Now everything is in and ready to go. The tank “Cycle” begins. Again with the research I’ve done there are a few different ways to cycle a tank and get my dead rock loaded up with good bacteria.
- With 80% dead rock and 20% live rock (which I’ve done)
- Using a hardy fish to raise the ammonia levels which will also kick start the bacteria in my rocks. Although this is pretty cruel as the ammonia levels in the tank will get high and could burn the gills of the fish. Not recommended but some people do it.
- Using a dead shrimp, prawn or adding fish food to the tank. This will also raise ammonia levels.
I’ve gone for the live rock and fish food option. I already have the live rock in place so i just need to add the fish food. apparently you can add any kind of food, i have some flake food that i got free with a Hydrometer (Ill come to that later) which i will add. Most people on the net are saying just to add it to your tank but it will make a bit of a mess as it decays on the sand. I don’t want this so I’ve added some flake food to one of my pads in the filter…
Hopefully this will decay and the ammonia will pass into the tank without any or the mess. Then after i can just replace the pad. the small rena pads next to the poly filter are for removing green algae in the water which is sometimes a problem in cycling, so i thought id beat it before it starts. Its not essential and probably not necessary but I’m over cautious.
Reef Tank 