Am I missing anything in my cycle process?

[jackri]

So my new frag tank is up.. full of water and running. I have some chaeto and 10lbs of live rock in it(out of main display tank). Total water volume is about 90-100g and going to stay barebottom.
As of 5 days running I have bristleworms, a hermit crab (snuck on the rock) and baby feather dusters living in the sump and my pendant will be in this week sometime.
I will probably house one descent sized fish (tang) in the main portion and the rest corals -- my question is... while putting a piece of krill in the sump to help cycle/feed hitchhikers is this enough to cycle it?
I know I could use more live rock but I'm not ordering 20lbs online or paying 7 bucks a pound in town.
Tank is 77g (almost 3 foot by 4 foot by 12" high) with a 36g sump 2/3 of the way full. Includes a skimmer, light for chaeto, two heaters in the sump, obviously return pump and 3 power heads in main area.
Thoughts? I've never done bare bottom before and just wondering if I have enough of a bacteria source to start adding corals after the cycle.

 

[srfisher17]

I don't think you have enough surface area to culture a good bio-filter. Why not use some base rock, or even limestone (which once was LR)? This stuff will culture both aerobic & anaerobic bacteria.

 

[jackri]

It's 95% going to be a frag tank with maybe one fish. The only live rock I want in it is just somein the fuge portion of the sump. I may have to stack some in the corners though

 

[srfisher17]

Originally Posted by jackri
http:///forum/post/2980665
It's 95% going to be a frag tank with maybe one fish. The only live rock I want in it is just somein the fuge portion of the sump. I may have to stack some in the corners though
I sure am not an expert in this area; but coral certainly produces by-products that must break down into ammonia too. I would assume any living organism would.

 

[bang guy]

IMO the live rock will provide plenty of filtration for a single Tang. The krill was probably unnecessary.

 

[jackri]

Thanks, I heard that about the krill locally too and fortunately was too tired after work last night to do it

 

[fishstick4sale]

i would add more liverock, its always great to have a good ammount of LR for it can handle a great bio-load just in case and more wont hurt. better safe than sorry

 

[srfisher17]

Originally Posted by Bang Guy
http:///forum/post/2980829
IMO the live rock will provide plenty of filtration for a single Tang. The krill was probably unnecessary.
I'll sure defer to you on this; Like I said, I'm no expert in this area but based my opinion on what I've seen. Will 10# of LR really support a tang and coral? I know commercial coral operations go to great lengths to keep ammonia and nitrate at near zero levels.

 

[bang guy]

Originally Posted by srfisher17
http:///forum/post/2981698
I'll sure defer to you on this; Like I said, I'm no expert in this area but based my opinion on what I've seen. Will 10# of LR really support a tang and coral? I know commercial coral operations go to great lengths to keep ammonia and nitrate at near zero levels.
I'm making some assumptions so I could be wrong. I'm asumming that any coral will be attached to some small amount of rock in addition to the 10 pounds.
The other assumption is that they will be corals that harbour Zooxanthellae that will consume Ammonia and Nitrate directly from the coral and from the water column.