CaribSea Dry Aragonite Cycling Question

[Leeroy]

Hi Folks,

I am looking for some feedback regarding the cycling of aragonite. I will be starting a cycle this weekend of roughly 60-70lbs of dry rock that I recently bleached and treated with prime. I picked up some Carib Sea Special Grade Reef Sand (Dry). My plan is to cycle the rocks in a separate tank from my main display tank, and once the cycle is complete, add them to my display along with the dry aragonite (after rinsing it with RODI multiple times) , so everything will go in the tank in one shot.

My question is that I am wondering if it is necessary to cycle the aragonite with the dry rock?

My theory is no, since the aragonite is dry and contains no dead organic compounds that would cause an ammonia spike once its added to my display tank. Simply put, bacteria would just grow in this substrate overtime once added to the tank. This theory would essentially be the same with the bleached dry rock I have, but I figured I may as well just cycle it and get a head start. I could do the same with the aragonite, just seems like a hassle to cycle it in a separate tank and scoop it out once the cycle is complete.

Thanks!

 

[blaxsun]

I wouldn't add the aragonite to the dry rock cycle, no (or a separate cycle). Unless it's the "live" version that contains beneficial bacteria, thoroughly rinse and let dry - then add when your tank is ready to go. Most of the beneficial bacteria ends up in the rock anyway and not in the substrate.

 

[EricR]

I used all new CaribSea dry special grade sand during tank transfer a couple of years ago, along with half live rock (from existing tank) and half dry rock.
I didn't notice any new mini-cycle with dry sand.

My only advice is rinse it like crazy with a hose first, then final rinse with RO/DI.
*I spent probably close to 2 hours in the backyard with sand in a flat bin hosing it out to get the run-off mostly clear.

 

[brandon429]

nice inference drawn at the end of post #1

sandbed bacteria in reef tanks don't matter for stability. it's why bare bottom reefs still run/as stated, the live rock has enough surface area and is in the right location in the tank to receive wastewater which it will quickly render (ammonia-trite-trate even if cheap test kits seem to miss one or more conversion steps, the bane of my existence)

when you read about cases of system loss after people mess with, or remove sand, that was not due to loss of bacteria if we're dealing with a common reef tank

it was the destratification of waste and or fish disease/latent disease/ but it's never going to be loss of bacteria from a sandbed that harms a reef tank, we can do without those bacteria. sandbed bacteria are bioload, not free riders

that gazillion extra cells of aerobes produce waste acid during metabolic processes, they compete for fish for vital o2, and a few other impacts that our tanks tolerate but don't mind if we remove them.

whether or not your sandbed has bacteria, or doesn't, or has a half complement doesn't matter, or bare bottom reef tanks will soon case to run one of these days.

as stated/agreed, don't cloud your setup. what you do with sand old or new doesn't matter, what matters is that when you add sand or handle it within a reef tank, a giant messy cloud doesn't erupt to irritate your entire system. you can stop that with pre rinsing here. add only cleaned sand, who cares if its live or not

 

[Leeroy]

Thank you all for your feedback, its greatly appreciated.

I will take the combined advice and add the aragonite to the main display without cycling it and after thoroughly rinsing it with RODI to avoid clouding up the tank at the same time as the cycled dry rock is added to the tank.

Cheers!

 

[EricR]

Thank you all for your feedback, its greatly appreciated.

I will take the combined advice and add the aragonite to the main display without cycling it and after thoroughly rinsing it with RODI to avoid clouding up the tank at the same time as the cycled dry rock is added to the tank.

Cheers!

I'll just re-vote to blast the new sand with hose in the backyard rather than waste a bunch of RO/DI water,,, then final rinse with RO/DI.
*flat, long bin so I could spread out the sand and easily tip a bit to dump the run-off worked best for me,,, but whatever works

 

[brandon429]

hey nice catch

I didn't see that the entire point of what I typed was missed /he said RO vs tap/



for sure use tap water. it's a waste of RO water to use it for a rinse, it isn't doing anything different than the tap water other than costing ten times more per gallon used.

 

[Leeroy]

I'll just re-vote to blast the new sand with hose in the backyard rather than waste a bunch of RO/DI water,,, then final rinse with RO/DI.
*flat, long bin so I could spread out the sand and easily tip a bit to dump the run-off worked best for me,,, but whatever works

hey nice catch

I didn't see that the entire point of what I typed was missed /he said RO vs tap/



for sure use tap water. it's a waste of RO water to use it for a rinse, it isn't doing anything different than the tap water other than costing ten times more per gallon used.

Thanks for the re-vote, I was actually on my way back to the post to question the use of tap water vs rodi to rinse, as I was a little concerned about the chemicals in the tap water being used. I will follow both you're advice and use tap water to rinse the aragonite, drain as much as I can once complete, then use rodi to rinse it all to ensure no chemicals from the tap water are introduced into the system. Thanks again!

 

[Leeroy]

Hi folks,

Revisiting this post due to a disagreement between myself and a LFS owner about cycling my tank as he was testing my water parameters for me to ensure my tests are accurate. He disagreed with me and said that adding the dry aragonite to my display tank will cause a "mini cycle", as he indicated that is what happened to his established aquarium when he did it and he lost a powder blue tang as a result. When I questioned him about how its scientifically possible that adding dry aragonite will cause a spike in ammonia due to the dry aragonite not having any dead organic compounds to cause a spike in ammonia, his answer was "trust me, it happened to me, i am telling you that you need to cycle it" and strongly recommended I cycle the dry aragonite with the live rock I am currently cycling.

I am looking for reassurance regarding this matter, although I feel certain I am right, and the opinions of others are correct, Is it worth my time to be extra cautious and just cycle the aragonite with the dry rock?

To reiterate my current set up and plans:

1. Current display tank is 90 gallons, water filled 1/2 with about 10-15 lbs of live rock, bare bottom and protein skimmer. 1 purple tang, 2 clowns, corals & 2 anemones. Picture down below (cloudy due to a water change I just completed).

2. Currently cycling 60-70lbs of dry rock in a 30 gallon, seeded from main display + added API Stres Zyme bacteria. 1 Week into curing. Plan is to add this AND the dry aragonite to the main display at the same time in about a month once rocks are cycled.

Please see pictures. Thank you for you're time and assistance.

 

[EricR]

I can only say that I didn't have any issue in my one similar experience that I mentioned in post #3.

I don't see how adding well-rinsed new sand could cause an ammonia spike and would lean towards guessing that the existing sand getting disrupted during the process if it normally sat untouched would be a more likely cause, but different people have different experiences/opinions.