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petemichelle, I did dry rock, it took a bit longer to cycle...I added in some microbactor7 and it sped up the process but not much. I think its a good idea just takes longer...there are different view points on substrate but from what ive read a deep sand bed is beneficial...good luck! I wouldn't mind giving you some of my sand but mine is still fairly new so if you'd wait a bit it might be of better help to you....
mrsmanhatttan, I appreciate the offer. my tank is cycling right now and I don't want to add anything to it as it may not be able to sustain the life I would so be insterested in your sand. what kind of a tank do you have? you mentioned earlier that you too started with dry rock instead of live rock. how long has your tank been up, and how did you seed the sand bed? when I say seed, I mean add the micro fauna, like the cope pods and amphi pods, the worms and other animals that are beneficial?
mrsmanhatttan, I appreciate the offer. my tank is cycling right now and I don't want to add anything to it as it may not be able to sustain the life I would so be insterested in your sand. what kind of a tank do you have? you mentioned earlier that you too started with dry rock instead of live rock. how long has your tank been up, and how did you seed the sand bed? when I say seed, I mean add the micro fauna, like the cope pods and amphi pods, the worms and other animals that are beneficial?
I have a dsa 105 and and eshopps 300 refugium. I cycled my tank adding amonia and microbactor 7 until there were no more amonia or nitrites. Once I had nitrates I added macro algae bought from my lfs loaded with pods, and got a clean up crew. I continued adding micro Baxter 7 and I fed pellets to my hermit crabs which added more waste for the cycling process. Then I added more macro algae and I fed the pods phytoplankton until I had a pod bloom. Then I added some clowns to make sure everything was stable and my reading are really good I had a good pod collection I don't have any worms. I do water changes every week things seems fine. I always do maintenance doses of microbactor and it seems to keep my nitrites low but to be honest my readings are always 0 in nitrites and amonia. Now I have more fish and some coral. Everything seems fine.
Oops, I didn't mean to post that two times. How do I erase one?
My tank has been set up since the mid February. I put the macro algae in the refugium and before I put it in the water I shook it off really well to make sure IF there were any pods on it they would fall to the bottom before flowing to the return and getting pumped into the tank. Yes, some pods do die in the process but most survive being returned into the tank. I went back every Friday to Neptune Aquatics in Milipitas every Friday and got more macro algae and did the same thing until I felt I had enough algae in there (with room to go because it can grow out of control). I fed it phyto feast in a green bottle name brand reef nutrition every other day following the directions on the bottle which says 5 drops per 10 gallons taking into consideration of the extra water in your refugium as well. Honestly, it took a while like 2 months before I saw a "bloom" of them. It appeared to be small bubbles in my water and on the glass but when you looked closely it was thousands of little pods. They look like little sand lice or something. It was A LOT, but that is normal and it will naturally decrease to the needed amount of the tank and if not you can feed them more or seed more later.
You are not bothering me with your questions I actually can't believe I have any advice to offer you...ha ha I'm still so new to the hobby myself. What does your water parameters look like. Do you have high nitrites or nitrates?
You actually do not need the pods right away for fish unless you plan on adding a fish that would not do well without them like a mandarin or a goby. My clowns do not eat them but that's not to say your future ones will not. If you wanted I wouldn't mind giving you handful of my chaeto to give you some of my pods when you pick up the sand. I have not done any research on worms so you will have to let me know how that works out for you