A few step by steps PLEASE!!

[wastedincome420]

OK,I need some step by step help PLEASE
I'm going to set this 105g thats been i my living room now for a monthe and a half,REAL SOON.
Going to start with the tank empty and add 200-250#(I have 250#) of south down sand not rinsed, Then add 30# of CaribSea Aragramax(Oolite)How many inches is that???
I still need to find some LS or some one close to me with some seed (my LFS doesn't have any LS )Oh ya I forgot to add some PVC coupling to keep the LR off the sand bed.SO far so good???
Then add the water to the tank with salt. I was advised to then let run with power heads for a while to clear up, and run with light out? Should i have the LR and what LS I can find in at this point??I plan on take some LR out of my 58g.If I run it w/LRLS and no light will the LRLS die??? With the LR for my other tank will this start the "cycle"??
Should I throw in a raw shrimp or take fish ou of my other tank?
Also I will have DIY sump w/ refugium made out of a 45-48g tank But not sure if i will have "live things that are needed in a ref." in time, Do I have to??
Well this post is long enough so thats it for now
PLEASE EVERYONE, HELP ME SOON

 

[mal]

This is what I would do if I didn't care about time.
1. set up tank and refugium with sand in, add dead raw shrimp to start cycle.
2. When cycle is done, add some lr and some seed ls to tank and refugium. You can get seed stuff from your lfs or a buddy. rubble rock, a few scoops of sand from the lfs.
3. Slowly add more lr to tank and macro to refugium.
4. When you have good amounts of critters in tank and refugium start adding coral and fish slowly.
You can add the lr when you set up initially if you want, like I said if I didn't care about time this is what I would do.

 

[salisbury a d]

mal I may be mistaken but a cycle can NOT occur without the Live rock. That is the whole point of the cycle is to mature the filter AND cure the live rock.
This is what I did.
1: Filled tank with water then with salt.
2; Let the tank run for a few days.
3; Added sand
4; Added lr.
5; let the tank cycle for the month or so needed.
6; After 2 months added a mushroom coral and been going since then.
Adam

 

[mal]

I cycled my tank without lr, I had a damsel and a clown. It took a long time though, about a month. The way I understand it is the lr will speed up the cycle process, same for ls. Again I could be wrong, my wife says I am all the time. But I cycled with no rock, and added it after slowly so as not to get an ammo spike. If you are talking about uncured rock, then I think I have read it should be in the setup from the git-go. Cool thing is there are so many ways to do things, you can always get it done somehow.
[ October 07, 2001: Message edited by: mal ]

 

[wastedincome420]

Thanks for the tips and keep it coming OK

 

[@knight]

420:
if you are going for a DSB, get twice as much sand. my 30gal took 100lbs to get a 4" bed. As for the cycle, you need to introduce bacteria to the tank. I WOULD NOT try to cycle a rotting shrimp without any type of biofiltration. I would get the substrate and rock in and then just feed the tank normal fish food. It will decay and start the ammonia cycle just fine. (LR alone will do this as well, just not very fast). keep in mind there are many schools of thought on this, but you should do it in steps. adding LR or LS after a tank has cycled can actually cause you to cycle again. so why do something twice???
I disagree with mal as far as trying to cycle with dead sand and a raw shrimp. If you do decide to do that, I would get either some sludge or Cycle to add to the tank to get things started off. Take your time and think them out.
BTW, a good reef tank is cool to look at at 4:20 in the morning.

 

[@knight]

also, I agree with salisbury, except I would add the sand before the water to reduce the cloudiness. I feel you will get better results that way.