cycle

[rane]

I keep hearing things about cycling the tank what is the best way to cycle a tank? i have a 155gallon tank and have been runing it with just the filters and skimmer on at all times do i need to add anything..i should have my live rock in today or tomorrow could i just cycle with the rock or should i add store shrimp like i keep reading
thanks for the help
Ramon

 

[stacy]

How much live rock are you going to add? Also what do you have for substrate? If the live rock is uncured then it will probably be sufficient to cycle the tank. I used shrimp to cycle my tank and within a couple of days my ammonia skyrocketed. Now I'm waiting for it to go down.

 

[dugan]

You need to add ammonia to the tank to kick off the cycle. That can be done by using LR/LS, a piece of dead shrimp, or live fish.
I'm a strong proponent of cycling with LR/LS and dead shrimp. The problem with using live fish is that the fish usually chosen are damsels, since they are so hardy, and they can live through the cycle.
But it's not a pleasant experience for the poor fish, and once your tank is cycled you then have to decide whether you want to keep the damsels (which can be mean little guys) or try and catch them and return them to the LFS (a difficult task at best and the poor fish will probably then be sold to some other person to cycle their tank).
I cycled my 58 gallon using 55# LR and 3 or 4 cocktail shrimp. It's smelly for about a week but IMHO well worth it.
Good luck!

Katie