Starting Cycle But Confused Again

T

trizthegreat

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Feb 2, 2007
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I will be starting my 125 gallon Reef tank. I have read and done lots of research but I'm still a little confused. I will have 4in sandbed using Home Depot Play sand, wash well.

This is where I become confused. Do I add the live sand directly on top of this sand during they cycling process? Wouldn't the live sand die because tank is not cycled.

I have 100# of base rock, which was fiji live rock but the person had this out of the tank for over a year. Do I add this at the same time as playsand, live sand.

I think thats it. This has been a fun process. But My wife is due in 10 weeks so I have about 7 weeks to get this tanks cycled right the first time.
 
First of all don't use playsand, use agronite sand about the size of sugar grains, play sand is full of silica. Second of all you will still need about 100 lBS of LR to seed your base rock but this will give you an ideal amount anyways. add the rock right after the sand, and don't rush the cycle!!


Congrats on the baby BTW!!
 
wait, I thought play sand was ok to use....I went through hell getting these bags...
 
Is it southdown???
 
play sand is ok to use.. its just there is no aragonite to buffer your water...

if your water is at the right lvls then the bacteria will not die off in the live sand... and if the "live" rock had been out and dried up then you need to reseed the rock and get the bacteria growing on it again.. so if ou already have 100 lbs then add in another 25-30 lbs of new wet rocks to it... throw in a small shrimp and let it sit.....
 
WeeNe858 said:
play sand is ok to use.. its just there is no aragonite to buffer your water...

if your water is at the right lvls then the bacteria will not die off in the live sand... and if the "live" rock had been out and dried up then you need to reseed the rock and get the bacteria growing on it again.. so if ou already have 100 lbs then add in another 25-30 lbs of new wet rocks to it... throw in a small shrimp and let it sit.....
Click to expand...

WRONG!!!!! Do you know how long it would take to seed 100 lbs of base with 30 LBS of LR like 24 months, you need to repopulate all the bacteria and microfauna. At a 50/50 mix it takes 12 months for base to become seeded and fully live, the amount you sugested is way less than that so it will take WAY LONGER!!!You also forgot about the silica in the sand if it is not southdown, and in a large tank you would have diatoms for months untill it was all gone.
 
jojo, sand is still in car, I will go and check the type and get back to you.

WeeNe - what if I mix, the playsand, a bag of arogonite sand, and then place the Live sand on top of all of that. As you can see I'm trying to cut, SOME cost, not many. It amazing how the price change when you get sand or other items from from other places besides lfs.
 
Also some play sands are very abrasive not only can this scratch your glass but it can harm any cleaners that sift your sand and can also kill gobies by cutting their gills untill they are dead!!
 
quickrete premium play sand. jojo I'm doing a search on whats in this sand. Hey thanks for your well wishes on the new addition to family
 
I wouldn't put the quickcrete sand in my tank if you paid me to, too much of a risk for the investment we put in tanks!! It is a pretty abrasive sand BTW so no sand sifters if you do use it, it would be like making you drink crushed glass thru a straw. And that's not nice!!
 
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