1. The more LR you use to seed, the faster you will have the tank ready. I won't give any specific amount of week since that varies (some people who starts with matured LR only won't even have any cycle). I personally prefers to get LR from reefers instead of LFS since LR from reefers have a much much less chance of any pest.

2. You would still need to feed the cycle. By adding LR, you are introducing bacteria in the system which will need food to multiply. Without the initial LR (called seeding), you would be starting the system without any bacteria and hence the bacteria will take much longer to appear in your system.

3. LR is only LIVE because of the bacteria. There will possibly be other living stuffs (algae, hitchhiker, pests, etc.) but basically, LFS keep LR connected to their systems to keep them live (generally, not all I guess).

SW do have many schools of thoughts but only few of them are correct. Sometimes, you just have to read through all and be the judge of the correct one yourself. If you read "LR is bad" and another article says "LR is good", be our own judge to see which one sounds "right".

If you transport cured LR from LFS to your home, you will basically have NO dieoffs and the bacteria will be living on it. Uncured ones will have a different stories and I am not too familiar with it. So when you put it in your system, the bacteria will spread over your macro rocks and thus seeding takes place. And then you start cycling with some sort of method (like shrimp) and the bacteria, which is already there, will multiply and BAM! You will have bacteria all over your rocks in....oh well....due time. :)

Tried my best :D

well i went to the LFS and picked up 3 whopping pounds of LR

i asked a few questions about it . they had it sitting in black tubs . I asked if they feed it . I was told no . die off from new rock into that holding tank kept the rock going .

there was one pump in the tub which seemed to provide some circulation.
we choose a few small peices that looked brown , had some coraline on them and didnt smell
http://i1023.photobucket.com/albums/...0210-00262.jpg

placed them in my tank
http://i1023.photobucket.com/albums/...0210-00263.jpg
.

kept the shrimp in there as well .
The shrimp still looks eatable lol no signs of decay thus far .

I had to add about 1.5 gallons of top off water yesterday , and again today .
I will see how that trend continues , as i dont even have the lights on yet.
I am quickly see what all the hype is about in regards to ATO units .

I am not in a rush to start this cycle . would be nice to have some CUC in there in say 3 weeks , but will see

Well my add for some live rock worked out . I met an Awesome local Reefer
RICE REEF.

It was great , looked over his amazing tank ( i mean drooled over ) for at least an hour .
I picked his brain and he was happy to try and help answer my newb questions .

He had a few small pieces of coralline coated rock .. ANd the came with a few surprises attached to them . hope they make it

http://i1023.photobucket.com/albums/...t/IMG_0880.jpg
http://i1023.photobucket.com/albums/...t/IMG_0881.jpg
http://i1023.photobucket.com/albums/...t/IMG_0882.jpg

Man ontop of that he grabbed a couple bristlestars for me too ..

I placed everything in the tank . turned on my lights and all sorts of stuff started appearing .. Now i see why people say that live rock is worth the risk .
So many things to instantly look at .. No idea if they are good or bad mind u .

Also nabbed up some
http://i1023.photobucket.com/albums/...t/IMG_0883.jpg
at the advice of some people . Applied the normal dose for starting up a tank . Turned off the skimmer like it said too .

So i guess now i will run my lights from when i get home from work till bed time . see if any of these corals make it through .

Today I also realized why going Bare bottom is so nice ,
1. i dropped a power head and created a sand storm .
2 i can see some areas on the bottom that have crap settling .. not good
.

anyway Rice Reef gave me a peek into the local group of Reefers , and all i can say is ..... I think i want in lol

gnight

Agreed ^ :biggrin:

Glad to hear Rice Reef was able to help you out. There are a lot of good reefers out there that enjoy helping others, it is a wonderful community to be involved with :biggrin:

Personally I think we're all a bit crazy and Jon should run away fast!! :razz:

You should drop by for a visit, I'll give you a whole bunch of pointers on what not to do. lol

sounds like a plan :mrgreen:

learning from others mistakes is always easier then from your own ..

and less costly lol

well I told myself it would never happen to me lol hahaha

Let me RODI run today with a timer to remind me to turn it off ..

ran about 15 minutes onto the floor under the stairs ... o well


So . things on my wish list .
1.Auto top off
2.Apex controller
3. Auto shut off .. need to research this
4. LED's one day
5. Better knowledge of what I am doin :smile:

It happens to everyone. To this day, I still just fill containers in my laundry sink to minimize problems.

:lol: Well I guess there's that too :razz:

Consider it a right of passage :lol: as it happens to everyone!