Cycling a saltwater aquarium.

[Zactheninja]

When I cycled my 14 gallon, the guy at the pet store told me to start the water, add sand after a day, then wait two weeks to do live rock, then wait another 2 for fish.
Which I did and it all turned out fine. But could I do this any differently? I.e
Get saltwater from the fish store, get live sand, and live rock at the same time?
I'm setting up a pico aquarium if that helps.

 

[trotty]

u can cycle an aquarium quicker usung established rock, sand, and filter media. some fish stores with have live rock and used filtration media to help kickstart the cycle process. u will still have to test water levels to make sure the cycle has still completed before adding fish.

 

[Zactheninja]

I'm most likely not even going to add fish.
I just want to keep corals and crabs, shrimp etc.