cycle

Just filling my display and sump with my water, rock, and sand, none of which was "live" what is the best way to establish the bacteria needed, when im starting off with zero

 

In my opinion with some live rock uncured.

 

Add a raw cocktail shrimp and the bacteria will come. Cycle will take roughly 4 - 6 weeks to complete. You can also use Microbacter7 or Dr Tim's One & Only to seed the bacteria and shorten the cycle.

 

For some reason i cant get dr. tims in canada, whats a better option uncured live rock from the LFS or a cocktail shrimp?

 

Live rock and cocktail shrimp.

The reason I like live uncured rock is because it has the beneficial bacteria, and the die off of algae and certain inverts provides the decay needed to keep the nitrogen cycle on going.

 

Other option too (how I started my first tank) is to get a cup of established sand from someone with a healthy tank

 

This is a good option as well/

 

ok well i did make a visit to my lfs and got about 2lbs of live uncurned rock, and i threw it into my fuge chamer in the sump, its 40g's, it that enough live material

 

1-2 lbs of rock per gallon of water seems to be a common standard.

Looks for a detectable ammonia level in approx 3 days.

 

i have 25lbs dry rock in the dt