Cycling With Live Rock/Live Sand

[kevvypoop313]

I just added live rock and live sand to my 125 gallon tank... will that cycle my tank or should i still add food or shrimp to the tank too? Also, i have powerheads and filters on, skimmers and lights off, is this a good set up? Any suggestions would help? Furthermore, how long til it is done cycling using this method?
thanks
kevin

 

[1journeyman]

Cured or uncured rock? (if the rock was shipped it has die-off and is "uncured") If cured you need to "ghost" feed or add a small cocktail shrimp.
Run lights, pumps, skimmer. Lights a few hours a day, all other gear as though your tank had fish.
Test for ammonia and do water changes when ammonia approaches 1ppm.

 

[browniebuck]

As journeyman said, it depends upon whether or not the rock was cured (as well as how many LBS).
That being said, test the water for a couple of days to see if there are any nitrites, nitrates, or ammonia in the tank. If you find that they are all under control, then you are cycled. I know that a lot of people will disagree with me on this, but we have a 29 gallon that we filled with cured LR (about 40-50 LBS) and LS (20 LBS) and added fish within a week (no ammo, trates, or trites). NOW, your tank is MUCH bigger, so it will require a LOT of LR. Again, if you are talking about a large amount of cured LR (probably about 1 LB per gallon or more), you should be set to go (check levels to make sure).

 

[kevvypoop313]

i bought the rock from this website, so it was precured and shipped. i got it and put it in my tank with live sand and now have skimmer, power heads, filters running, with lights on for about 2 hours per day... anything other suggestions? Also
kevin

 

[browniebuck]

You need to cycle your tank. Even with overnight shipment, you had die-off in transit. Even though they called it cured, by the time that it arrives, it needs to be re-cured.
Toss in a raw shrimp and check levels for a couple of weeks, when everything reaches a steady 0, then you should be able to start adding critters (cleanup crew first, then fish...slowly!)

 

[kevvypoop313]

whats a good clean up crew to start with with a tank my size...

 

[lesleybird]

Originally Posted by kevvypoop313
i bought the rock from this website, so it was precured and shipped. i got it and put it in my tank with live sand and now have skimmer, power heads, filters running, with lights on for about 2 hours per day... anything other suggestions? Also
kevin
If it is pre-cured when shipped there will still be some die off from the shipping without water but it will be smaller than totally uncured live rock...ie. it needs re-curing but maybe less than totally unprocessed live rock.