cycle w/ uncured LR
- Thread starter reefmagnet
- Start date
i just finished doing this on my 90g with ~120 lbs of uncured rock from my LFS... here was my experience:
day 1 -- rock goes in tank, rock is a bit smelly but it's fine once it's submerged and it has quite a bit of bio matter on it. i chose to not scrub the rock beforehand because i wanted to maximize the stuff that made it through the cycle, but some folks recommend removing obviously dead and/or dying stuff before putting it in the tank. a few polyps and bristle worms are visible.
day 3 -- ammonia goes through the roof, the tank water turns a lovely jaundiced yellow, and a gross white moldy looking stuff covers the rock. it's not pretty. skimmer is going nuts. house smells like sea poop. polyps and bristle worms that were visible are pretty much dead. skimmer still going nuts, skimmate is really, truly foul.
day 7: most of the white mold has dissolved, water is less yellow, smell is greatly improved. nitrites on the rise, skimmer still going nuts.
day 14: crystal-clear water, ammonia 0, nitrites very low, nitrates moderate, skimmer not as nuts. copepods and amphipods appear and a few other tiny critters.
day 21: pristine water levels across the board, skimmer appears to be settling in to its groove, billions of copepods and amphipods and a few worms make their first post-die off appearance.
day 30: first low-impact tank critters from LFS! 5 days after introduction they're doing great and they acclimated very quickly.
my cycle went pretty quickly considering i started-out with uncured rock -- just about 3 weeks total, but i've heard from folks who have waited upwards of 8. i also did a 5-gallon water change every 3 days during the cycling period just to get some clean water added to the system, and i'm pretty sure that heavy skimming, a heated tank and strong circulation during this time really helped.
i was surprised at how fast all of the various stages happened -- i was able to see the cycle progress from day to day. too cool.
day 1 -- rock goes in tank, rock is a bit smelly but it's fine once it's submerged and it has quite a bit of bio matter on it. i chose to not scrub the rock beforehand because i wanted to maximize the stuff that made it through the cycle, but some folks recommend removing obviously dead and/or dying stuff before putting it in the tank. a few polyps and bristle worms are visible.
day 3 -- ammonia goes through the roof, the tank water turns a lovely jaundiced yellow, and a gross white moldy looking stuff covers the rock. it's not pretty. skimmer is going nuts. house smells like sea poop. polyps and bristle worms that were visible are pretty much dead. skimmer still going nuts, skimmate is really, truly foul.
day 7: most of the white mold has dissolved, water is less yellow, smell is greatly improved. nitrites on the rise, skimmer still going nuts.
day 14: crystal-clear water, ammonia 0, nitrites very low, nitrates moderate, skimmer not as nuts. copepods and amphipods appear and a few other tiny critters.
day 21: pristine water levels across the board, skimmer appears to be settling in to its groove, billions of copepods and amphipods and a few worms make their first post-die off appearance.
day 30: first low-impact tank critters from LFS! 5 days after introduction they're doing great and they acclimated very quickly.
my cycle went pretty quickly considering i started-out with uncured rock -- just about 3 weeks total, but i've heard from folks who have waited upwards of 8. i also did a 5-gallon water change every 3 days during the cycling period just to get some clean water added to the system, and i'm pretty sure that heavy skimming, a heated tank and strong circulation during this time really helped.
i was surprised at how fast all of the various stages happened -- i was able to see the cycle progress from day to day. too cool.
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