How to Cycle a Reef Aquarium Right Away – With Corals First

[Reef Builders]

Forever and a day we have been schooled in how to set up and cycle an aquarium. Set it up, wet it, add bacteria, test, add fish, test again, and then eventually add corals. But here at Reef Builders we can’t help but think there’s another way to fast reef tank cycling, and that actually, people have been doing it wrong all along…
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[dirtyxducks19]

So high ammonia won’t kill the coral? Interesting concept

 

[unchaotic]

So high ammonia won’t kill the coral? Interesting concept

Like many substances in the world, ammonia is dangerous in high concentrations. But in controlled doses it is fertilizer for plants, including the zooxanthellae in your photosynthetic corals. Studies have shown corals (acros even) can make use of ammonia easier than nitrates (though if I remember correctly they will still absorb both).

This is kind of how @Roberto Denadai starts his tanks:

My new SPS Tank

Hi Guys, After five years of keeping a Fish Only, I just started a new SPS tank. This tank has 50 days and I´m keeping my alk and ca just with kalkwasser. In 2 or 3 months I think I will start with balling ( tropic Marin ) plus kalk My setup is : 2x Hydra 52 1x Hydra 26 HD 2x T5 Blue Plus...

www.reef2reef.com

With this start-up method the corals (and macro algae) come first and you would slowly add fish as the tank can handle the bio-load. So as long as you don't overwhelm the tank with nutrients by adding too many fish too fast the corals and algae will use the ammonia. You'll still build a nitrifying bacteria load (slowly and more naturally than dumping in bottles) but your tank won't be so dependent on it and your nitrates shouldn't skyrocket during the cycling process.

A potential downside to this is if you have a massive coral/macro die-off you would lose your nutrient export system and ammonia would climb. Though I believe it could be argued that some tanks crash because of nitrifying bacteria die-offs.

 

[canadianeh]

hmm interesting.....anyone tried this yet?

 

[unchaotic]

hmm interesting.....anyone tried this yet?

Check out the build thread in my comment above.

 

[N3mo]

i started a tank this way..

 

[ReefRxSWFL]

Ive started tanks with a scoop of sand, a rock from the sump of my main DT, corals from my frag system, rock formations built from Marco rock/Marco cement, carib sea ocean direct sand and a few fish on day 1. I have one thats now 2 months old, growing corals, and i only need to clean the glass about twice a week.

Old time cycling is for the birds.

 

[ChiCity]

lol, it’s called a skip-cycle

 

[ReefRxSWFL]

I call it an F-cycle.

 

[ChiCity]

quality live rock is the key to success…
don’t even need a ton of it either.

 

[ReefRxSWFL]

Don’t forget about the benefits of good established sand. No rock can compete with the surface area of sand as well.

All the rock in all of my tanks has been seeded from Tampa Bay Rock from 15 plus years ago, or since then, reef rock that came up when I got snagged while fishing in the Gulf. So you wont get an argument from me on the benefits of real live rock. When the 120 for my living room comes in, ill be building some of the aquascape from Marco Rock, but there will be a decent amount of the Pukani from the sump in my fish room going in that tank as well. As well as a scoop of the sand from the tank.

This sterile start up in the name of “no pests”, is a recipe for disaster. And I've never seen one free from pests. Thats just free food for properly selected livestock.

 

[Robertellis30]

Thinking about doing this process when I set my tank up. So if I’m reading this right. Throw the tank together follow up by tossing a large zoa/mushroom colony rock in with it. Or go all out and load all my corals in there.

Would mess everything up if a bottle of bacteria was thrown in prior to corals going in?

 

[Reef and Dive]

It is totally possible. IMHO the downside is the immaturity that near always exists.

In experienced hands it can go right, but it is very easy to lose track and lose corals while the reef starts to stabilize.

And yeah, zooxantellae (symbionts) actually use and love ammonia:

https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rspb.2020.0620

 

[ReefRxSWFL]

Thinking about doing this process when I set my tank up. So if I’m reading this right. Throw the tank together follow up by tossing a large zoa/mushroom colony rock in with it. Or go all out and load all my corals in there.

Would mess everything up if a bottle of bacteria was thrown in prior to corals going in?

Do you have another established DT to get live rock and sand from? Thats a must if you even attempt it. My rock and sand is coming out of a DT thats been up and running for over 10 years. Also, you dont want to add corals you will regret down the road. Things like Zoas, palys, mushrooms, xenia and GSPcan be the equivalent of adding pests directly to your tank.

 

[Robertellis30]

I broke my 80g reef down when we moved into our new home and crammed all my corals into 2 separate nano tanks.

Went through the bleaching process for the old rock and made formed structures this go around instead of loos rock.

With all of that I plan on taking a new fresh start. This article caught my attention. Don’t mind switching things up once in a while.

 

[monkeyCmonkeyDo]

Its called a hard cycle as opposed to a soft cycle lol.
Anyone can cycle a marine aquariun overnight with new sw and chromis. Dosent make it right. Take ur bottled stuff and leave it on the shelf plz and ty. Lol
D

 

[NoahLikesFish]

did this and it worked perfectly.

 

[Paston1]

did this and it worked perfectly.

Going to do it on 400G lol. Let’s put it to the test.

 

[Paston1]

I wonder if we added a carbon source along with nitrate and phosphate would it speed it up. Considering Redfield ratio, in theory we could add our coral in a new tank. Turn on the cal reactor. Will be dumping carbon and phosphate into the tank already. From here need nitrate and it’s solid. So if using a nitro cycle or ammonia source that could in theory be used up really easy.

60x60 coming from glass cages and we’ll want to do a method the hobby deems “against the grain”

 

[NoahLikesFish]

easiest way is following: 2" sand, live rock. add as many corals and macroalgaes as you can afford. add 1 fish per 50 gallons to start the cycle (any tank less than 50 gal just gets 1 fish) add the macro and coral and fish as soon as the water clears.