Cycling With Low Or No Salt...

[drsquirrel]

Cannot find much by searching so will ask fresh.

Is it possible to cycle a tank with low(or no) salt?


I am unsure as to what salinity the bacteria(and LR critters) can deal with, and/or if it will affect the cycle speed.

Could save a lot of salt with the initial water changes...


Any ideas?

 

[-Nemo-]

What do you mean by all of the initial water changes???
The first time you should be changing your water is when your cycle ends, prior to adding any livestock. Therefore I see no real reason to keep your SG low as you cycle.

EDIT: not to mention too low of a salinity would also be killing your LR as well



Regardless,
I wouldn't go lower than 1.018 personally. The bacteria for freshwater and brackish environments are different from those that live in full marine water. If you cycle with too low of SG and then raise the SG to its appropriate level, all the bacteria will simply die and you will have to start over.

 

[drsquirrel]

Fair enough, I thought it might have been a bacterial issue.

I think I just confused the (possible) water changes for fish-in and fish-less cycles, although the question still stands... a bit.

 

[-Nemo-]

Cycling with Live rock, you will not want to do any water changes until after the cycle finishes and then from there you would go about a normal water change routine.