Originally Posted by
novahobbies
http:///forum/post/3064684
The short answer is: Yes. Cycling is necessary, regardless of the rock in your tank.
Now for the good news: I don't think you will have to cycle for longer than 4 weeks. If the rock you added was fully cured, it will have a decent starter colony of aerobic and anaerobic bacteria already living in and on it.
Here's the main point, though: the bacteria colonies are probably only large enough to handle the waste they themselves produce!! Cycling the tank means developing bacteria colonies to the point where they can help process the added waste from the fish you wish to add...so even "cured" rock still doesn't really cycle your tank. The only addendum to this would be if you got the rock from a fully mature tank and it didn't die off during transport, but it doesn't sound like this is the case.
You should test your water for ammonia, nitrite, and nitrates now, then add a dead table shrimp to the tank for a few days, testing every day, to determine if you have an ammonia spike. If your ammonia spikes, you should settle back and wait for the cycle to complete (take the darn shrimp out of course!!) If your ammonia doesn't spike, you may have already cycled.
This hobby demands patience. Waiting for the cycle to complete is hard sometimes, but it can only help you in the long run...a correctly cycled mature tank will be far more forgiving and hospitable to your new fish when the time comes to add them.
By the way, why don't you post a little about your new tank? How many liters or gallons (unit of measure of your choice!!
) how much live rock, etc.... what do you plan to stock your tank with?
very thx for your advise and your help..haha ok I will tell a little about my new nano tank ..