Okay, I know there aren't too many SW keepers here yet, but I feel so much more at home over here than at the marine sites (they're great, but so big!) that I'm asking anyway. :-) In process of setting up a 75 gallon FOWLR tank and I need to get my quarantine tank going. So I've got a real basic setup--20 long tank, sponge filter, heater. Now, I have to start the cycle and of course I don't have a display tank to pull good bacteria from. So, here are my options:

1) Damsels. I can't bring myself to do this to them, especially as I don't want them in the big tank (too territorial). The guy at one LFS said, "Eh, throw a couple in and the strong ones will survive. They're the goldfish of the sea." By which I think he meant they're disposable--guess he doesn't come to this site much. :-)

2) A piece of raw shrimp. I'm not loving this, as the tank is in my bedroom. And just yuck. And do you leave the same piece in to rot for a month or keep adding? And did I mention yuck?

3) Frozen food. Slightly less yuck factor, but same "do I need more after the first bit" question.

4) Live rock. Which sounds swell, except you're not supposed to have LR in quarantine tank--and will taking it out post-cycle mess with the water? Maybe not if I only have a couple of pounds in?

Advice/comments from anyone who's been through a fishless cycle, salt or fresh, would be most welcome!

I believe it would be the same way as with fresh, adding pure ammonia to the tank. I have seen several places with instructions on it.

Now my understanding is the live rock provides almost an instant cycling to the tank. Why not just start off by stocking the tank very slowly and adding some live rock to keep up with it?

On a side note most people dont even cycle quarantine tanks–the main purpose for them is only to be temporary. Also most medications will wipe out the beneficial bacteria anyway so thats why most people dont bother.

Damsels are hardy but like you said aggressive. A less aggressive fish that is also hardy would be a clown (which are damsels). Some of the more peaceful ones are the percs and ocellaris.

Thanks for the reply! :-) I want to cycle the tank because "best practices" in salt water seem to be keeping new fish in the QT for 4 weeks . . . . I don't want to make a fish live through that in an uncycled tank if I can help it. I have gotten the same idea about cured live rock, that it cycles a tank almost immediately--I just don't know if a few pounds is enough. I went ahead and put a 5-lb LR in the tank a few days ago and as yet no ammonia, so I may need more to start any cycle, even a short one.

I wish more people believed in Q tanks! I help so many people at work whose whole tank has crashed because they added a sick fish. As for the LR the general rule is one pound per gallon. If youre only planning to have one or two fish in there at a time you can get away with less but I would probably recommend a little more than 5 lbs.

BTW what kind of fish are you planning to get?

I was reading on one site that if you want the cycle to start sooner is adding some shrimp to the tank, Dead piece.....I don't know if this will work or not

hi, the sponge filter should start to colonize with beneficial bacteria pretty quick even with just the five pound rock, you wont see any ammonia or nitrite with a piece of cured rock the bacteria in and on the rock will take care of those as soon as they are created.
You will need to feed the rock though, a couple of flakes of food a week should suffice.
Move the rock to the main tank before adding any fish, you wouldn't want to have to throw away a rock because a fish in quarantine got ill. If you do have to medicate remove the sponge filter sterilize it ( a little bleach mixed with h2o) and put it in a bucket with water from the main display( and some gunk from the mains filter to reseed it).
Be sure to provide hiding places for your new charges, P.V.C. pipe works great. If you want to use a substrate make sure it is not calcium based, use natural monterey sand or gravel, because if you have to use copper it will bind with anything in the tank that is calcium based.

Good luck,
Aaron

Thanks, everyone! My pampered rock (gets its own 20-gallon tank and heater!) is generating a little ammonia (.25) so I think it's starting a cycle. Jrstist, I'm not counting on the rock to provide any biological filtration, just to start a cycle--I feel funny with only a sponge filter in there because I am so used to "more is better" for GF, but that seems to be what most people recommend for a QT tank. It sure doesn't circulate much, though, so I might have to stick an airstone in there anyway when I add a fish.

Wrasseman01, I will be sure to take the rock out before adding fish--and I was wondering about feeding the rock. I have frozen marine food--or would a few freshwater flakes be okay, do you think? Or I could just go buy some marine flakes, huh? The LFS is going to start greeting me at the door with a latte as they take my credit card with the other hand. :-)

sounds like your rock wasn't totaly cured, but at least you're checking your levels, most people don't.
a few flakes of freshwater food is fine, most flake from the various manufactures are pretty much the same for fresh and salt, just a few minor differences.
a small power head would add plenty of extra current, more than an airstone ever could, and would run about the same price, and can be left in during medicating (as could the air stone). personally I would use a Maxi-jet 600 or a Rio 800.

good luck
Aaron

also i do not think anyone has mentioned that the ph is going to be a little unstable at first.check that every couple of days as that is very important to an animals health.there are many reliable buffers on the market.just make sure that it is for marine aquariums.good luck