New cycle help

sammyz · #1 10/28/2007, 09:42 AM

So this was finally the week that I mixed up my water and purchased my rock to start my cycle.

I've got a Finnex 30 g all in one and have put in 30 lbs of live sand and 30 lbs of live rock.

Problem is after 13 hours or so the dust still hasn't settled from the sand going in. How long should I wait until I can get some water movement going on in the tank? I tried running it for a bit but it just ended up kicking up all the sand that had settled on the rocks back into the water. Should I give it a full 24 hours?

My primary concern that made me impatient is that the store owner was nice enough to toss in a super purpled up rock from one of the display tanks to seed my coraline because the rock I bought was very bare (live rock but labled "base" and only $3 a pound). So I just want to make sure that it can get enough light to survive and spread.

Should I even bother running the lights until the dust has settled? When should I start filtration? Should I be protein skimming during cycling? Should I periodically run the pump for a few seconds to get the sand off the rocks? How long do you run your lights for during cycling?

All that...PLUS I just saw a hermit crab seems to have snuck his way into the tank on some rock...any chance the little guy makes it in the end?

loosecannon · #2 10/28/2007, 09:58 AM

Wellcome to r.c.; 1)Impatients is the #1 killer of new reefers! I would put some ox. in the tank , for your hermmy. an air stone just at the waters top, will put air in with out kicking up the sand too much. It will settle down in 24/ 48.

mbbuna · #3 10/28/2007, 09:59 AM

[welcome]

i would run everything now except for the lights. you can run the lights now but there's really no need to, you can wait a few days before turning on the lights. the sand will settle down once bacteria start to colonize it.

read through this thread it will help a lot

http://archive.reefcentral.com/forum...readid=1031074

derge · #4 10/28/2007, 10:01 AM

yes i agree i had everything running from the start it cleard in 24 hours.

sammyz · #5 10/28/2007, 10:20 AM

Thanks guys...one of my thoughts had been to run everything and just clean out the mechanical filtration periodically for all the sand...we'll give that a go!

sammyz · #6 10/28/2007, 10:01 PM

well about 12 hours and no visible improvement...any differing opinions or just wait it out? (Suppose I won't have much choice in the end)

bertoni · #7 10/28/2007, 10:23 PM

Personally, I'd just wait. If it's just fine sand, it'll clear up in a few days. A bacterial bloom might take longer, but those often disappear on their own, too.

jgiannini · #8 10/29/2007, 10:51 AM

Yeah...I'd just wait it out....Since you are just cycling, there isn't much to look at in the tank anyway. When I first started in saltwater back in 1995, I used just regular crushed coral and didn't rinse it....I had a cloudy tank for about a week. If you really want to clear it up quickly, you could run a canister filter with a water polishing filter media in it, but odds are you'll need to change it/clean it very very frequently until the dust has settled.

dsn112 · #9 10/29/2007, 11:00 AM

mine took 24hrs and was crystal clear, i ran my powerhead and skimmer.

hmello@bermexin · #10 10/29/2007, 11:04 AM

Also make sure the output of the powerhead or the pump from the filter is not continuously kicking up sand.
I agree lights off.
It will get there, once the biological filter starts to grow the top layer of the sand will start to become sticky.
Keep the mechanical filter media clean.

Have some fun