Ocean direct sand new tank cycling

[drblank1]

Hello,

I got an 4.8 gallon AIO deskmate from BRS this past black Friday promotion. The tank is filled and I used dry rock and direct ocean sand. I also was sent a free bottle of Dr. Tim's One and Only. Should I use Dr. Tim's or will the direct ocean sand provide enough biome to cycle the tank?

After cycling, I'd like to add pods next and let them get established before turning on the lights and adding fish.

The tank about 30 minutes after adding water.
Dennis

 

[Spare time]

It doesn't matter.

 

[drblank1]

It doesn't matter.

What doesn't matter?

 

[Cell]

The sand alone will not be enough. You can use One and Only and speed up the cycle a bit, I think you may need to also purchase some ammonia to use with that product or you can go the traditional way and throw in a shrimp or ghost feed and wait about a month.

 

[brandon429]

How about exchange all that rock for thirty bucks of premium cured rock and skip cycle the pico into instant agelessness

You're going to be waiting to 2028 to get what you could get by tomorrow

For thirty bucks total, that's how much live rock it'll take. Forever changes the tanks ability to grow coral in one fell swoop and it looks instantly matured. Grows coral with a real microbiome

 

[drblank1]

Great. Thank you for the different perspectives. I'll just use Dr. Tim's. I still have ammonium chloride from a couple years when I fishless cycled my 70g reef. Thanks again.

 

[Spare time]

What doesn't matter?

It doesn't matter if you add the bottle of bacteria or not. I personally would use half for the tank and half for a QT.

 

[drblank1]

Update on cycling: I only use the Tetra test strips when cycling. Don't care about values, just want to see the process complete before adding fish. In the past when using Dr. Tim's only, it would take a couple of weeks before I'd start seeing a nitrite values. And then in another week or two before seeing nitrates. It would be about 6-8 weeks to complete the cycle.

But using ocean direct sand with Dr. Tim's OAO this time, and after only 1 week, I actually starting seeing nitrates before nitrites. I just tested again and the nitrites are now barely detectable where before, I couldn't get a reading. So I think the ODS helped to jumpstart the cycling process. Still at 2ppm ammonia, but will be interesting to see how the next couple of weeks play out.

I added the Inkbird ITC308 wifi temp controller and an $50 auto top-off from Amazon. The auto top-off was clutch as I was adding water 2 times a day to keep the level consistent.

Next up: create screen top with feeding port. Wait patiently for the cycle to complete.

 

[drblank1]

Oh, if only they could stay this pristine.