LFS sell me snake oil?

[SaltyCrabs]

Okay so I got my 150G up and running bleached cure rock and live sand. I went to start the cycle today and went to my lfs which is highly recommended in my area and the guy sold me microbacter7 and prime. He said this will cycle your tank. He also stated it may take awhile sense I have a bigger tank. All the research I have done on reef2reef and it made me second guess what he was selling me. My first thought was ok the microbacter is good bacteria and it will help seed my tank but at the same time I was thinking what is my ammonia source to start the whole cycle? He also stated prime will help with the tank uglies. Can someone give me some insight please? It seems like there is so much cycle info on this forum but everyone has a different or better way of doing things.

 

[Jekyl]

Usually you dump the bacteria in and use separate ammonia to dose it. If you don't have the ammonia just toss a piece of raw shrimp in there

 

[Ta2oodfreak]

Microbacter7 and Prime are great products.
Only other thing you need is ammonia for cycling like Fishless Fuel and you are good to go. The other option is ghost feeding as mentioned above.

 

[Jekyl]

The prime you only use if you have an ammonia issue. Unless you're not using RoDi
(Which you should be)

 

[mdb_talon]

Yes he should have instructed you to add ammonia first. The bacteria needs "food". Not sure why you would really need Prime, but it is a product that does what it says. I would not use it while cycling.

 

[Ta2oodfreak]

Prime is not necessary for the cycling process but always good to have on hand as a detoxification agent for ammonia/nitrates and so on if/when something goes wrong in the future.

 

[LegendaryCG]

Both of those products are top notch. Every single tank failure thread boils down to lack of biological diversity (excluding the ones where a kid pours bleach in the tank). Prime isn‘t needed often but I always keep some on hand as it can immediately detoxify ammonia.

 

[SaltyCrabs]

Okay this is what I thought, I wanted to state that but I also didn't want to tell someone they are doing there job wrong when I am by no means a seasoned vet in saltwater. I dosed the microbacter and prime earlier today. So in conclusion I will halt the prime and continue with just the microbacter to continue to build up good bacterial and to eat the Ammonia coming from a shrimp I am about to drop one in the tank now.

 

[LegendaryCG]

Okay this is what I thought, I wanted to state that but I also didn't want to tell someone they are doing there job wrong when I am by no means a seasoned vet in saltwater. I dosed the microbacter and prime earlier today. So in conclusion I will halt the prime and continue with just the microbacter to continue to build up good bacterial and to eat the Ammonia coming from a shrimp I am about to drop one in the tank now.

Yep keep the prime for emergency action

 

[vetteguy53081]

Prime = Detoxifier, and ammonia reducer although for ammonia- An alternative, not a solution.

Bacter 7- great product and DO NOT dump in there. Add 2ml per 10 gallons daily

 

[LegendaryCG]

Shameless self promotion but I think it will help.
Rapid tank maturity thread

 

[SaltyCrabs]

Prime = Detoxifier, and ammonia reducer although for ammonia- An alternative, not a solution.

Bacter 7- great product and DO NOT dump in there. Add 2ml per 10 gallons daily

Yes this is what I did as far as dosing the microbacter