Rapid cycling?

I have a 65gal tank that I just set up. I work in the animal 'museum' at my college, and we have people coming through, and especially young kids for 'science camps' this time in the summer. So I really need to get my animals back in the water!

I used RO water and Instant Ocean salt to get the specific gravity to 1.024, then added 25 pounds of Aragonite. Then on top of that I added 20 pounds of Arag-Alive (Aragonite with bacteria already in it). It says it 'speeds up cycling'... but HOW long should it take? At this point I have one 6-inch Atlantic puffer, a couple urchins, and a snail. I plan to increase the diversity gradually, but when can I put these guys back in? I don't want them getting terrorized by the kids in the museum, because they're in a large tupperware container on the floor right now. Thanks!

 

Are you planning on using any liverock at all? My 20H's been running for just under a month with 45lbs of sand and 20lbs of LR and it cycled fairly quickly.
Good luck with the kiddos. I'm a science teacher myself and did the animal curator thing for a while in the past. Good times, but crazy...

 

Get Marinelands Biopspira. Its live bacteria and will help cylce your tank. Make sure you get the SW version and check the expiration date. It must be refrigerated. I have personally used this product to cylce a SW and FW tank. Recently I broke down my 120g tank and used this product and cycled the tank in less than a week. I also used a small amount of live sand. I only put one fish in the first week and now have 3 fish back in the tank. My ammonia, nitrites and nitrates have all been zero since the first week.

By the way, that puffer will make quick lunch of that snail and possibly the urchins.

 

You really cant rush cycling, except for the adding (seeding) of established sand from an existing tank to your sand base and adding live rock which both have beneficial bacteria to help the cycling process. Other than that, being careless and aggressive with adding live stock too quickly will prove disasterous and end with dead inhabitants and polluted water, with ammonia, nitrite and nitrate spikes which will prolong the time to add new livestock.

 

Right, I know about the Nitrogen cycle, that's why I'm hesitant to add things. I know it can be awful.

The puffer has been fine with the snails and urchins... he seems discouraged by the spikiness. Think I would be too.

I'll look up biopspira, thanks!

I want to put live rock in there, but I'm not sure I can fit 1/2 lbs/gal. That's 60 pounds of live rock! How would we fit that?! So some, but not nearly that much I don't think... it's just not feasible. I'm building a refugium though which will contain them. Are there types of live rock? Thanks again guys

 

I'm using "Nano" liverock from Premium Aquatics. Just as they discribe it, it comes in "softball-sized" chunks. It's well covered with coraline and easy to stack and aquascape with. I went with 1lb/gallon. I'm going to try to post a pic of my tank in my profile so you can get an idea of what the LR is like.

 

60 lbs of live rock is not a whole lot and will not take up as much space as you think.

By the way, I agree with C.Reefer that you shouldn't rush your cycling. But it sounds like your in a bind december, thats why I suggested biospira as an adjunct along with live rock and live sand to aid in cycling your tank. That said, it did however cycle my 120g in 1 week much to my amazement and skepticism. If you decide to use it, you must have at least 1 fish in the tank to produce waste for the biospira bacteria to survive after coming out of stasis.

 

If you go with cured live rock and put in 1 1/2 to 2 lbs per gallon you should see your tank cycle really quickly as the rock is cured and contains the necessary bacteria. The reason this will cycle so quickly is that at 2lbs/g alogn with a seeded sand bed you should pretty much have a good healthy bacteria base to get you going. Even then you must move slowly on additions as each addition may create a small spike until the bacteria catch up. I put 135-140lbs of marshall island in my 75 and it cycled in about a week and a half.

 

Thanks for the info, Adnuces! Appreciate it. Is it true then that after setting up a tank with live sand or whatever, that you are ready to start adding fish when you can test for and detect Nitrates, because that signifies the bacteria are ready? That's what the guy at the local pet shop said. He also said that if I have Live Sand that I shouldn't need to use Cycle or BioSpira really. Thoughts?

 

You can fit 60 lbs of live rock into a 65 gallon tank. Unless, of course, your tank is custom and designed "irregularly." As far as your tank cycling, that depends on your live rock, IMO. I added 80 lbs to my 55 gallon and my tank never cycled. As far as, having a peak in anything. I monitored ammonia/nitrite/nitrate everyday. Think of this: if you keep your bioload small then there isn't going to be much excretion of waste to spike your tank. Plus the addition of live rock will be starting off with a significant amount of bacteria. So, you already have the amount of bacteria needed to keep the "small" amount of waste in check. Also, if you want to go a safer route, then buy some damsels and use them to help. A decaying fish will also help matters further in my opinion. It will cause a rapid rise in ammonia, so the bacteria will convert it. I feel with the added benifit of live rock and live sand that is going to be added that a small bioload (such as your wanting to add) wont be affected much. This is just my opinion, take it as such.

There are different types of live rock. Just to name a few Tonga, Haitian, Fijii..etc.

Meklo