How long before dry rock populated w/ bacteria?

[cr500_af]

Not talking about a cycle; just "seeding" new rock.
I'm setting up a 55 system as a temporary home for a 6"-ish Naso Tang until my 210 is finished. It will live alone in the 55.

I put a bit of rock and rubble in my fuge to get it ready to move into this system last weekend... two rocks about grapefuit sized, which have been in the system for years will go, and a 2.5g bucket of dry, clean rubble (this is what has been wet in my system for a week) also.

I feel safe that I have enough bio-filtration in place, but would welcome experiences. The fish is coming home Monday.

FWIW, the 55 is attached to a 29g sump, and is filling up now. Skimmer/heat/flow is all in place. Not running any lights immediately, but I have that taken care of also (to be installed in a couple of days).

 

[ichthyoid]

Barry,

Most bacteria can replicate asexually (by splitting, also called binary fission) in under 30 minutes, under optimal conditions. What does that mean for you? Each bacterium can produce over 1 million 'daughter' cells (clones) in an 8 hour period. Needless to say, the growth curve could be explosive in a 1 week period. I would venture a guess that in your sump your rock is seeded enough to support a fish.

FWIW-I have 'cycled' rock/aquariums using a bacterial additive (suspension) called Fritzzyme #9, complete with ammonia, nitrite, nitrate cycle in 5 days more than once. So I know it's do-able, having seen it.

 

[cr500_af]

Awesome. I thought it was plenty of time (especially with the rocks that have been in there for over a year).

In a "QT" without lights, maybe those rocks will be un-Xenia'd and un-GSP'd too!

 

[dewey1982]

gotta love problems like that.

 

[jbadd99]

I set up my entire 120g tank with 100 lbs of base rock and a single 11 lb live rock - added some Seachem Stability and BAM! fully functional biosystem in less than a week that was able to support 5-6 fish right away... still going strong too.

So, yeah, I think you're safe.

 

[ichthyoid]

After researching this a little more, it appears that nitrifying bacteria reproduce much more slowly than many other bacteria. It takes them about 8 hours, instead of under 30 minutes. That;s still about a 16,000 fold increase in bacteria. I still think you will be ok. They are also very efficient at nitrification, which helps make up some for their slow growth. The link below is a good read if you are interested.