Sand only cycle

[Olefreebe]

I'm getting ready to start up my second reef tank and I have everything on hand with the exception of my rock. It is a 60 gallon frag tank that I will be using as a display. I have Marco rock ordered and with the delay I'm expecting another two and a half weeks for delivery.
For reference I'll be using caribsea live reef sand and dry marco.
My question is, should I start the cycle any earlier with sand only and add rocks when they arrive? Would it be beneficial or detrimental to the process? If it would be okay to start the cycle early how much earlier?
I dont mind waiting if it is best but thought if it would be beneficial I would go ahead and start the process.
Thank you for your input and advice in advance.

 

[lapin]

The live reef sand will have some live bacteria. You really need to rinse it well. Sand will not be your main bacteria’s home. Me … I would wait and then dump in some Fritz Turbo 900

 

[Olefreebe]

The live reef sand will have some live bacteria. You really need to rinse it well. Sand will not be your main bacteria’s home. Me … I would wait and then dump in some Fritz Turbo 900

Thank you for the input. I do have some nitrifying bacteria but you are saying it will not be as beneficial if i do not have the rock installed. As the rock will he the home for the majority of the bacteria correct?

 

[lapin]

Yes

 

[Jekyl]

+1 sand isn't very beneficial to the cycle as compared to rocks.

 

[I never finish anythi]

The live reef sand will have some live bacteria. You really need to rinse it well. Sand will not be your main bacteria’s home. Me … I would wait and then dump in some Fritz Turbo 900

What you actually rinse live sand ???

 

[taricha]

I found the bagged caribsea live sand to have a nice amount of nitrifying bacteria. It can totally handle cycling with or without rock.

The Live Sands continue to impress - I'm going to drop the air quote "Live sand" from now on, all 3 live sand products available locally processed ammonia and nitrite in textbook fashion. Ocean Direct was a bit faster than Caribsea's other sand product arag-alive....

full post here

 

[Uncle99]

Sure, sand has a ton of surface area to populate.

 

[Olefreebe]

What you actually rinse live sand ???

I didn't my first time around and didn't plan to this time.

 

[EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal]

Thank you for the input. I do have some nitrifying bacteria but you are saying it will not be as beneficial if i do not have the rock installed. As the rock will he the home for the majority of the bacteria correct?

Yes and no. If you don't have sufficient rock (i.e. sufficient real estate for nitrifying bacteria to colonize), you can always get a jar of Matrix and dump it in the sump... I'd put it in several filter bags and place them in the skimmer section.

Edit: the bonus is, if you ever need to start another tank - for quarantine for example - you can use some of the Matrix to seed it.

 

[Olefreebe]

I found the bagged caribsea live sand to have a nice amount of nitrifying bacteria. It can totally handle cycling with or without rock.

full post here

Amazing write up and research. Took time to read over the post and was shocked at how the sand stacked up.
Thank you for the link and knowledge.

 

[EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal]

I'm getting ready to start up my second reef tank and I have everything on hand with the exception of my rock. It is a 60 gallon frag tank that I will be using as a display. I have Marco rock ordered and with the delay I'm expecting another two and a half weeks for delivery.
For reference I'll be using caribsea live reef sand and dry marco.
My question is, should I start the cycle any earlier with sand only and add rocks when they arrive? Would it be beneficial or detrimental to the process? If it would be okay to start the cycle early how much earlier?
I dont mind waiting if it is best but thought if it would be beneficial I would go ahead and start the process.
Thank you for your input and advice in advance.

Ultimately, you just want to be sure your system can handle the bioload when you add fish. If you are going to do it right and wait a while to add livestock, add it slowly, and perform routine water changes and maintenance, sand could be enough. Of course, the fish will greatly appreciate having rocks to hide in, etc.

If you're planning to add bottled bacteria, you can still do so before getting rock; their population will continue to grow when you add the rock as long as you're feeding them along the way.

 

[Olefreebe]

So my thoughts as it stands are to use my 80 lb of sand, Fritz turbo start, and 15 bio balls from my current system that has been running over 2 years in the sump area.
With this I should be able to get the cycle started. Within the next two weeks add my Marco rock Aquascape without resetting or damaging the cycle.

 

[EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal]

So my thoughts as it stands are to use my 80 lb of sand, Fritz turbo start, and 15 bio balls from my current system that has been running over 2 years in the sump area.
With this I should be able to get the cycle started. Within the next two weeks add my Marco rock Aquascape without resetting or damaging the cycle.

It certainly won't reset anything. At worst, you'll lose some of the benefits of the turbo start if there isn't enough space for all of it to colonize.
What are you using as a nitrogen source?

 

[Olefreebe]

It certainly won't reset anything. At worst, you'll lose some of the benefits of the turbo start if there isn't enough space for all of it to colonize.
What are you using as a nitrogen source?

Bottled ammonia was going to be my go-to.

 

[EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal]

Bottled ammonia was going to be my go-to.

Just be sure to measure properly and test after adding... There are some products where "1 drop" can vary greatly and people have been known to add much more than intended.

As an aside, in addition to using some of the media from the current tank, you could conceivably also "borrow" some rock from that tank and either replace it after the dry rock is seeded or keep it swapped out and add some dry to the current tank.

If you're planning on adding fish or inverts (other than coral) quickly, this would be my method. That way your tank is already able to support a small bioload and you don't need to worry about adding ammonia.

 

[I never finish anythi]

What you actually rinse live sand ???

I didn't my first time around and didn't plan to this time.

I wouldn't rinse it either tbh . If you rinse it you might as well get the dry stuff. I think you be ok without rock to cycle ! Just go very slow and don't take to long before you get some rock .

 

[Olefreebe]

Just be sure to measure properly and test after adding... There are some products where "1 drop" can vary greatly and people have been known to add much more than intended.

As an aside, in addition to using some of the media from the current tank, you could conceivably also "borrow" some rock from that tank and either replace it after the dry rock is seeded or keep it swapped out and add some dry to the current tank.

If you're planning on adding fish or inverts (other than coral) quickly, this would be my method. That way your tank is already able to support a small bioload and you don't need to worry about adding ammonia.

I'm in no hurry to add any fish or inverts. That being said I'm sure as soon as I start looking there will be plenty of things to catch my eye.
I will be running a refugium on the system and as it will be my first I'm sure I will have a thread with questions about starting and running it.

 

[EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal]

I'm in no hurry to add any fish or inverts. That being said I'm sure as soon as I start looking there will be plenty of things to catch my eye.
I will be running a refugium on the system and as it will be my first I'm sure I will have a thread with questions about starting and running it.

Cool.
I guess my point was, since you have an established system at your disposal, you could use more stuff from that to start the new tank... You could even move a few fish over and then move them back as you add newcomers

 

[I never finish anythi]

Once you have completed the cycle I'd definitely add a small fish to keep everything going.