Cycling with LR/LS

[jintz]

Quick question...do you still have to cycle your tank even if you have LS and LR wrapped in wet newspaper straight from the lfs? In reading some posts it seems if you put in LS with uncured LR then you're just wasting money becuase of the ammonia spikes that might kill off the bacteria in LS (correct me if Im misquoting).
I was thinking just to purchase LR and just a base aragonite sand and let the LR take care of making the sand "live".

 

[aztec reef]

yes you still have to cycle your tank, cycle the tank with the dead sand and lr, after cycle add the livesand. a week later add the cleaning crew

 

[pontius]

what you are "cycling" is the water, not the LS and LR. so yes, you definitely have to cycle a new tank because the new tank water has never been through the nitrogen cycle caused by the addition of LS and LR (or fish food or other decaying matter).
the second part of your question seems to be asking about turning base sand into live sand via live rock. yes, you can do this, no problem. but that's not "cycling".

 

[jintz]

Thanks...that helped alot :joy:

 

[xcdennisx]

is your tank brand new?

 

[jintz]

Well its on order. I just wanna have a gameplan and I want to be informed.