what FISH did u use 2 cycle?

[AlexS!]

heard of:
yellow tangs
blue damsels
grene chromis
what did u use?

 

[Iron]

None i use raw seafood a few pieces for a week to get it going and use LR. ater a few weeks I use a hardy fish. It just needs something to produce waste. This way I don't kill/injure a fish I don't want anyway

 

[Carpentersreef]

LR, Sailfin Blennie

 

[Anonymous]

LR only. With that there is no point in the possibilty of killing the fish. Enough stuff on the LR dies.

 

[skeeley]

I once used black mollies. But they were so happy in the salt water that they just kept having babies, and pretty soon I had 30 or 40 black mollies. But really, I don't think you should use live fish to cycle, since it can be done without.

 

[Anonymous]

Black mollies, still two in there. They constantly breed and provide the reef with new feeders. Ahhh yes wild kingdom in the living room

 

[Mouse]

Only neanderthols use fish to Cycle systems, use a Biological activator if you dont trust your rocks. But theres no need to let a fish suffer even if it is for the good of your whole system.

 

[Anonymous]

Cycle what? LOL

Use live rock for your biological filtration and there is nothing to cycle.

 

[JohnD]

AlexS,

You are dating yourself. Cycling a tank with damsels, mollies, etc is the OLD way. I used damsels when I cycled my first tank 11 years ago.

Use a couple of raw cocktail shrimp. The salmon skin also sounds like a plan, but I have no personal experience with it.

 

[danmhippo]

Salmon Skin! Wow, I feel like I am in a Japanese Cuisine forum! and Table shrimps & fish too!

Nah, Just the plain old LR will give you enough to work with.

 

[KenH]

Count me in with the 'live rock is all you need' crowd. Using fish or organic additives to cycle a tank is never necessary in my experience and the practice is quickly losing favor from what I can tell.

--- Ken

 

[BCReefer]

I used live rock and 2 dams, but why just live rock by itself? I have been running for only 3 weeks and already I have 0 Amonia. What does the rock do to help this?

 

[MattM]

BCReefer -

The whole point of "cycling" is to built up bacteria populations. Good live rock already has these bacteria in great numbers, so there really is no "cycle". That's why live rock alone works.

 

[Anonymous]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by SteveNichols:
<STRONG>LR only. With that there is no point in the possibilty of killing the fish. Enough stuff on the LR dies.</STRONG><HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Ditto. Come on Alex, you've done this before. I've even traded with you!

 

[BCReefer]

So if you use live rock by itself, how long should you run it be fore adding any fish. Also what is the ratio of rock to tank size. Right now I have a 27G to learn on. I intend to buy a 100 - 130 G in 1 - 2 years and I want to whats the best way. Thanks for the useful information.

 

[AlexS!]

u know what's funny- i was born 12 years ago!
<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by JohnD:
<STRONG>AlexS,

You are dating yourself. Cycling a tank with damsels, mollies, etc is the OLD way. I used damsels when I cycled my first tank 11 years ago.

Use a couple of raw cocktail shrimp. The salmon skin also sounds like a plan, but I have no personal experience with it.</STRONG><HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

 

[Anonymous]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by MattM:
<STRONG>BCReefer -

The whole point of "cycling" is to built up bacteria populations. Good live rock already has these bacteria in great numbers, so there really is no "cycle". That's why live rock alone works.</STRONG><HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Live rock along will, of course, work. But If I just paid big bucks for this live rock I want as much life as possible. So I place my live rock in a tank where the sand already has a bacteria base. I use some live sand and feed the bacteria some decaying organics to propagate the bacteria. Then when the live rock is added the die-off is quickly handled by the bacteria in the sand and there is no big ammonia spike to damage the life on the rock.

Matt - Granted, if I had access to quality live rock and didn't have to ship it - there wouldn't be much die-off. But stick it in a box and let it sit for a day and there's going to be some die-off.

 

[EEreefer]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by AlexS:
<STRONG>i was born 12 years ago!</STRONG><HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Now I understand completly......

 

[Mickes]

First tank was allot of good quality LR from the LFS, a few pieces of uncured LR. Never did see an ammonia/nitrite spike, just a small nitrate spike. All my other tanks were started with LR/LS and water from this tank with one or two small fish added 2-3 later. Never had any ammonia/nitrite spikes doing it this way.

 

[Anonymous]

All the pods that hitchhike with the LR will eat the food you put in the tank, & do the job a fish would. So just put in the LR, and add a pinch of food every once in a while, until the water parameters settle down.