Ummmm, really?

[Noah]

First things first, before I state the real reason of this post. Does cured live sand exist? My LFS has a giant tub of nothing but sand and water. Is that simply cured live sand?

Now to the meat.

Was talking with a friend of mine who is also contemplating starting up a SW tank and she had said that she read this somewhere:

If you buy cured live rock, cured live sand and premixed saltwater, you can start adding at least a cleanup crew in as little as a week.

Now this goes against everything I've read to date, and I personally did not see this comment.

Views?

 

[DrHank]

The answer is a qualified yes. If you are able to buy live rock which is cured and transport it rapidly underwater and set it up with premixed saltwater at the proper temperature and salinity, you would eliminate the cycle. The same holds true for live sand.

What causes a cycle is that the organisms in the rock and the sand die quickly when exposed to air. This causes an ammonia surge and the cycle is on. The less die off, the less ammonia and the less cycle.

If you think of it, you could buy a complete set up from another reefer, two or three brute trash cans and move everything across town and set it up in your den and not skip a beat.

From commercial sources there is at least one source of live rock in the Tampa, FL area which aquacultures rock and ships it underwater. If you could get it the next day, die off would be minimal. As far as live sand is concerned, it isn't as important as live rock. Any sand placed under live rock will become live after a minimal amount of time.

 

[tektite]

I just started up my 125 gallon tank with aquacultured rock from Florida. The rock was on the ocean floor one day before it was shipped to me submerged in water, not going to get much more cured than that! I got half the rock for my tank, and my ammonia never went above 0.2. After 2 weeks, my nitrite was negligible as well. I got the second half of my rock, with my CUC, a week ago. Ammonia has remained undetectable, and nitrites are again approaching 0. So three weeks in, my tank is almost done cycling, and my CUC is doing well. My cycle would have been faster if I had bought live sand from the guy in Florida as well, but I used my own non-live sand.

 

[Clownfish518]

I used my Albany live rock to start up my 40 breeder

I took LR and LS out of my existing tanks, walked it across my house and put in in my 40 breeder. I also added about 20 gallons water change water to the new system. All of the rock was at least 15 months old.

Interestingly to me, with brand new substrate in the tank, and brand new sand in the DSB in the fuge, I expected a diatom bloom as the silicates in the new substrate are used up, but I never saw that.

 

[ktakeda]

Hi,
I got some premium cured rock transported wet back home from my LFS and live sand and my ammonia spike was very small and over within a week - see http://www.reefsanctuary.com/forums/meet-greet-forum/46670-hi-southampton-uk.html#post663579 I used Nitrobac, but not sure if that really did anything. The live sand was in sealed bag, with a sell by date of this year. Apparently you must transfer this straight into water without letting it dry so the bacteria stay alive, at least that's what my LFS told me.

Now just put some fish in after a month. The saga continues on the Red Sea Max Owners Club forum - just click the link in my sig.

I was surprised how quick and small my cycle was! The cured live rock cost a fortune though, but it was worth it.

Anyway, that's just my personal experience as a complete newbie I have a LOT to learn!!!

Cheers,
Kenji