was told to put a few damsels in and cylce it that way is this wrong? or is there a better way of doing it...never cycled a tank before when i got into the hobby i bought a tank that had allready been cycled...so havnt had to deal with it before lol
I would just throw in a piece of shrimp or let it cycle on it's own. Took me almost three weeks to fully cycle. After it cycles then you will need to tear your tank apart just to catch them unless you want them to be the only fish in your tank...:lol:
Just get some live rock in there the die off from it will cycle the tank. Using damsel's is kind of cruel considering they could die during the process and getting them out of the tank afterwards would be a big chore. Damsel's are very territorial and can become very aggressive in the tank. I have 1 in my tank and every time I put my hand in there it comes out and starts nipping at it.
Dont put damsles in it whatever you do. Its a big waste of time. All your trying to do is give the tank an ammonia boost to kick start the cycle and IMO damsels are a PITA to catch when your done. Use a single shrimp or prawn and let it set for a day before removing it. Even that is unecessary.
It depends on the LR. If you recieved LR that is uncured you will have alot of die off and get a huge ammonia boost (sometimes requiring WC's to combat the smell) then you know for sure that the cycle has begun. Doing it this way can take a week, a month and even longer in rare cases.
If you bought cured LR from a store and were quick to get it home and in water you may not even notice a cycle at all. Ive set up four systems and have never had any readable testable cycle on any of them. Most would recommend waiting several weeks to add anything even in this case. Im a rebel and have added livestock to my systems within three days of adding water and LR.
Live rock, test your water often follow the cycle. Make sure you take the time to let it cycle fully before you start to add livestock. Give it a month before you spend any money.
Why not just use cured live rock? I skipped the cycle part of my tank doing that. I used 90 pounds cured live rock for a 60 gallon tank. Tank was ready to go in 1 week.
yeah i ended up getting about 10lbs of seasoned live rock from a buddy of mine that was in his 180 for 8yrs =) and then another 10lbs of cured live rock but doesnt have any growth on it yet its pretty much white... need to get another 15 or so lbs tomorrow going to catch that damsel i tossed in there and take him out i thought it was pretty cruel to do so also but i trusted the local store...thanks for the input guys.
