Starting "fresh"

[riche]

Im going to start up a 65 gallon s/w set up and I am starting from the ground up.

If it takes months before I add a single thing I'm ok with it.

I will start with clean new dryrock and new live sand.

Other then doing the different tricks to get the cycle started, is there anyway to get the "dry rock" live with out using a piece of existing live rock?


I literately want it to be a brand new set up ( not inc the equipment)

 

[jrose323]

Starting your cycle leads to live rock as what makes live rock "Live" is the beneficial bacteria that processes your ammonia & nitrites. Once your cycle begins, the bacteria will house itself within your rock and start to reproduce. Since you are using live sand, you are already seeding your tank with the nitrifying bacteria which will start to populate your rock as it reproduces.

As for other items like Coralline Algae, Indo-Pacific Sea Farms sells seeding cultures to introduce the coralline into your tank. In some cases, if you introduce frags into your tank, sometimes the plugs have coralline algae growing on them which also seeds your tank.
http://ipsf.com/corallinebooster.html

 

[Salty1962]

Using Dr. Tim's and Brightwell Aquatics Microbacter7 helps get the process going. It will take @2-3 mths for LR to cure IME. I also used Dr. Tim's to test my system to make sure it was ready for livestock.