ReeferFulton's most SPECTACULARLY AWESOMEST tank build(s) EVAHHH!!!!

[fishoholic]

Looks good I love cube tanks! Keep in mind when only using dry rock it takes 6months to a year before starting to become live and honestly if you don't have any live rock to seed it with, it will probably be over a year before you get beneficial bacteria growing in/on the rock. The rock acts as a biological filtration system, before beneficial bacteria builds up in the rock, it's the same as always having "new tank syndrome".

I highly recommend adding a few pieces of live rock to seed the dry rock with. Even then go very slow with adding livestock. Basically if you have 20 pounds of live rock then stock the tank how you would stock a tank with only 20 pounds of live rock for the first year. I know a lot of people who have had lots of problems from using mostly or all dry rock. Basically (over the 1st year) every time they added anything to the tank an algae bloom occured and often they noticed ammonia outbreaks which killed a few of the fish they tried adding.

Now I will say I've never started a tank with mostly dry or all dry so I don't have first hand experience but I have had several people who did complain to me about all the problems they had with their tank. Now that being said I've heard there is a way to add beneficial bacteria to your tank and "cheat the system" so to speak, but (from what I understand) it was an involved process that can go badly if you don't know what you're doing.

Here is some science links Albert shared about it
http://www.esajournals.org/doi/abs/1...urnalCode=ecol

http://jb.asm.org/content/85/6/1413.full.pdf

http://zeovit.com/forums/showthread.php?t=4656

Here is what Albert said about the process

Originally Posted by albert_dao

Oooooookay, listen, here's how you do it:

*Disclaimer 1, I do this all the time. But I know what to monitor and have a ton of water premixed in case anything goes south. Proceed at your own risk and don't be a scrub and keep on adding livestock if you are experiencing negative water quality.

Disclaimer 2, if you are a noob, stop reading now and just keep doing what everyone else is telling you to.

1. Set up tank. Make sure you have good equipment and lots of flow (the flow part is important). If you have any real liverock, it would be to your benefit to use it. If you don't, well, you don't.

2. You'll need a substrate for the bacteria. I use a 1:5 mix of Zeovit and Hydroton. Place this into a suitable container (media reactor, canister filter, whatever), you'll need at least 1 liter of this media per 100 gallons of water.

3. Seed the tank with a product like Zeobak or MB7 (I use Zeobak, your mileage may vary with other products) at triple the recommended dosage.

4. Add enough household ammonia (or pee, yes, pee, haw haw haw) until you get an ammonia reading of 0.25-0.50, NO MORE. If you overdose, you will retard and delay this process.

5. Add a DOC source. I use vinegar mixed with vodka and acetic acid (1:1:1 ratio by volume) at the rate of 1mL/gallon. This should cause a bacterial bloom which will cloud the water nearly opaque. Keep your skimmer running and empty the cup as necessary.

6. Continue adding bacteria (normal rate) and DOC (1mL/50 gallons) daily until the bacterial bloom subsides. This can take anywhere from three days to 15 days. Test your ammonia, nitrite and nitrate levels daily, twice a day if you're bored.

7. Enjoy your cycled tank. Continue adding bacteria until you run out. Dose DOC source as needed (test your NO3 and PO4 levels to determine the dosing rate).

This method works for me 100% of the time and I can put my money where my mouth is (read: conspic angel and gem tang +++).

Edit #1: I r bad english.

Edit #2: I know this isn't a one-day recipe, but I doubt there is one, short of being plumbed directly into a GIANT water source which can naturally buffer all of the bad stuff (e.g. the ocean).

Edit #3: Clarified the term 'bacterial bloom'.