Latest information on cycling a new reef tank

[Dennis L]

It has been a while since I have set up a new reef tank. Last time that I did this a flew in some Fiji live Rock and cured in my tank 300 gallon reef tank with great results
Now that live rock from Fiji is no longer feasible, I will be using s dry rock Aquaroche with a sand bed so I don't introduce any undesirable pests. I have watched a couple of videos on BRS and YouTube and Dr Tim's which stated to heat tank to 82-84 degrees and use a salinity of 18- 20 ppt to use a fishless cycling and Dr, Tims and ammonia to do a fishless cycling with the lights off, no protein skimmer , no UV sterilizer, no GFO or Carbon, no filter sock and in 2 weeks my tank should be cycled. Add two clown fish to tank and begin feeding. Based on the latest information is this the best way to accomplish this? Do you add bricks or media to the sump while cycling? When due you add things like copepods, phytoplankton, cleanup crew, Tangs and turn on protein skimmer, UV, Filter Socks and algae scrubber. I could not find information on when to add these items after adding clown fish, IS there any consensus on the best way to accomplish this. Some much has changed iin the last 10 years I will be setting up a Red Sea Reefer S 1000 G2 tank

 

[TX_REEF]

Fishless cycle is great in theory, I did this with my display. A few months later I was still struggling with stability, ordered a aquabiomics test and found a severe lack of bacterial biodiversity in the tank. I Immediately sourced some mature rock from a trusted local hobbyist's sump, and also ordered a "treasure chest" of tampa bay saltwater live rock and sand from @LiverockRocks. I've noticed a visible change in the "happiness" of my corals (plump LPS polyps, noticeable growth) and haven't had anymore unexplained losses. If it's in your budget, I'd still recommend a bit of live rock to seed. I honestly can't opine on the wonky temperate/salinity settings, I just set it to 35ppm and 78 degrees off the jump and never looked back. I also don't believe in a "formula" for cycling, i.e do exactly this and your tank will be fully cycled in exactly x days. every cycle is a little different.

Either way good luck and looking forward to your progress!

 

[Dennis L]

I really don't' want to risk getting all the pests

 

[jda]

You will find less pests in real live rock than you will with dinos, diatoms, cyano and hair algae that can plague dry rock tanks - nobody who sells you dry/dead rock talk about this, but they drive more people out of the hobby than a mantis shrimp or aiptasia does. You might not get any pests on live rock. You will get all other kinds of good things.

The bottled bacteria just get a tank started. They don't add much after they can process the first bit of fish waste. Fish gut bacteria have a wider range of bacteria than bottles do, but you have to be in a place where you can add the fish safely. Most of this bacteria gets replace by direct consumers of fish waste instead of bacteria sending it down the nitrogen cycle.

A few hardy fish can come in a few weeks. You don't ever need phytoplankton. Pods and CUC need to wait until you have film algae for them to eat. More difficult fish is a harder question to answer and will depend on many factors.

I would run the skimmer from the jump - the gas exchange is too important to me. I never run a UV so somebody else will need to chime in on this - not necessary whatsoever. I would never run GFO on a tank while the ecosystem is developing in at least the first year.

In general, you need an ecosystem to develop. Nothing is ever done. There are many phases along the way and while most tanks do end up in basically the same place, the paths that they take can be very different.