After water should I test?/?

[sdexcalibur]

I added the water salt and sand, I plan on adding live rock this comming week, 7 days after I added the water, Should I be testing since when I get the rock it will add to the cycleing process, My tank is a 75 gal, I plan on about 20 lbs. of live ( FIGI cured) and 10 or so of base rock, or should I forget about the base I don't want to prolong the cycle process., And if I deceide to add more rock later on down the line should I worry about an Amonia spike, My LFS guy said I should get all the rock I can now so I don't have to do it later.

 

[n00bie]

http/www.thetipsbank.com/marine.htm

That had a good bit of cycling info in it when I read it earlier....like when to add the rock and such.

 

[Navarre]

you shop was correct to say that you should get asmuch as possible right now so if you add anything later on the cycle will be less. However, when adding more live rock that is fully cured then you wont get a cycle.

If you have a tank at the moment with just sand and water in the tank then its not cycling at the moment. Unless you add something for the tank to break down and recycle then it simply will remain barren and not cycle. As for adding base rock and worrying about the prolonging of the cycle, this wont happen either if its barren base rock.

I have posted this information before but i will add it here also. Fully cured live rock will not cycle when added to a tank. its full of live bacteria that is read yto go. You will only harm the rock and allow the bacteria to decline if you let the live rock sit there with nothing for it to feed on.

I will post this gain for those who have not seen this.

Fully cured live rock should not cycle on introduction to a new salt water aquarium.

What Steve has said above is right - it really all comes down to the rock being fully cured on introduction. If it is, when it enters your tank, then there should be no problem.

I've noticed a lot of replies lately about fully cured live rock going through the 'recognized' cycling process. I really don't think that this is true. The reason I don't say that "it categorically isn't true" is because I'm waiting for an answer to a question from some microbiologists - hopefully within the next week (all established tanks cycle continuously but this is beyond test kit detection )

Fully cured live rock has nothing on it that will die back. With no die back, there can be no cycling of the rock - end of story.... - ish . There is the issue of 'osmotic shock' to address though. From what I believe, the Nitrosomanas sp. of bacteria found on/in live rock don't have a cell wall that allow the rapid transfer of water into/out of the cell (this is what I'm trying to establish). So, osmotic shock should not be a major factor.

That said, if anybody doesn't agree with me, then why do Steve, STM, Fantasea etc (all purveyors of quality fully cured live rock) say that their rock is ready to go? Provided that the rock arrives with you within 12-24 hrs then it should be fine. The only way this rock will 'cycle' is if some of it has died during shipping (unlikely, given the experience in packaging of the sellers) or if you kill some of it on receipt.

Provided that your salt water is set-up in accordance with your salt manufacturers’ recommendations, then there really shouldn't be a problem.

I've only set-up 6 reef tanks thus far (nothing, compared to others), all using fully cured live rock as the main filtration, and I've stocked each tank within 2 days of the rock going in . So far, I have suffered no fatalities as a result of this start up procedure (fatalities down the line are a different issue ). Now, I'm either the luckiest Taff reef keeper around or the suppliers of fully cured live rock are right .

Once I've received the answers to the questions I've asked, I'll write a diatribe on this subject . If I'm wrong, then I'll go gracefully

 

[sdexcalibur]

Thanks to those who bothered to reply, I did get the " you need a UV sterializer right now" from the store. Everyone seems to know the best way, the person at the LFS even told me to bring in a price quote from online and the store will match it, I'm sure the owner wouldn't like to hear that but he seemed helpful. Thanks again

 

[n00bie]

http/www.premiumaquatics.com/Merchant2/m...y_Code=Liverock



There are a couple different online prices and varieties (sizes).

 

[Navarre]

A UV sterilizer is a really useful piece of kit but its not absolutely essential. It would seem to me that the shop is out to get your money and taking advantage of the fact that you are new to the hobby.

I would recomend you get a UV though at some point in the future. But dont worry if you cant afford one right now.