Quote:
Originally Posted by Sk8r
You don't need ANYTHING. the dieoff in your live rock is completely sufficient. REmember what you're encouraging is microscopic: you won't see it. If you can't stand adding nothing at all, add enough flake fishfood daily to feed one guppy (one flake), and STILL expect a cycle of 4-8 weeks. You simply cannot get bacteria to propagate clear to the core of the rock in less time than that, and if you rush it, you can crash the tank.
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Nitrification is highly aerobic so only the sites near the more oxygenated areas will nitrification bacteria live.
"bacteria propagating to the core of LR" is not a part of cycling.
Cycling is nitrification only, not denitrification. Such is the definition and also has a reason. This is NOT to say that denitrification is not important, it is in the longer term.
You can introduce some fish when nitrification is complete, even if you have a basically reef tank in mind, even when denitrification is not yet well established.
The comprehesive ecological perspective has more bearing on long term maintenance.
If your interest is a reef tanlk with only a few small fish, you may consider long term ecological balance as more pressing.
Having nitrification and some livestock before denitrification is robust will not crash a tank. I 'd agree that if your interest is a reef tank you should not add too much livestock quickly.