Cycling my tank

[Sniperhank]

I'm not really sure what I should do to cycle my tank. My LR is on the way and have read many conflicting statements about cycling your tank with LR. Is it better to cycle with the LR and some ammonia or a shrimp or should I cycle my tank and cure my LR seperately? I've been told that cycling your tank with LR will make a mess of my live sand...is this true? If so, can it be cleaned up by inverts or would I have to do it?

Tank is 36 gallon. Came with a biowheel, probably going on holding tank for new fish. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[all4wheels2]

Why cycle the two separately when you can kill two birds with one stone lol. Just put the rock in the tank and you probably won't need any ammonia source (i.e. raw shrimp). You will probably have some die-off from the rock (due to shipping). The one time I bought live rock, and then put it in my tank to cycle, my ammonia jumped off the charts! The cycling tank will cure the rock.

But I guess if you would rather do them separately, then it is your tank and you can

I wouldn't worry about trying to keep your sand pretty - little things called diatoms are going to make quick work of that lol.

 

[Sniperhank]

Thats what I was planning on, but I kept being told otherwise by other people. Made no sense to me. Only downfall is that I don't think I'll be getting my LR til after Thanksgiving.

 

[kurtyboh]

yeah your sand is going to get messed up quick, but die off alone wont sustain a cycle... some bb dies off the bb consumes starts to starve dies off... you see where thats heading.