Got the LR, now to cycle.

gen1dustin

gen1dustin

Member
Well I just recieved my 60 lbs of Caribbean live rock for my 55 gallon tank. It was uncured, & I plan to cycle the tank with it. I've done washed it in a high salinity bucket of water to get any critters off, I picked off a few things including some worms. I don't see any hitch hikers like snails, crabs, shrimp, or what-not. There is a pretty good bit of coralline growth on it & I think the rock looks great. So now to start cycling, I've done my reading & have cycled FW tanks before so I know the basics of cycling. However if anyone wants to pint out any tips or anything please do so. I know do not leave the lights on during the cycle & don't have the protien skimmer on, right? Every thing is looking good so far. The specific gravity is about 1.024
, it has been running for about 2 weeks. I'm really excited now on starting this tank
 
dmjordan

dmjordan

Active Member
i used my lights and protein skimmer during my cycle. congrats on the lr and for not cycling with fish.
 
bobwire

bobwire

Member
I didn't remove too many critters to start. I waited til they came out and nabbed them. I also left a few to watch. Again I apologize for being a newbie, but I thought that they were fairly beneficial?
 
hot883

hot883

Active Member
Welcome and thanks for doing so much research before hand. Defiantely the way to go. The cycle will happen now. Now the journey begins. Ha!
 
gen1dustin

gen1dustin

Member
Kool, thanks ya'll. I just got back in town today & it seems as though the ammonia is off the charts(literally) my nitrItes look to be less than 0.3 mg. So I guess it's time for a water change how much would you guys say somewheres around 25-50 %??
 
renogaw

renogaw

Active Member
bob wire, the reason you want to remove the crabs and snails and such is shown by his amonia levels. those animals wouldn't be able to survive such an amonia spike.
start with the 25%, if they don't go down try a bigger one, but the rock should start working (since you already see a nitrite level they already are)
 
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