Curing Base Rock

I picked up about 50 lbs of base rock from the LFS and also got about 10 lbs of live rock for my new tank. The tank is 120G but this is what we are starting with for now.

How long will it take for the 50 lbs of base rock to become live? What I did was put the pieces of live rock in the center of the tank and put all the base rock around/on top of the live. I have two large power heads moving the water well, and a light is on all day. A single 48" or so basic aquarium light.

The tank has been running since the 4th of July, but I don't want to be sitting here thinking the tank is starting to cycle when it really isn't. Do I need to get a few Damsels to get some ammonia in the tank as well? Or do I need to buy more live rock?

Also, the sand hasn't been seeded yet. The 60lbs of sand it very fine and took 2 days to clear. I still need to take some live sand from the tank we have set up (30 G) into the 120G.

Any input would be greatly appreciated.

 

Your off to a great start. Add about a cup of sand from the established tank and spread it over the top of the new sand. Between that and the live rock you added your cycle is on its way!
I would add 1 raw shrimp to the tank to feed the cycle. no way to guess how long it will take, have seen everything from a week using all cured live rock to 8 weeks starting with all base rock, only way to be sure it's done is to do water tests and wait till the ammonia/nitrites drop to zero and nitrates spike and then start to come down again.

good luck and post lots of pics

edit: Lol, corrected the bad "A" word that somehow got thru the filters

 

x2 but minus the bad "a" word.. lol

 

LOL, how did that get past the filters? corrected

 

Thanks for the advice. I will put some live sand from my fuge into the new tank tonight so it can seed all the sand in it already. Would you suggest I just put it in a single pile, or sprinkle it around all over? The sand in my fuge is a lot more course than the sand in the new tank. The new tank has very very fine sand. Not sure if this is a problem or not. And I will also put some raw shrimp in it also.

 

there's a filter for bad words?.... its tempting to try

 

My thought too Hdd!!

The more base rock you have the longer it will take. So dont get jumpie

 

The fine sand is not a problem, just sprinkle the seed sand all around so it covers as much as possible, eventually you'll add a CUC that will mix the course sand into the rest. As for the shrimp a single piece will do the trick.

PS. I thought there was a filter in place, glass use to show up as gl***
maybe that was on a different board?