So my buddy is starting up his saltwater tank and only using base rock with a little bit of live sand. While reading up on cycling techniques, we came across some articles stating there are commercial cycke products that can cycle in as little as 24 hrs. Ive only ever cycled with live rock and wondered if anyone has tried a cycling product.
never tried these products either… IMHO, nothing that happens fast is good in this hobby. I tend to take the long view, get the base rock and sand, get a peice or two of live rock from the store and let it sit 6months… but thats me… ive seen too many people over the years want to get in the deep end fast, get frustrated and get out.
I have heard of people using those bacteria in a bottle products with some level of success. I personally would never use one. If someone is already looking for a shortcut before they even put water in they tank, this is the wrong hobby. The bacteria you need in the tank actually comes from the air, so a tank cycled with no live bacteria will still eventually get seeded and cycle. Cycling with some rock or a cup of sand from a stable tank is much faster.
I just started my first reef back in February and went with dry rock and dry sand and a couple bottles of Instant ocean bio-spira and no sump. I let the tank go for about a month adding a couple pellets of fish food every other day. I did notice ammonia and nitrites for the first few days but by the end of the first week nitrates were climbing slowly and and am/ni were zero. By the end of the month nitrates seemed stable around 1ppm mark. Added a pair of juvinile clowns and they have been happy since. At the two month mark nitrates were reading 0 consistantlyso I added my first coral (a single paly poly) there was a small algea outbreak probably from it being introduced on the plug but that went away quickly. Now that paly has 12 polyps and a few other corals (zoas, mushrooms, acan, favia, birdsnest, plating/encusting monti, and more) growing nicely. Either way I was prepared to have to wait a few months before seeing fish/coral in my tank but since parameters seemed to stabilize quickly the BIO-spira seems to have done a good job for me but maybe i just got lucky.
Did i miss something? No sump? No mention of hob filter?