Just wanna make sure...

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As I have read, to cycle your tank, the best would be is to get 3 bacteria, and wait for 5 years before you put in anything else... :tt2:

Will 2 kilos of liverock be enough to start the cycle?
I was wondering if they would produce enough ammonia to produce enough nitrite?

I was told(by someone in the game for more than 24 years) to put in some live rock, 2 clowns and start dosing with Seachem Stability for 7 days.

I know my tank will then NOT be mature and cycled(only after a month or 2) but I will have more bacteria growth than with live rock alone after 2 months.
 
Who is this someone who told you to add the two clowns? He should be shot. Dont ever add fish when cycling a tank
 
Liverock and stability will have you up and running in a couple of weeks. Test the water for correct parameters and then add the fish
 
Spot on, point him out so we can deal with him, add as much LR as possible b4 dosing stability as you will run your 7 day course,add more rock an start a new cycle, and everytime after that
You add rock u will cycle an my harm fish.... So try an get as much as possible to build bigger healthier bacteria count so wen addin more it will be smaller cycles which isn really harmfull. Let ur tank cycle 2 months b4 adding fish, you can however add a CUC after a mh to help with algae, but no shrimps hey, good luck an post pics
 
The live rock will produce ammonia the kick start your cycle because of the die off. The stability will innoculate your tank with bacteria but dont add any fish till you have zero ammonia for a while.
 
Ok thanx.. Got the answers I expected.

The ones to be shot and dealt with is actually the makers of Seachem Stability, as they state that fish can me introduced at any time while using the treatment.

I do NOT plan on putting any fish in till after the cycle.

Not sure about the Seachem when adding fish right away but I did just that with Prodibio start up and I added about ten fish after a day with no losses. Seachem does however say that you must use stability in conjunction with prime, amguard and clarity but I would go the long route and let the tank cycle. Zeovit say you can also cycle a tank using their product in 14 days but that stuff isn't available in SA unless you import it and it's very expensive
 
Also, dont add uncured live rock after the cycle as this will just start the whole process over again and possible kill your fish. Ask your LFS for cured live rock
 
Thanx @Tony. A logical explaination is far superior to advising what was said in 10 threads, that was in turned copied from 8 other threads - for in the end, a lot of us is still doing what we were told, without us or the advisers knowing why they are doing it.

@JsPLAYn LOL - busy building the cabinet as we speak. - will post some before and after pics. Tank has only been running a week, so won't be adding clowns for a little while, but I'm sure it will look cool.... busy collecting base rock for some scaping....
 
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U building cabinet while tank is filled up? ..... Hope u not drilling the stand, u do knw it weakens it an could colapse while u drilling coz of the current weight
 
Think of it in another way. The cycle, it is the time needed to be able to get rid of dead or almost dead life within the live rock. Due to the rock being imported dry, Not in water but just packed wet. There will be a lot of critters, sponges and bacteria that will die inside the rock. Along with some hitchhikers (good and bad) that do not make it.

Does not matter how many startup bacteria you add. Nature must still get rid of these decomposing matter. They must still rot, break up and be eaten or disolve or whatever.

Had you ever seen how a skimmer overreact on a tank when your LFS bring in 500KG of rock. And you can smell that rock as you enter the shop. That is due to all the dead matter that did came out of the rock into the water collumn. Now what about all the stuck inside dead matter.

Hoping enough other (beneficial) bacteria did survive the transit. Yes, there could be some, and on good quality rock, there should be plenty that survive. Then the bacteria populations will quickly recover to be able to help getting rid of the corpses.

Adding bacteria, surely it will help, as it will kickstart the process. But surely, you will not be able to add anything that increase the bioload before the dead matter is sorted.

Also, then you need to add slowly, a fish or two a week. Depending on fish size and tank water volume.

Take into account, while cycle, your bacteria population will explode, there is enough food. Then suddenly, the food is finished, and they starve and die. Their dead bodies causing another ammonia spike. The bacteria that can make it, then will start eating their dead brothers. And again the population will explode. But less than the first time. And this will repeat with the explosions being smaller every time until a balanced is reached. So DO NOT go and buy your first fish the first time your ammonia is zero. It must stay zero for a couple of days.

At the end of the day, you are waiting for corpses to decompose.
 
LFS = Local Fish Store
LPS = Large Polyp Stony coral

Anyway, there can be some die off between LFS and your place. But a lot more between original collection and LFS.


Try 1.025
 
Transport your live rock in containers full of water to minimize the travel/exposure time for things to die.

I started with 10kgs of LR from a good source and got it in the tank ASAP and didn't even have a noticeable ammonia spike.

I transported it in rough tote containers.(they do leak)
 
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You are correct about the Seachem stability, but i wouldn't do this without already having good LR in the tank.
If you wanna go that route, put the LR in and wait till the die off stops(ammonia drops) then start the Seachem for a week and test again... if the water is good for a week then i would go ahead.

People do have very successful tanks after 24-48hr cycles... but they know what they are doing...

Personally i would rather just chill and let the tank do its own thing till it is right.

It is worth the wait, and cheaper than risking to choice off buying fish to die...
 
Also do not confuse a "NEW tank" that is actually a tank move. Technically it is a new tank. But the life within the liverock is fully matured and stable.

There are a couple of beautiful tanks also here on MASA, that was setup like within a week. But if you do some research into them you will find most of them was tank move or tank swap.
 
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