120gallon with live sand

[44santababy]

Hello, here is my question...

I have a 120gallon SW tank setup with about 1 inch of Carib. live sand with NO lights and skimmer running 24/7 with two mp40's running. This setup has been running for a month now and i have been topping off with ro/di water, but filled tank with tap water. My acan lights and calcium reactor come in next week and my setup is complete. While this waiting period for lights, reactor, and live rock to arrive, has my tank cycled at all? I have not taken one test yet cause i havent added the live rock yet. Once the rock is in (120lbs) and light setup then i was going to cycle the tank. Or did the tank cycle already. Nothing was added to the tank except ro/di water...no food, chemicals etc... thanks

 

[albano]

IMO...if all you have is a tank with sand in it, and you have time before the LR (is it live rock?)...why not dump 99.9% of the (tap) water, and redo it with RO/DI...eliminate a potential problem, while you can.

 

[44santababy]

It will be LIVE rock and told very quality too...we will see. I notice my evaporation rate is good, meaning i have been adding GALLONS of ro/di water. Doesnt the tap water evap away? I would say about the time i get the rest of the equipment the tank will be at least 1/2 ro/di. Did the month idle do anything beneficial to my tank? Or basically just breaking in new equipment. thanks

 

[Imbarrie]

All the impurities in the tap water will remain in there until you do a water change. Only pure H2O evaporates and is replaced with pure H2O.
I agree with the above and never use tap again only RODI. I would drain all the water and fill it 1/4 way up with RODI saltwater, run the power heads for a day, then drain and fill the tank with RODI saltwater. This is the best thing to remove anything that leeched into your sand.