Starting a cycle
 

Hi
Starting to cycle dry bleached and acid bathed rock for the new tank whadaya use to start a cycle?

I used live sand and a piece of shrimp and left it to mature for 4 months

I did the same bleach bath and acid and I never seen much of a cycle but I did add live rock after week one even after people told me not too because of bad hitch hikers . But I did it anyway just to see some sort of life in the tank. So on week 3 I still had no ammonia or phosphate and my other level were good I started adding fish and coral but every tank is different i guess

I used all live. No cycle. Was awesome.

Previous setup I used dry rock and tried the Time option, but after a couple days found it wasn't working :razz:

i seeded the dry rock in my other system and stole media from my other system

kind of instant cycle:mrgreen:

Never understood the dead shrimp thing. All you're doing is delaying the presence of ammonia (ergo, the presence of bacteria which can metabolize the ammonia) until the shrimp decays. Skip all that and just add ammonia til you get a .3ppm reading. Seed with some bacteria via product or liverock. From here, you have two options:

1. Wait and test til good. 90% water change - GO!
2. Hit with a ton of VSV til you get a bacterial bloom, then wait for it to go away. 90% water change - GO! (this is a bit more advance but sets you up for an algae-less cycle)

Either way, it's bulletproof.

Any sense on how much ammonia needed to get ~ 40 gal to .3ppm? Was thinking this makes more sense than adding a rotten shrimp

I just wing it. Add .5mL and start from there.

You left out taking a wizz in your tank.:biggrin:
I read about some quacks doing it years ago. I couldn't imagine my wife coming home and catching me pi$$ng in my tank:lol: how'd you explain that?

Think that fits in "other" ... ;)