Cycling Help

retiredsailor · Apr 18, 2015

Hi everyone! About 2 months ago I bought a used Red Sea Max 130. It's still dry. The extent of my work on it has been choosing a suitable location and printing the instruction manual (just printing, haven't even read it yet). My first order of business will be breaking it down for deep cleaning, filling it to ensure no leaks, and then putting it back together in accordance with the manual.

What I am looking for, though, is any shortcuts to the cycling process. My goal is a reef tank, but I haven't decided on anything beyond Zoas and Palys. I do have an established 75 gallon reef. I was thinking of taking some of the ceramic rings from the sump and a few of the smaller rocks from the tank. Would this enable me to get a head-start or just result in killing off bacteria on those items?

Thanks for any help/advice.

Ian

Reefing Madness · Apr 18, 2015

No, won't be a short cut by just using rocks and rings. Gonna have to buy fully cured live rock if you want a short cut, and by that I mean, you'll be able to put fish in the tank in about 3 days after start up.

retiredsailor · Apr 18, 2015

Thank you for you quick reply.
I just realized, as in right after I read your response, that I initially, arrogantly thought I was smart enough and that I just wanted someone to agree it would work.
So again, Thank You! You would figure that after a year of reefing and over 30 years of fresh water, I would know short cuts usually end up being failures and the very long road to success.

Ian

ifarmer · Apr 19, 2015

whenever I cycle a tank, I usually put a raw shrimp in the tank and let the tank does its thing and start the testing about 4-5 weeks after.

KillerKlownFish · Aug 29, 2015

Live water/live sand/live rock= fast cycle!!!

hipower · Aug 29, 2015

Expensive but it will help..

http://www.tampabaysaltwater.com/thepackage/index.html

retiredsailor · Aug 29, 2015

Thanks for all the advice. I decided to just do it right and not worry about any shortcuts. I ended up buying Aquamax Eco-Rock Dry Rock from Marine Depot with a bag of Live sand by CaribSea. I added a bottle of bacteria, which I don't remember the brand, and a couple of dead shrimp. Tomorrow will be the two week mark in the cycle. I'll give it another two weeks or so before I start looking at adding a CUC.

FeliciaLynn · Aug 29, 2015

I've had really fast cycles when I use fully cured live rock. You just want to make sure the rock isn't out of water long enough to have much die off. If you get massive die-off from the rock, then you'll spike ammonia levels and it will take a bit longer to cycle. I did a quick cycle on my latest tank because I was upgrading from my previous tank which I had moved onto the floor in my kitchen so I could set up the new system in its old spot. Didn't want to have a tank on my kitchen floor longer than necessary. I used fresh live sand from a bag. If you use old stuff, there will be tons of detritus in the sand that will get stirred up and cause a big ammonia spike. Fresh sand is always the way to go imo with a new system. Then I filled the tank with already mixed and heater saltwater. Then I went to a local store and picked up fully cured live rock and got it into the water ASAP. I also added some bottled bacteria just to help. I ended up waiting a week to be safe and had just a tiny cycle that was over in a few days. I then transferred my livestock into the new tank and didn't have any issues.