Stinky Cycle Process

[Omar]

For about 5 days I've been cycling some Marco rock. I used about 4 inches of squid and placed everything in a plastic 30 gallon totes(15 gallons of water) with a maxijet 900 running. The smell is unbelievable! I live in a 2000sqft flat and it's all over the place. Needless to say, the lady isnt happy! How long should I expect this smell spell to last? Water is turning black!

 

[johnny roastbeef]

For quite some time. Dude, you have rotting fish in your apartment. Even if you were determined to use rotting fish to get bacteria going on your rock. I think you have waaaay more than you need. I would throw the rancid water away, replace it with fresh water and maybe a very small (quarter sized) piece of squid.

You can get your colony started with a small piece of rock from someone elses tank and just a few drops of amonia. Its a much better process IMO.

 

[James]

http://www.manhattanreefs.com/forum...put-saran-wrap-curing-lr.html#post678418:tub:

The stronger the ammonia spike, the more good bacteria you will have for later. It is worth it. You are not alone.

 

[midtownman]

With those rocks its gonna be a while before they are cured the process would speed up if u put them in a bucket with a protein skimmer

 

[tosiek]

I wouldn't have bothered with the squid. Its overkill IMO. There is also no way by adding that much food without a good base of bacteria that it can actually strengthen your bacteria base. All your doing is speeding up your initial cycle. If you were adding some other form of bacteria along with the squid sure, i can see how it would help you but marco rock is dirty enough to give you plenty of food for the bacteria to grow and spread.

Swap out for a fresh batch of water and run a skimmer and a PH and leave it at that for a few weeks. You shouldn't have to do anything else to get it to "cycle". Run some carbon to get the rest of the smell out. And yes, you should be skimming and doing WC's during your curing process.

Is this rock going into an established tank? I don't know anything more than your trying to cycle rock in a tub so its hard to say which direction you can do.

 

[Omar]

well..the answer i needed is here...at day 10 with approx 1 water change the water cleared and the rancid aroma ceased to be.

 

[JimmyR1rider]

I put 1 raw, rinsed under R/O water shrimp in my 65 when cycling it- I could have taken it out after a few days but I let it stay in and watched the pods eating it . After the shrimp was gone so was the smell. Its all uphill from here.