Cycleing a reef tank

What do you guys recommened i do i am going to be useing a biocube 29 and i have a 55 g that i am breaking down and will be useing some of the live rock from it i also bought 40 pounds of regular sand should i put all that in or get some live sand and mix it i was also wondering i seen that some people add ammonia to there system to help grow more bacteria should i do this or maybe add a couple hardy fish or something else

 

Just use a raw table shrimp, and the live rock from the 55 gallon to cycle the 29 gallon. You could very likely get away with no cycle if you are using live cured rock from a currently running tank.

 

+1 good job corailline, just did this in my 10 gallon, took 11 lbs of live rock straight out of my 180 added it to the tank with new sand and a little bit of live sand to seed it, 7 gallons of live water out of the 180 and 3 gallons of new water. No cycle at all. So I recommend you do the same and you will have little to no cycle.

 

I have always wondered, how long do you leave the shrimp in there? I am currently trying this method...

 

When cycleing my 180 I threw 2 shrimps in, and left them in there, I figured the clean up crew would enjoy it but that's just me....

 

If it is a small piece until it is gone. A large piece until you can not stand the smell any longer. Smell equals decay, decay equals ammonia and the tank should be cycling.

 

I never smelled it lol

 

180 gallons of dilution. And live rock, you probably had a good head start on the process.

 

Mmmmm good point lol

 

Thanks alot I don't know if I should use any of my old water. Because my 55 had a little green hair algae on the glass