Aio tank start up

[sergifed91]

I'm working on building a 20 gallon aio. I'm buying sand and everything else for the setup of the tank. But plan on using the rocks in my sump. Do I still need to cycle the tank?

 

[whalewhalewhale]

From my experience, starting off with live rock only experiences a "mini cycle", but if you want to add fish day 1, just add a little bit of prime in with them. I've noticed that ammonia/nitrite only blips then disappears quickly since the bacteria population is already there.

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

If you buy wet live Live rock then it should not need to cycle, if you start with dry white rocks then it has to cycle. But if your not sure, its very easy to test, just add a drop of ammonia and watch how fast/slow it drops to zero.