It’s a mess, help lol

[Fishingandreefing]

I am kinda of in a mess trying to cycle my tank. I ordered the wrong sand and it was delivered today, too corse! (caribsea aragonite special grade). I ended up ordered the Caribsea Fiji pink live sand.

Tried to be ahead of the game, I had my tank filled with saltwater, had some cured dry rocks in and a bit of mysis already dumped in there this morning.

Now, since the live sand who knows when it will be here and also I might ditch my current cured dry rocks and go with the Caribsea life rock (not happy with the rockscape or the look, want something that looks better without the wait lol)

I have a bottle of bio Spira, should I start the cycle now since the sand I will be getting is live? And if I add the rocks that I wanted few weeks or a month later will that mess up the cycle?

lastly, has anyone have any experience with the Caribsea Life rock? I found it from this side which is less than half of the price other vendors sell.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

 

[Big G]

I've used CaribeSea's Fiji Pink live sand. Worked pretty good. Pretty clean and helped the cycle nicely. Ironically though, I pulled it out about a year later because it blows around way too easy and went with their Special Grade. I like it much better. Easy to clean and stays put.
Can't help you about their rock though. I used their dry rock.

 

[Fishingandreefing]

I've used CaribeSea's Fiji Pink live sand. Worked pretty good. Pretty clean and helped the cycle nicely. Ironically though, I pulled it out about a year later because it blows around way too easy and went with their Special Grade. I like it much better. Easy to clean and stays put.
Can't help you about their rock though. I used their dry rock.

I will see how small the Fiji pinks are when they arrived but the special grades are definitely too corse. I have the fine sand in my current 120 and I am running moderate flow and so far so good. I typically like to point my powerheads upward to create a rocking indirect flow.

 

[Big G]

I typically like to point my powerheads upward to create a rocking indirect flow.

You should be good to go then. I aim mine perpendicular to the glass and it did cause swirling.

 

[Fishingandreefing]

You should be good to go then. I aim mine perpendicular to the glass and it did cause swirling.

What about should I start the cycling since I got a few piece of rocks in and dumped in the mysis shrimp already? Bio Spira now or?

 

[Big G]

Sure get it going

 

[codycolina707]

I will see how small the Fiji pinks are when they arrived but the special grades are definitely too corse. I have the fine sand in my current 120 and I am running moderate flow and so far so good. I typically like to point my powerheads upward to create a rocking indirect flow.

i had both and ended up making a mix bigger stuff ontop and fine sand on bottom to help keep it from blowing around and if you ever get a sand sifting goby be prepared to have a cloudy tank for awhile the fiji pink is really fine stuff

 

[Fishingandreefing]

i had both and ended up making a mix bigger stuff ontop and fine sand on bottom to help keep it from blowing around and if you ever get a sand sifting goby be prepared to have a cloudy tank for awhile the fiji pink is really fine stuff

As of now, it been over 3 years from 55 to now 120 same fine sand, my yellow watchman and his son/small buddy are behaving by only staying in one area. Yeah it does kick up the sand by really don’t want that corse sand to hurt the goby gill.

I had diamondback, he was everywhere and unfortunately he jumped.

 

[BrandonS]

I would be worried of switching out the rock. I would at least cure it. I find that much of the life rock or other mined rocks leaches phosphates the first few months.

 

[Fishingandreefing]

I would be worried of switching out the rock. I would at least cure it. I find that much of the life rock or other mined rocks leaches phosphates the first few months.

Do you have personal experience that life rock leeches phosphate?

 

[lapin]

Depending on where Caribsea got the original rock will determine if it leeches anything. While Pukani rock is no longer avail it was a big leecher. So they cant use that. Their Tonga branch might, I dont have any experience with it. Dry mined rock like Marco, that they are prob using now, has no phosphates

 

[dohc97]

What are your goals for this tank? If you intend to keep sps you should keep the special grade sand. I started my current reef with Fiji pink in a smaller 50, I hated how often I had to mess with the Water pumps due to sand storms. When I did my upgrade I went ahead and bought special grade for my sps and have no issues with sand moving around. Special Is really not that big, try crushed coral for that.
I am using some of the caribsea rock and even though I like the arches I do not like how easy it chips. So far no leaching but my rock did sit in a brute for 2 months cycling previous to my upgrade. It is also very heavy

 

[TheShrimpNibbler]

I would go ahead and get the cycle started. I have used the life rock, and I really like it. However, that website you found seems to be a scam. I didn’t notice any phosphate leaching from my rock though.

 

[Fishingandreefing]

What are your goals for this tank? If you intend to keep sps you should keep the special grade sand. I started my current reef with Fiji pink in a smaller 50, I hated how often I had to mess with the Water pumps due to sand storms. When I did my upgrade I went ahead and bought special grade for my sps and have no issues with sand moving around. Special Is really not that big, try crushed coral for that.
I am using some of the caribsea rock and even though I like the arches I do not like how easy it chips. So far no leaching but my rock did sit in a brute for 2 months cycling previous to my upgrade. It is also very heavy

my goal is to be a sps dominated tank but I like to at least one goby. With my current 120 mixed reef, I believe I have Fiji pink or similar and running moderate flow. Most of my power heads are pointed upward so there are no direct flow, maybe that’s one of my reasons my sps are not doing good or dying? Will the special grade still good for gobies and other snails, lots of people said yes.

 

[dohc97]

Yes, I have a ton of snails and had gobies previously as well as sand sleeping wrasses. No issues

 

[Fishingandreefing]

Yes, I have a ton of snails and had gobies previously as well as sand sleeping wrasses. No issues

Not that I don’t trust you but looks really corse

 

[Fishingandreefing]

I am running a Jebao OW25 90%, Jebao scp120 At about 30% and two small pumps, the fine sand I have doesn’t blow around at all. Again, maybe all my flows are not direct flows. Based on the video, are my sps receiving enough flow? If I run the new set this way will the sps be ok?

 

[Fishingandreefing]

Not sure if the video works but here’s a picture of my current 120