what goes first to cycle?

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miesenjr

Aquarium Advice Apprentice
Joined
Dec 8, 2008
Messages
49
Location
wayne, PA
Geting a 180 tomorow and was at the LFS today checking out LR, LS and mud for the fuge. I was told to start with the salt and water, then add the sand and mud to the fuge without any mico algae, at the same time. he said the rock can go in right away because the use of a curring tower to wash and cure the rock they sell. does this sound reasonable? I am sckeptical so much can be done at once. I would expect that the tank will still need to cycle for some time to stableize the water before fish.

I am thinking 100 to 150 lbs. rock at first because I am trying to keep some open space for larger species to have room.

What do you think?
 
What I would do is......... Setup tank with lighting, filtration, skimmer, substrate (LS), LR and water. Start the system and monitor levels in Display & Sump and adjust flow rates as req'd........ once all is running well and no leaks are present you then sit and wait......... test your levels and are waiting for a spike in Ammonia...then Nitrite....finally Nitrate. If the rock is already cured then this will happen quite fast but it needs to be the system as a whole that matures rather than just the rock.....be patient this can take a number of weeks. Once you are happy the system is settled in ALL areas I would then add a Clean up Crew (LFS will be able to help). Again a few weeks after find a couple of cheap hardy fish to add and monitor all levels for a few weeks to see how the system copes witht the bioload (fish mess, old food etc). As you add things take your time a reef isn't considered mature till 12 months plus, you will still see the system doing strange things as it settles over time. Above all ENJOY the hobby! Hope this helps and this site is a fish knowledge vortex and will help you greatly, just ask no matter how daft you think it may be!
 
With the LR being "cured" You would need to add some sort of ammonia to start the cycle to aid and feed the LR & sand. Check out sticky for information on that. I used a couple of cocktail shrimp. The other thing is when levels get back to 0 get (cheaper) fish that you don't mind keeping.
 
I plan to follow these guidlines , my bio cube took about a year to settle in. The only part I am not sure about is the fuge section of my sump. I was planing to use mud to as a base for the algae. Do I put the mud in right away to hellp with cycling. I think this would help. I did not plan to add the algae till the cycling was well along so it would have the nitrates to feed on. secondly I am planing on taking some pieces of L/R that has been in my reef tank for nearly two years to help the process along. Does this seem reasonable. or should i just put the L/R I am getting (about 140 lbs) to start, and cycle/cure by it self?
 
That's what I call 6 one way and a half dozen the other way. If you add the 140 lb's of lr later you run the chance of starting the cycle over again.
 
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