Hey folks, I'm a newbe with some questions on cycling

[stevearthur]

I have heard of many ways to cycle a sw tank, i was hoping that someone could help me choose the best direction to go.

1
fishless cycle that incorporated daily supplements of amonia

2
cycling with uncured LR over 4 weeks or so with no fish

3
cycling with 2 raw shrimp in the bottom of the tank to creat amonia before adding fish

I have a 28 gal bow front tank
emperor 280
visi-jet PS100
dual PCF 55 watts (total of 110 watts)
I will be getting the stand and some LR and LS in april
I will be starting my tank in the begining of april

All help would be great

 

[ereefic1]

I would just drop 1 raw shrimp in there, that will get it started. There is no set time for a cycle, some go fast and others don't. Are you going to be using cured or uncured LR?

 

[stevearthur]

Thats what I was debating about. Also, is LS needed? Some say you don't need itif you have ample LR and some say both are needed. I figure for my 28 gal bow front I should get between 42-56 lbs of LR, right? Or could I do less and add base rock?

 

[ereefic1]

I would use both LS and LR. Better filtration. The amount your talking about is fine, the more the better. We used some base rock, it's a little cheaper. Got some Fiji and Bali also.
As far as sand goes, you can use Southdown sand from Home Depot, then get a couple of pounds of LS from the LFS. That should get the sand bed going. Cheaper that way also. LS here is $9.99/lb

 

[stevearthur]

ouch....I can get it $26 per 20 lbs bag
and the live rock locally cured is 4.99 per lbs

What do you think about cureing my own LR for a first time beginner?
Also, what about using the uncured rock to cycle my tank

 

[ereefic1]

The type of sand you talking about is dead sand that needs to be seeded with "LIVE" sand, like from someones established tank.

 

[danmhippo]

Yes, curing rocks in your tank will fulfill the cycle requirements. All the dead and to be decomposed stuffs on the rock usually will generate enough ammonia for the bacteria. In this case, decomposing shrimp will be unnecessary.

LS usually refers to sand with micro fauna already taking residence in. A good LS has populations of bacteria, worms, copepods, amphipods, mini-brittle stars, or contains eggs of some of the above that is only visible when inspected under microscope. When you want to "borrow" LS from a friend or your LFS, you want to make sure their sand bed is teaming with life. You can get other's LS to jumpstart your sandbed. It's a faster way, but it's not necessary. However, if you are planning a deep sand bed, you want to make sure you have a good population of worms in your sand bed to aid in gas exchange within the sandbed.

 

[stevearthur]

how deep would you conciser deep enough for the purpose of my reef tank? Also, what is the deal with the live sand in the prepackaged bags? Also, where can I get those worms that you had spoken about for the sand if the prepackaged bags do not have them?

 

[danmhippo]

We refer to sand bed of 3" or over as deep sand bed. The sand grains has to be sugar fine sand to achieve the desired effect of denitrafication. Prepackaged LS are simply sand grains that are already coated with bacteria. Once you put that in your tank, they do not float up and cloud the tank and bacteria on it will quickly multiply and colonize on other surface area in your tank.

Finding good LS is tricky. Most online etailers sells what some refers to as "Live Sand Activator", or some other name along that line. These things are simply bags (usually one pound worth) of sand fine or coarse that should be teaming with life, worms included. OR, you can go to your LFS or your friend's and look at their sand bed. If you see little red worms wiggling about the sand surface, or if you see tunnels in the sand bed against the glass, it's a pretty good LS.

 

[stevearthur]

so if I did 2" of nonliving sand and then would I need 1" of activator? Or one lbs? Or so many lbs per gallon?