Cycling my new 125 With Cured rock

[travis32]

ok. quick question on cycling.

I took approximatley 50-60 pounds fully cured rock (went through a cycle of 8.0 ammonia and the rock alone brought it from 8.0ppm to 0.00 in 3 weeks in a tub of heated salt water.)

I placed that rock with old sand, new dry rock and brand new sand in the sump in the 125g I setup.

I was hoping dieing off from the rock, never being out of water for more than 2 minutes, would kick start a cycle, (it was immersed in 65 degree saltwater.. I didn't have an extra heater to heat the water.)

The water the rock was in went into the tank plus another 100gallons or so..

So, tonight, to try to further kick start the ammonia process I threw in a whole (melted) cube of Mysis shrimp. Will that be enough to kick start the ammonia cycle?

Or since I'm using the fully cured rock, will I even experience a cycle?

The fish store manager felt I would see a cycle the first week and then 2 to 3 weeks later, see the ammonia hit zero and nitrites / trates, come down therein.

I'm not sure I'm convinced that it will take that long using the rock I'm using?

I've got some rock in my 55 with the corals I'll be transfering once the 125 is fully cycled.. I'm just wondering if I'll see much of a cycle at all?

I refuse to put any life at risk, so I will not be transfering anything until I am absolutely sure everything is established. And even then I'll be cautious. But in the meantime, I'll "Feed" the tank once a week some mysis, and see if everything remains stable.

Thanks in advance for any feedback!!

[dzfish17]

Yeah, I agree that you may see a small cycle. Sounds like youre doing fine.

Dave

[travis32]

Thanks Dave. Sorry for the "new" question. When I first started my 55 I used rock that was in an established tank with fish for 2 years. It was never out of water and was moved to my 55 with corals. Everything survived. I added fish, and never saw a cycle.

So, since I've started this hobby almost a year ago. I've never dealt with a true "beginners cycle" Other than when I wiped my 55 out with a limewater over dose and saw the ammonia top out at the test kit max of 8.0ppm. So, was curious how fast this tank will cycle or if it will cycle at all other than the algae cycles.

Sounds like my intuition close to right in that in a week or so I might see a small ammonia spike, and then the second or 3rd week tops it will be ready.

[travis32]

Well, a quick update. I have "new" corals starting to grow back from my live rock that I managed to kill with a Limewater overdose, then cycle in a tub with ammonia water that was up to or over 8.0 ppm down to zer. I kept the rock in water when I moved it from the tub to the 125g.

I have now added some additional dry rock to my 125, and some additional new sand and so on. I have stabilized the alk and calcium. Alk at around 3.5 meq/l and the calcium at around 440. Haven'g checked mag yet, but should be o.k.

Anyways, there's new signs of life in under 6 days of the transfer of the rock! Corals that are opening and closing now. (Very tiny, but still).. a Mushroom that's coming back. some star polyps (not GSP). And so on.

I'm still not detecting any ammonia or nitrates. I threw in a second cube of mysis tonight. (There's nothing in the tank to eat it...)

I will retest Tomorrow or Sunday. If still nothing from the Mysis. I'm going to call it good to start adding a small CUC.. I'll add just a couple snails to see what happens. If they survive. Then I will start transferring my corals from the 55g to the 125g mid next week. (around Wednesday)..

I may transfer 1 fish early end of next week if all goes o.k. (only have 2).

Obviously if I see ammonia start being detected, I will push these transfers back a week. Given the water volume and the fact the rock went through a heavy cycle, I think things will be fine.

[travis32]

quick update on my cycling with 3 cubes of mysis frozen shrimp in a 7 day period....

Ammonia: 0
temp: stable at 79
sg: 1.026 (refrac)
raised CA at start of tank: 440
Alk: 3.5 Meq/l
Mg: Haven't tested nor added (IO Salt)
Nitrites: between .1 and .2 (lighter than .2 but darker than zero). Finally have Nitrites detected w000t!! I'm assuming in the next few days to 1 week I should either see the following happen:

1. Nitrites will continue to rise.
2. Or nitrites will fall and Ammonia will rise..

Nitrates: Currently 0, nitrates should rise slightly as the cycle finishes by end of this week or beginning of next, I'm hoping... I don't expect much of a cycle, I'm actually surprised that any nitrites were detected! It's a good sign though! Can't wait to get my 55g cleaned out. I'm so close, it just better not crash (has a slight leak somewhere.)