I bought dry rock and inadvertently bought dry sand. My question is if I use dr. tim's one and only to cycle my tank will this be sufficient or do I need to use live sand as well?
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It will work but will be more difficult and take longer. I would return it for the live sand for the extra bacteria cultures you will get from live sand. If you had live rock I would just keep the dry sand but you're shooting yourself in the foot going double dry. While most new hobbyists don't know where to get clean live rock, live sand is a decent backup for a better first year.
Thanks. I do have NH3 drops that I was hoping to use to help culture the bacteria. I'm in no rush to cycle so I was thinking I could keep checking water parameters over a few weeks to make sure it cycles. The reason I'm reluctant to return the sand is because I like the way it looks. Perhaps I can get a small chunk of live rock for my sump from my LFS to help populate the bacteria?