New tank cycle with LR or Shrimp method?

L

lawdawg18

AC Members
Oct 6, 2003
60
0
0
Jackson, Ms
Visit site
I'm working on setting up my new 150, I'm hoping to FINALLY get the sump finished and plumbed in this week, and maybe get some water in this weekend. When it comes time to the cycle should I go with the shrimp method listed on most of the forums, or just add live rock as suggested by serveral LFS owners?
I'm going to order LR from Liverocks.com and I don't want to loose any critters due to cycle. I was thinking cycle with the shrimp then add my Liverock. But all the LFS say just add the live rock and live sand and it will cycle a new tank.

Any suggestions?

Jason
 
Have you looked at
HTML: 
http://www.tbsaltwater.com/index.html
for your rock?

If you use their "package" it takes almost no cycling time. No need to do the cocktail shrimp cycle...

Good luck!
 
I would personally do a fishless cycle. Adding uncured live rock will be just fine since a lot of stuff will die off anyways and will quicken the cycle.
 
so adding all the live rock to ur tank at the beginning of the cycle wont kill everything off? ive been worried about the same thing and im stuck at that point. and pretty much have the same question. should i get everything running and then add all my live rock to start the cycle? or wait till everything is cycled b4 i add live rock so i dont burn anything up with the high ammonia levels, then add fish. i would have to add the rock slowly either way right? (sorry, dont mean to jack ur post) thanx for any replies
 
Basically, uncured LR will have tons of critters dying as it is, which will cycle the aquarium, although ALOT of organisms can survive such conditions, just make sure its not a Glass Anemone (Aiptasia), Rock Anemone (Majano), or Mantis Shrimp (then again, you might want a Mantis Shrimp)
 
Set up my new tank about 2 months ago... 100 lbs live sand 93 pounds of Live rock most of it was cured some was not. My tank parameters never spiked so i would say that if you have enough live rock to start out with your tank will cycle faster. Thats just my experience though so take it at that.
 
I set up the new 90 with the sandbed and some dead base rock, then cycled with the "shrimp" method (in my case it was imitation crab). Then I ordered the rock. The NH3 never went above 0.5.
 
I cycled my 120 gallon with 170 pounds of uncured live rock. My ammonia went off the charts (1 was the highest reading on the test kit). I had plenty of pods, mini brittle stars, and stomatella that survived the cycle. My tank is crawling with them. IMO, put the rock in at once if you can...whether you use uncured or cured. You will get your aquascaping done. If you wait, and add more rock in the future, depending on the amount added (with die off) you might cause a small spike in ammonia. You can use cured live rock with the fresh shrimp, too. Either way, the breaking down of dying/dead organics is what fuels the cycle process. The various bacterias come in and populate, do their thing by breaking down the different nitrogen products, and eventually your tank has cycled.

Here is a shot of what my tank looked like during cycle. The water had a brownish tinge to it, but that cleared up through the cycle:

450aquascapefront.jpg
 
I am not a believer in cycling with LR. As I have stated many times, "what is live rock?" It is exactly what the name states, "live" The same actually goes for the sand as well but IMO it is not as important as the rock. I will always pre cycle a tank using the fishless cycle before adding any rock (eccept base rock). I have found time after time that you have a much higher survival rate on your LR if you add it in after you do the initial cycle. I especially like to use uncured LR when I first set up a tank and after I cycle it. If you pre cycle the tank, your spike, when adding the LR will be minimal and shorter, reducing the fatality rate of the inhabitants of the LR.
 
Could you possibly add saltwater Bio-Spira and uncured live rock to decrease the cycle time? I used Bio-Spira on a 55 gallon freshwater tank and my levels never hit toxic...
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
AquariaCentral.com
Top Bottom