FO system

Dear Gealcath,
Thanks for the info. I'd along thought that live rocks are the place to house useful bacteria. So any base rocks in a matter of time will also be able to house useful bacteria with the difference from live rocks is that live rocks are fill with living organism. Correct me if I'm wrong again
So in order to come to a conclusion, after filling new salt water into a tank for a few days, add live rocks or base rocks. Monitor ammonia and nitrate.( believe that by adding live rocks will also create a spike. Not neccessary to use shrimp when cycling) Do a 50% water change once ammonia and nitrate drop. Start adding fish. That's it. Correct?
Thanks,
Bemyself
 
Live Rock already has the bacteria living in it, base rock take awile for the bacteria to grow in it, but once its all said and done the only diffrence is Live Rock has other critters on it.


The Bacteria eat ammonia, so if good live rock is used there will be enough bacteria to handle any ammonia present from the get go. If your using base rock, you need to add an ammonia source in order to start the bacteria to grow. This is where the fishless cycle comes in. As the raw shimp decays it releases ammonia which feeds the bacteria. However the bacteria colonies only get as big as the ammonia source is. A cycle with a fish for example will only develop enough bacteria to handle the ammonia waste of that 1 fish, while the shimp methode will get enough bacteria to handle all the ammonia released by a fully decaying shimp.


Also fishless means no water changes, unless you have Nitrate problems. Nitrite and Nitrate are virtually non toxic to fish due to the salt in the water. However Anerobic bacteria which complete the Nitrogen cycle (which is ammonia-->Nitrite--->Nitrate--->Nitrogen Gas) which break down Nitrate live in oxygen poor enviornments, i.e areas with little to no water flow. In terms of base rock or live rock, porous rock is best because it contains holes which promote anerobic bacteria growth. However this type grows ALOT slower then Aerobic bacteria, which is why it takes longer for Nitrate to be removed. This is also whats a DSB (deep sand bed) is used for, to create a low oxygen enviornment.

Once Ammonia and Nitrite both read 0 (Ammonia especially, the high PH of saltwater makes Ammonia extremely toxic), at that point you can start adding fish.
 
Like someone said before, Buy the best stuff. If you are tossing up between a different product and there is a little price difference, buy the better one, it costs more but in the long run it is worth it. A skimmer is a good example. they are not cheap, but you should see what difference they make, and what difference different skimmer make.
 
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