Cycling my BRS reef saver rock

[TRUKINGNY]

Just want to make sure I'm doing this right I'm gonna be cycling my BRS reef saver rock this week it's completely dry my plan is to put all 60 lbs of my rock in a brute container make fresh saltwater at 1.026 heat it up to 77 degrees throw a power head in it to move the water around only leave the lid 3/4 on and buy a softball size of live rock at the store... Does this sound ok I also read put a air stone but how necessary is that? Also the rock will be in there for at least a month do I have to put some flakes in once a week?

 

[marrone]

That sounds about right. The power head should be enough to move the water around and give you water breakage, so you can do without the air stone. If you had a protein skimmer that would be good to use but not necessary. I wouldn't worry about putting any food in the container, as you should have enough die off from the LR to build up the bacteria needed.

You should probably do a couple of water changes during the month that you have the LR in the container. This will help remove the Phosphates that are released from the LR. Once the LR completely cycles you can then do a large water change to get the nitrates down.

 

[TRUKINGNY]

This is the rock it's not live at all it's completely dead and has no life on it from what I've read does that matter
http://www.bulkreefsupply.com/brs-reef-saver-dry-aquarium-live-rock.html

 

[marrone]

The "softball" size piece of LR that you plan on placing in with the Dry rock will give it a source of bacteria to kick start the cycle. If you want you can add an additional source at the start, like a piece of shrimp or clam, which will help build up the bacteria even more. Doing this will help build up the bacteria, which will let you handle a large bio-load once you start putting in fish and corals into the tank.

 

[ReefMonkey13]

There has been reports for the BRS rocks leaching phosphate so if you plant to using lanthanum chloride (pool cleaner) to get the phospates out during the cycling process is also a good time to that.

Leaching PO4 discussion in RC:
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2049855&highlight=leaching

Good Luck

 

[fifty50]

i used this rock when i upgraded my tank; i love it! during my tank upgrade i started fresh with dry rock but used some live rock from my previous tank and put some in the display and sump to help seed the dry rock. every couple of weeks i removed the live rock from the display tank. didn't have any issues.

 

[TRUKINGNY]

So I'm thinking I'm gonna buy about 10 lbs of Fiji LR and seed it with that

 

[E.intheC]

There has been reports for the BRS rocks leaching phosphate so if you plant to using lanthanum chloride (pool cleaner) to get the phospates out during the cycling process is also a good time to that.

Leaching PO4 discussion in RC:
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2049855&highlight=leaching

Good Luck

This.

 

[TRUKINGNY]

This.

Yes I read up on that but does it matter that most of those people had the Pukani rock and I have the Eco reef saver rock?

 

[ecvernon]

I have used both in the past. The pukani rock is loaded with dead organic material. The ecosaver is cleaner. IMO the best thing to do is to leave it cycling as long as possible. The longer the better. I had my pukani rock cycling for two months and have had no algae or excessive po4 issues