Cycling advice for a bottled bacteria skeptic

[SteveG_inDC]

I am about to start a 240 gallon tank after having been out of the hobby for many years. Watched a lot of BRS videos about tank cycling but I'm not convinced. Lots of things I don't like about Ryan and Randy's philosophies, which are partly designed to move product, so I'll pose my situation and see if other reefers have advice.

DT is 72"x30"x25" lagoon w/last 6" for internal overflow, sump is 4' x 2' x 2'
~200 lbs. of live rock, may not use it all, but half of it came from another reefer's tank, has been sitting in a covered bin w/powerhead for 5 months
~350 lbs of sand, all dry. I want a DSB. Please don't flame me or try to talk me out of it.

Stocking plan: in no hurry to add corals, will be mixed reef. Want to have a large number of chromis viridis at first, will then add cardinals or anthias. Bigger fish will come later. In no hurry to ramp up to full stocking.

The live rock will definitely help populate the dry rock w/nitrifying bacteria if I can keep them wet during the aquascape, but do I need to do anything special to seed the sand? If I have another month to go, should I put some of the sand in a bucket with some of the live rock?

Basically, the idea of buying bottled bacteria sounds nutty to me, but I guess that's how the kids are cycling tanks these days. I always used some table shrimp or flake food, which I know is unscientific.

Thanks in advance!

 

[92Miata]

Bottled bacteria is fantastic if you're starting from dry rock. It gets a tank cycled in days.

You have 200lbs of live rock - you're already cycled. (Now, you still have to go through a maturation process and will have some uglies, but that's not cycling).

Keeping rock wet I'd ideal, but you're not going to kill the bacteria on your rock leaving it out of water for a day. Anything else (sponges, macro, etc) may die though.

 

[Everything Aquatics]

The bottle bacteria has worked many times for me

 

[JCTReefer]

You can do it either way! Last tank I cycled with Dr Tims and it still took 47 days to cycle. That was just my experience with the product. Directions followed to a T. Since then I have cycled many new QT set ups in a day with Biospira. Seeded a sponge filter for a few hours in a small container with the Biospira/saltwater mixture. The quarantine tank was able to process 2 ppm ammonia in 24 hours consistently doing this. So the bacteria was doing it’s job. Very well in fact!
There’s lots of choices when it comes to bottle bacteria these days!!! It’s your choice how you want to do it!! Smart plan adding the live rock to dry rock. That will help a lot. I recommend getting you a new/unused spray bottle filled with saltwater to spray/mist the rock while aquascaping to keep the live rock damp. The sand is up to you. I wouldn’t worry about seeding the sand, but that’s just me. Certainly wouldn’t hurt to.

 

[K7BMG]

I am about to start a 240 gallon tank after having been out of the hobby for many years. Watched a lot of BRS videos about tank cycling but I'm not convinced. Lots of things I don't like about Ryan and Randy's philosophies, which are partly designed to move product, so I'll pose my situation and see if other reefers have advice.

DT is 72"x30"x25" lagoon w/last 6" for internal overflow, sump is 4' x 2' x 2'
~200 lbs. of live rock, may not use it all, but half of it came from another reefer's tank, has been sitting in a covered bin w/powerhead for 5 months
~350 lbs of sand, all dry. I want a DSB. Please don't flame me or try to talk me out of it.

Stocking plan: in no hurry to add corals, will be mixed reef. Want to have a large number of chromis viridis at first, will then add cardinals or anthias. Bigger fish will come later. In no hurry to ramp up to full stocking.

The live rock will definitely help populate the dry rock w/nitrifying bacteria if I can keep them wet during the aquascape, but do I need to do anything special to seed the sand? If I have another month to go, should I put some of the sand in a bucket with some of the live rock?

Basically, the idea of buying bottled bacteria sounds nutty to me, but I guess that's how the kids are cycling tanks these days. I always used some table shrimp or flake food, which I know is unscientific.

Thanks in advance!

I understand where your comming from.

Thing is with most folks if there is a way to have everything today without the wait all the better.
If you read some cycling threads thoes that choose to wait or take things slow get scorned for doing so.

I feel that allowing the tank to cycle without fish is the way to go.
But am now in the minority.

I did however use various bottles of bacteria when I cycled my tank.
I feel that the benefits of diversity when it comes to beneficial bacteria is a good thing that we did not have back in the day.

 

[Kenneth Wingerter]

Particularly if you opt for a DSB, you should consider cycling with PNS ProBio. These mainly anaerobic bacteria assimilate all major forms of fixed inorganic nitrogen (ammonia, nitrite and nitrate). As such, they work in tandem with your "standard" aerobic nitrifying bacteria. PNS (purple non-sulfur) bacteria control nitrate not only through direct assimilation, but also by assimilating ammonia and nitrite--thereby lightening the load on the nitrifying bacteria (which don't assimilate ammonia/nitrite, but rather convert them into nitrate). If you're interested, check this out. Then if you're still interested, check this out. These two articles (especially the second) link to many peer reviewed papers explaining how this all works.

 

[tankstudy]

Basically, the idea of buying bottled bacteria sounds nutty to me, but I guess that's how the kids are cycling tanks these days. I always used some table shrimp or flake food, which I know is unscientific.

We were buying all sorts of bacteria for lab use 2 decades back. It was only a matter of time when someone figured out how to transport nitrifying bacteria and sell it. Once you take intro to or even microbiology, you realize real quickly that products like these are pretty real. Folks come from all sorts of professions and fields of study so I can understand why some folks don't think it's possible but trust me, we were buying and shipping bacteria way way back before bottled bacteria came on shelves.

 

[JCTReefer]

@brandon429 is a cycling expert here. He might want to voice an opinion.

 

[92Miata]

Can I ask again why we're even talking about bottled bacteria here when the OP has 200+ lbs of live rock from another tank that's been running in a barrel for 6+ months?

 

[blasterman]

Can I ask again why we're even talking about bottled bacteria here when the OP has 200+ lbs of live rock from another tank that's been running in a barrel for 6+ months?

Because the peanut gallery doesn't comprehend these same bacteria grow on your toilet, on body parts, cats litter box, etc.

By biomass nitrosomas/nitrobacter are some of the largest biome on earth....but you need to buy it in a bottle for reefing. Good thing they've stopped trying to sell us UFGs for reef tanks. Next week it's dehydrated ice cubes with trace elements

No, it makes no sense to me either.

 

[JCTReefer]

Can I ask again why we're even talking about bottled bacteria here when the OP has 200+ lbs of live rock from another tank that's been running in a barrel for 6+ months?

I suppose because the OP wanted to talk about it. Lol!!! Bottled BAC is certainly not needed! Especially with that much liverock. So I’m not really sure why we’re discussing it. I’d say, scape the tank with the live and dry rock mixture, then test it for ammonia digestion. There likely won’t be much of a cycle. Just like in the old days with True live rock.

 

[SteveG_inDC]

OP here. Actually half of my rock is dry and the other half, which yes, is almost 100 lbs., should be live, but I expect a lot will die off while I work on the aquascape. Part of my doubt was about the sandbed. Are there different bacteria? A poster above @Kenneth Wingerter shared an article with some interesting links that are giving me ideas. I actually had thought about buying a bag of live sand but I don't know if that's the right strategy.

 

[tvan]

Put your live rock, dry rock, sand in salt water... Feed the bacteria, It will grow...

 

[SteveG_inDC]

Put your live rock, dry rock, sand in salt water... Feed the bacteria, It will grow...

Yes I totally need to do this. Running out of bin and bucket space!

 

[SteveG_inDC]

Also, I'm going to the beach next week (Cape Cod), wondering if I should take back a couple cups of sand to seed my bed. Or would that invite more problems.

 

[K7BMG]

There are many reefers that do this.
Use collected sea water, and various substrates.
Yes it could bring in the good and the bad.

 

[brandon429]

200 lbs. of live rock

updated cycling nuances 2020:

any degree of that live rock 200 lbs is skip cycle because it comes from another tank, not shipped. we would not add bottle bac to this mix, we'd be laughed at for doing so in tight inner circles of cycle elitists