Cycling base rock

[MICHIGANRV]

I’m starting a new tank and in no rush. One thought was to cycle the dry base rock aquascape in bins. Pumps would be added as well as heaters. I thought I would dose ammonia to feed and grow the bacteria over the course of several months. My hope is this would eliminate the “ugly” phase in DT. Has anyone experimented with this process and what are some tips. Water changes, lights vs no lights, covered, what ppm ammonia? Also thought towards the end I could add lights and seed with coralline algae.

 

[bushdoc]

It’s popular method, but you will not avoid ugly faze. Same with coralline algae, it takes few months for them to grow, so unless you are using some flat bin, lights, waiting 6 months , this part will be done in DT.
To minimize or avoid ugly faze the best method is to use life rock from the sea, like TBS rock.

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

This is how I did it with my most recent project. My aquascape is in 2 pieces, rocks are placed in the water in early August, and I performed a 100% rock swap Nov 15, so 4 months in the water. I added a damsel, the fish is important, no bottled bacteria will do what a real fish does. I did cycle the rocks for a month before adding the fish, using rubble from my other tanks, so the fish was in the water for 3 months.

There are 2 powerheads and a heater in the tote, I fed twice a day, and (shame on me) only did one water change the whole 4 months. No other filtration. No light just ambient light.

the second picture is a close up of the rock, exactly 2 months in the display tank, check out the color of the rocks. no algae will grow, I've done this several times, but the key is to wait at least 3 months and use a fish. the damsel grew on me, so I decided to keep him, he's in a 5 gallon for now till I figure out what to do.

Good luck

 

[Dan_P]

I’m starting a new tank and in no rush. One thought was to cycle the dry base rock aquascape in bins. Pumps would be added as well as heaters. I thought I would dose ammonia to feed and grow the bacteria over the course of several months. My hope is this would eliminate the “ugly” phase in DT. Has anyone experimented with this process and what are some tips. Water changes, lights vs no lights, covered, what ppm ammonia? Also thought towards the end I could add lights and seed with coralline algae.

The only thing “cycling” does is establish a biofilm of nitrifying bacteria. As for heaters, unless you have the bins in a cold place, the heat from the recirculating pump may keep the temperature up where you want it. Experiment before you spend money on heaters.

No one avoids the uglies. There might be varying intensities of nuisance growth, but all system go through this phase. You can’t fool mother nature.

 

[MICHIGANRV]

This is how I did it with my most recent project. My aquascape is in 2 pieces, rocks are placed in the water in early August, and I performed a 100% rock swap Nov 15, so 4 months in the water. I added a damsel, the fish is important, no bottled bacteria will do what a real fish does. I did cycle the rocks for a month before adding the fish, using rubble from my other tanks, so the fish was in the water for 3 months.

There are 2 powerheads and a heater in the tote, I fed twice a day, and (shame on me) only did one water change the whole 4 months. No other filtration. No light just ambient light.

the second picture is a close up of the rock, exactly 2 months in the display tank, check out the color of the rocks. no algae will grow, I've done this several times, but the key is to wait at least 3 months and use a fish. the damsel grew on me, so I decided to keep him, he's in a 5 gallon for now till I figure out what to do.

Good luck

Awesome information. This what I was planning on doing. Adding the fish and feeding would provide the ammonia so I wouldn’t dose it to keep bacteria going. Thanks for the info!

 

[MICHIGANRV]

I’m starting a new tank and in no rush. One thought was to cycle the dry base rock aquascape in bins. Pumps would be added as well as heaters. I thought I would dose ammonia to feed and grow the bacteria over the course of several months. My hope is this would eliminate the “ugly” phase in DT. Has anyone experimented with this process and what are some tips. Water changes, lights vs no lights, covered, what ppm ammonia? Also thought towards the end I could add lights and seed with coralline algae.

The only thing “cycling” does is establish a biofilm of nitrifying bacteria. As for heaters, unless you have the bins in a cold place, the heat from the recirculating pump may keep the temperature up where you want it. Experiment before you spend money on heaters.

No one avoids the uglies. There might be varying intensities of nuisance growth, but all system go through this phase. You can’t fool mother nature.

Right. I should have said limit the uglies. I know you can’t eliminate it completely. But my thought was to get the biofilm and coralline algae on the rock before getting the tank started to give myself a head start.

 

[KrisReef]

If you can light it from the get go, why not let the uglies grow in a container where mucking out the mess is easily done without harm to corals or fish?

The most challenging problem for in tank cycles is that the rock scape is generally glued together and when the uglies happen, and nature will always happen, the difficulty of keeping the scape together makes cleaning up the algae and other funk difficult. Get started, let it roll, and once the rock has matured biologically put it in the tank, just like a regular live rock start.

I would toss in a pound of live rock at the beginning, just as a hat tip to Tangaroa and his cousin Pele.

 

[Dan_P]

Right. I should have said limit the uglies. I know you can’t eliminate it completely. But my thought was to get the biofilm and coralline algae on the rock before getting the tank started to give myself a head start.

Coralline algae seems to inhibit hair algae colonization of surfaces, but it’s not likely to be 100% effective. Diatoms colonize new surfaces but get along nicely with bacteria biofilms. Dinoflagellates seem to colonize any surface.

Figuring out how to prevent surface fouling on ship hauls and other under water structures is ongoing. The hobby hasn’t figured out how to do it either.

 

[jonelder68]

Do you plan on adding sand? I only ask because I feel if so sand is the most important to get “seeded” beforehand. I built my aquascape and seeded in a bin with 7-8lbs (forget how much) of TBS rock for 3-4 months.

Coming up on a year and it’s been a disaster! Uglies after uglies! I feel I should have seeded the Caribsea special grade sand as well. My fuge which all the TBS live rock and sand never has any sign of uglies. The DT is a different ecosystem it seems and struggles.

Moral of the story…seed both for a few months. Still no promise it helps much or not.

 

[MICHIGANRV]

If you can light it from the get go, why not let the uglies grow in a container where mucking out the mess is easily done without harm to corals or fish?

The most challenging problem for in tank cycles is that the rock scape is generally glued together and when the uglies happen, and nature will always happen, the difficulty of keeping the scape together makes cleaning up the algae and other funk difficult. Get started, let it roll, and once the rock has matured biologically put it in the tank, just like a regular live rock start.

I would toss in a pound of live rock at the beginning, just as a hat tip to Tangaroa and his cousin Pele.

This was my thought as well. I just didn’t know if it would work as planned.