was to add about 10 lbs of live rock to the system to help seed it. Should I keep only the dry rock in it at the start add a 1/2 raw shrimp and let it cycle before adding live rock (or not even add live rock at all)? Or do I just add the live rock in from the get go plus the raw shrimp (or not even add the shrimp)? Or do something different from all of these methods?

 

[fastrd400]

Put the dry rock in, and the cured live rock. Drop in your shrimp and let er rip!

 

[Smitty]

I agree with Fast :)

 

[ggNoRe]

Sounds good. Thanks! :mrgreen:

 

[Ulta]

ya man, pretty much all the 'cycle' is creating a healthy bacteria population in your tank... you do this by putting in something to decay. Which could be anything from your raw shrimp to just the dead stuff on your Live Rock.

The only issues you should have is if your trying to keep something alive in your tank during the 'cycle' b/c you will spike ammonia and nitrite(the waste products of the bacteria your growing)

Also, if you only put in a small amount of decaying material then you will have to watch adding critters too fast b/c your population of bacteria will be small and could go through another mini 'cycle' as your bacteria population catches up.

This youtube vid gives a pretty textbook explanation of the 'cycle':
[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DYMzhUDicxQ]YouTube - Aquarium Care, Biological Filtration, and Cycling[/ame]

You can do it many ways whatever works for you :)

 

[sen5241b]

Stack rock very carefully. Sand dissolves and critters can move rock. People have had little avalanches come down and bust the glass. You wish to cement it with reef safe cement or glue.

 

[yote]

If the live rock was ordered online,then you may not even have to add the shrimp to kick the cycle off.
If the rock was cured good,I'd just keep an eye on the parameters for a couple of weeks,and if nothing spiked,I'd consider it cycled.BTJMO.:D