Just getting filled question for cycling

[Thalia]

We just put our first bucket of salt water into the tank. It's going to take a few days to get enough water filtered and mixed to fill the whole tank but it's a start! When I cleaned out my freshwater tank in early December I found my volcano snail dead, I've kept it in a bucket of tank water. Can I toss that into my reef tank to start the cycle? I'm also getting live rock from a friend's tank who is shutting hers down.

 

[Euphyllia97]

I would not do that as you don’t know exactely why the snail has died and maybe a disease that survives in saltwater is the culprit. With the live rock you will introduce everything you need to start and maintain a nitrogen cycle. If you want to start it sooner add some clean ammonia source or throw in some fish food.

Would suggest you to run the tank 45 days at 81F without any fish after introducing the live rock, unless you are 100% sure no parasites are in your friend’s tank

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

Fish flakes is better than a long dead animal IMO

 

[Dom]

When you use rock from an established tank, it is called "seeding".

This means that the good bacteria (the nitrifying bacteria colony) that populates the rock from your friends tank will be moved to your new tank, and will immediately begin to process ammonia.

Over time, the bacteria from the seed rock will spread to the rest of the rock in your tank.

If you are using seed rock, you don't need to go through a cycle. Think of seed rock as "instant cycle".

I've been in the hobby for around 20 years and the only tank I've ever cycled is my first tank. Every tank after that was started with seed rock and no cycle.

 

[Thalia]

I would not do that as you don’t know exactely why the snail has died and maybe a disease that survives in saltwater is the culprit. With the live rock you will introduce everything you need to start and maintain a nitrogen cycle. If you want to start it sooner add some clean ammonia source or throw in some fish food.

Would suggest you to run the tank 45 days at 81F without any fish after introducing the live rock, unless you are 100% sure no parasites are in your friend’s tank

Her tank was going for a lot of years, she had a mean fish that killed everything she put in the tank so when that fish died recently she decided to shut it down. Pretty sure the mean fish died of old age it was probably 10 ish years old. I'm not concerned there's any pathogens in it.

 

[Thalia]

When you use rock from an established tank, it is called "seeding".

This means that the good bacteria (the nitrifying bacteria colony) that populates the rock from your friends tank will be moved to your new tank, and will immediately begin to process ammonia.

Over time, the bacteria from the seed rock will spread to the rest of the rock in your tank.

If you are using seed rock, you don't need to go through a cycle. Think of seed rock as "instant cycle".

I've been in the hobby for around 20 years and the only tank I've ever cycled is my first tank. Every tank after that was started with seed rock and no cycle.

I still need to feed the tank though and wait until I'm seeing nitrates without ammonia and nitrite before adding my CUC right?

 

[Dom]

I still need to feed the tank though and wait until I'm seeing nitrates without ammonia and nitrite before adding my CUC right?

I wouldn't add a cleanup crew first as there is nothing for them to clean in a new tank. My first inhabitant would be a fish. And as long as you have seed rock in your system, you can add it relatively soon.

Nitrites in saltwater aquariums are a non-factor.

So with seed rock, if you add a fish and feed, you should see your nitrates come up, but you should not see ammonia.

 

[RocketEngineer]

I still need to feed the tank though and wait until I'm seeing nitrates without ammonia and nitrite before adding my CUC right?

You only need to feed the tank an ammonia source once. That can be fish food, ammonia itself, or die off from rocks among other options. After that, it’s just a matter of waiting. Measuring is helpful but not always easy given how poorly some test kits work.

 

[shawnycool319]

We just put our first bucket of salt water into the tank. It's going to take a few days to get enough water filtered and mixed to fill the whole tank but it's a start! When I cleaned out my freshwater tank in early December I found my volcano snail dead, I've kept it in a bucket of tank water. Can I toss that into my reef tank to start the cycle? I'm also getting live rock from a friend's tank who is shutting hers down.

You should not use a deceased snail in the beginning cycle in a reef tank, and this may very well send the ammonia soaring. To cycle the new system the fastest, all you have to do is grab live rock from a friend’s established system, and this brings the mature biologicals along to seed the nitrogen cycle in the new tank. Be certain the saltwater is well mixed and aeration is completed in the water, and do not add any fish until the ammonia and nitrite are at zero.