Another Ammonia/LiveRock Question

[p7seas]

Ok,I guess this is not sinking in for me.Dying things in your tank create ammonia.The ammonia increases in your tank and kills anything that may be living in the tank from your live rock.Then the bacteria in the live rock absorbs the ammonia until the ammonia is completely absorbed,resulting in a cycled tank.This is my take in the whole cycle thing,but I think it's full of holes.Can anyone clear this up for me.If the ammonia build up kills things in the tank,why is it so important for people to have alot of hitchhikers on thier live rock?Thanks for your help.

[dudley moray]

nitrifying bacteria turn ammonia into nitrite ==>denitrifying bacteria turn nitrite into nitrate
some if not most hitchhikers can withstand minor bouts of ammonia and survive
not until both cultures are established and both ammonia and nitrite are not present is a tank cycled

[sir_dudeguy]

amonia breaks down to nitrite, and nitrite to nitrate. When your amonia and nitrite are 0, the tank is technically cycled, and you will have a remaining bit of nitrates, which regular water changes will keep in check.

The ammonia increases in your tank and kills anything that may be living in the tank from your live rock.

yes and no....it MAY kill some stuff...not everything. there's plenty of things that will live through a cycle.

as for the hitchhikers being important... they aren't important to an extent...sure some can be kinda interesting, but other than copepods and bristleworms and the like, they're not necessarily GOOD to have, just interesting/cool.... I definitely wouldnt turn down a free coral that comes on a rock.

[wooden_reefer]

Originally Posted by p7seas

Ok,I guess this is not sinking in for me.Dying things in your tank create ammonia.The ammonia increases in your tank and kills anything that may be living in the tank from your live rock.Then the bacteria in the live rock absorbs the ammonia until the ammonia is completely absorbed,resulting in a cycled tank.This is my take in the whole cycle thing,but I think it's full of holes.Can anyone clear this up for me.If the ammonia build up kills things in the tank,why is it so important for people to have alot of hitchhikers on thier live rock?Thanks for your help.

Actually your question is a good one.

First, cycling per se is not cycling with recently collected LR.

Cycling is the intense cultivation of nitrification bacteria, period. You can cycle without LR, using dead rock or any suitable medium, ammonia source and bacteria seed.

If you cycle with recently collected live rock with hitchhikers and you want to preserve the hitchhikers, you should limit the ammonia level so that many of them are not killed--some will be killed.

That is why there is a fundamental conflict of intent or interest in cycling with recently collected LR, which many people do but I don't do.