Here's my thought

I've recently gotten my 72 gallon bowfront up and running. I currently have 80lbs of live sand and roughly 50lbs of dry rock. I added the sand after filling with RO/DI water that I mixed. My thought was that with such cloudy water, each nook and cranny of the dry rocks would be "seeded" as everything settles. I plan on getting 60-80lbs of live rock within the next week or so, but was wondering if throwing in a shrimp might get things going in the mean time. There should be an abundance of bacteria with so much live sand right? I plan on stacking my live rock onto the dry base and strategically placing LR rubble throughout in order to spread out the surface area and eventually lead to a large LR to Total Gallon ratio.

Any thoughts or problems with mine? Thanks!

 

Here's MY thought:

How do we go about genetically altering Koala bears to be able to shoot freeking lasers beams out of their eyes?

And what kind of glue would you use to mount them on sharks?

 

oh yes, the sand will seed the base rock on its own.

If you want to kick start the cycle you can throw a raw uncooked shrimp in the tank as a source of ammonia...

but I wouldn't add a live shrimp.

Bacteria are in the water column - you can't see them. They're too small. Microscopic even. They will spread on their own. Aquascape for aesthetics and flow, don't worry about the bacteria getting on every rock - it already is! It just takes time to populate to high enough levels to "cycle".

 

I LOVE laser beams

 

I know, right!?

 

I think 110 to 130LBS of LR might be a little more than you need or want in a 72G.

the live sand will quickly seed the rock quickly. Don't feel you need a ton of LR to compensate for your use of base rock It will be Live in no time

J