Live Rock and Sand Add Raw Shrimp??? I also added Bio Spira

beamer281

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Cycling A new Tank I have Live Rock and Sand I also added Bio Spira Do I need to add Raw shrimp also???
 

Spare time

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Personally, I would get a bottle of ammonium chloride from a company like dr tims or another brand meant for fish tanks. You could also do fish food, pellets, or a shrimp but shrimp can be smelly and you don't know the exact amount of ammonia you are putting in (makes it hard to guess when the cycle will be done and if you put too much). However any of those ways will work. If you do a shrimp, take it out once you test ammonia in the water

Regardless of what ammonia source you put in, you shake the bacteria bottle and pour the whole bottle in. Take out any filter sock or carbon or pad during this.
 

Brady4000

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Cycling A new Tank I have Live Rock and Sand I also added Bio Spira Do I need to add Raw shrimp also???
I just did this with my 60g. But I used dry rock and live sand with Dr Tim.

I left the shrimp in for about 5 days saw the ammonia spike. Pulled it out and let the tank do it’s thing. I kept measuring until ammonia dropped to 0 and nitrates were spiked. Did a 50% water change and added my fish.

Some good advice I got from R2R, was to put the shrimp in a mesh bag for easy removal.

bbbuuuttt since you already have live rock/sand and added bacteria, isn’t that a instant cycle?
 

Brady4000

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I also forgot to add, though it may be a instant cycle. Let your salt mix for 48hours before adding livestock.
 

brandon429

why did you put a reef in that
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Let’s see pic

Brady and Spare are right if this is real live rock let’s see it

real live rock needs nothing to be ready, it transfers totally alive.
but someone people call rock live that isn’t, thankfully pics and knowing if it was in a tank of water at the pet store is all we need to know to fix this cycle up. Awaiting time for newly mixed water to settle is ideal, nice call.

im hoping this picture will show pigmented rock, reds and purples ideally, spotty coverage not like 100% painted fake rock

and that it came from a tank at the pet store marked live


if we could find a sponge, or a worm, or a little bug somewhere we are set for example number three on the skip cycle thread.

why does the distinction matter:

live rock costs more than dry because it’s trustworthy, predictable, loaded with animals and we can see them stuck to it plus littering the system the rock came from

we would not add a shrimp. We would not add ammonia, to burn animals we just paid extra for

we wouldn’t add bottle bac, that’s redundant

we would actually add some zoanthids, a candy cane frag and a couple fat snails. Make use of what you bought, this is what live rock does but it’s rare nowadays.

painted rock sold dry is called live nowadays, in that case, zap it with ammonia you’ve paid for no living animals.
 
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brandon429

why did you put a reef in that
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nice


based on typed details above would you indeed consider your rock total skip cycle rock, meant for example #3 in our skip cycle rock thread so we can help people identify rock that shows up ready for us, or a reef convention
 

brandon429

why did you put a reef in that
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when I made that thread, I was hoping yours would come back affirmative: skip cycle rock has been purchased for the eighty thousandth time

we're only on example three bc that's how many total reefers I can convince they don't have free ammonia heh

do not use bottle bac here, or anything
 
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brandon429

why did you put a reef in that
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even the bottled ammonia is not used here, because that burns animals we've already paid for by buying cured ready rock.

check link above

general breakdown for cycling, its opposite depending on kind of rock used:

dry, shows up dry, was dry at the pet store: gets ammonia, bottle bac and time.
(time until you can use the rock to reef, about 5-10 days average)

uncured rock from the ocean mailed to you, smells bad upon opening box: dies off for a while then stabilizes, don't add bottle bac or ammonia here, change out water to export already-produced ammonia from dieoff
(time you can use the rocks: in actuality about a day or two of decent water changes. but since hardly anyone runs seneye ammonia, they're all on the false read kits, uncured rock tends to take about two weeks as reported)

true live rock, already cured at LFS: see my thread above. does not get ammonia, a test ran, fish food, bottle bac, its simply ready. it was ready at the pet store and moving it home didn't unready it. simply ready, in the way we've always wanted but have never been given permission for but marine aquarium conventions have secretly been using since the dawn of time to manage a convention hall full of perfect reefs.
(true live rock has zero wait time required, you can bring home corals with it. I have. you can start five hundred reefs at once with it, they always have at macna)



see how each set of rocks does something opposite with bottle bac and ammonia

we already have his stated known origin for the rocks, now just need em pics to close the deal.
 
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NeonRabbit221B

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Agree having that bottled ammonia is just enough no need for raw shrimp
You misunderstand me. If he has live rock then there is no need for an ammonia source. He already has the bacteria present and is cycled and can add his fish in.

If he were doing dry rock then sure, ammonia away and let the tank cycle.
 

TxReefer21

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nice


based on typed details above would you indeed consider your rock total skip cycle rock, meant for example #3 in our skip cycle rock thread so we can help people identify rock that shows up ready for us, or a reef convention
You misunderstand me. If he has live rock then there is no need for an ammonia source. He already has the bacteria present and is cycled and can add his fish in.

If he were doing dry rock then sure, ammonia away and let the tank cycle.
I see I see I ended up adding a little bottle of fritz with my live rock when I started out. Shouldn’t hurt him but adding a fish will also be beneficial for the tank all around as well.
 

brandon429

why did you put a reef in that
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it sure wont hurt to add any/ its fun to nit pick cycles for science fun though

all the bottle bac products are safe to add whenev per their directions.

we practice setting up without them as there's several times people are working in remote places with reefs/no bottle bac avail they need a trustworthy system

or they just want to save cash and have the same outcome. the main benefit is that knowing exactly what bacteria do, before you make a move, is the difference between life and death much later on. the cycle is the easy part
 

brandon429

why did you put a reef in that
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Beamer don't take it as strange I keep mentioning the alternate take on your approach.


there isn't a cycling article ever written in history that discusses what we're discussing, nor a book, so I wouldn't expect anyone to practice it initially nor believe what Im typing...that's why we need the work links and pics to check patterning/fact vs fiction
 
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