Establishing Dry Rock

[sanzz18]

I aquascaped my Waterbox 220.6 with dry rock and dry sand. I cycled using Microbacter XLM. Tank has finished its ammonia cycle about 7 weeks ago. I know it takes a couple years to really consider dry rock "established". I was wondering what I can do along the way to help the process. I am going to be getting a small piece or two of established rock from my friend's tank that has been running for over 2 years. What else can I do? My goal is to prevent or reduce the amount of algae blooms that are more aggressive after dry rock cycles.

 

[Fish Think Pink]

I aquascaped my Waterbox 220.6 with dry rock and dry sand. I cycled using Microbacter XLM. Tank has finished its ammonia cycle about 7 weeks ago. I know it takes a couple years to really consider dry rock "established". I was wondering what I can do along the way to help the process. I am going to be getting a small piece or two of established rock from my friend's tank that has been running for over 2 years. What else can I do? My goal is to prevent or reduce the amount of algae blooms that are more aggressive after dry rock cycles.

leery of speeding up process with friend's rock - any problem anything he has now in his tank you will have also. 7 weeks from finishing cycle seems to indicate you are moving cautiously already. Sometimes good things happen slow, bad things happen fast.

If algae is such a concern then use Vibrant when it happens, but not all algae is bad. Would not dose Vibrant unless problem algae.

 

[zukihara]

There is a good, recent brstv video about bacteria diversity that you should watch. It speaks to this very issue.

Spoiler: there is no perfect answer.

For me, I opted to bring in rock from a very old, well run system. I will likely get aptasia or something from it but I can't get the bacteria diversity any other way. You'll see in the video some tests done on a system started like yours vs. other systems.

 

[fishhead1973]

I aquascaped my Waterbox 220.6 with dry rock and dry sand. I cycled using Microbacter XLM. Tank has finished its ammonia cycle about 7 weeks ago. I know it takes a couple years to really consider dry rock "established". I was wondering what I can do along the way to help the process. I am going to be getting a small piece or two of established rock from my friend's tank that has been running for over 2 years. What else can I do? My goal is to prevent or reduce the amount of algae blooms that are more aggressive after dry rock cycles.

there's really nothing u can do. you can drop a bunch of chemicals in. its not going to help. nature will take its course its a waiting game. sorry

 

[Seminoles76]

Get some live rock (10-20lbs) either from a well run tank or from a distributor. Set up a little 10 gallon tank with a heater and throw it in. Watch if for a couple days and eradicate any unwanted pests. You can also do hypo/hyper salinity dips to kill unwanted pests during this time without harming the bacteria.

 

[OutLawX77]

there's really nothing u can do. you can drop a bunch of chemicals in. its not going to help. nature will take its course its a waiting game. sorry

Yes and No all at the same time Yes mother nature will do it fore you eventually... But you can give a big boost also
you can seed a tank with all kinds of bacteria and good alages.. and wala