cycling tank?

[mathias]

I have about 100lbs of liverock and 3 damsels to cycle the tank.... question is about how long should it take? and should I be skimming and water changes?



its 125 gal tank

[NaCl_H2O]

Is the live rock curred or uncurred? (Does it smeel "bad", or "Really bad" ;) )

Definately run your skimmer - as wet of a skim as you can get & control
Definately do water changes - 15-25% per week if possible

I would count on at least 30 days to cycle, maybe 60. Getting some sand or filter material from an established tank wil kick start the bacteria.

[JimD]

Get the Damsels out while you still can, live rock is all you need to cycle. The process will be complete when Ammonia, Nitrate and Nitrite are all at zero. Could take anywhere from a few weeks to a few months, depending on the ammount of die-off. Skimming and water changes are of the utmost importance.

[robert81]

Be sure that you test your parameters regularlly (to monitor the cycle ). Keep us up dated

I just finished cycling a 30 gallon with about 40 pounds of uncurred live rock and 2 bags of live sand (NO FISH) and it took about 6 weeks.

[cbianco]

The process will be complete when Ammonia, Nitrate and Nitrite are all at zero.

I second this!!! Don't think about the initial cycle in amounts of time. Instead monitor your test kits until your nutrients drop to zero. Your nitrates my not drop exactly down to zero (very close though) but be sure that your ammonia and nitrites read zero.

Good luck!

Christopher