No base or liverock

It will just take longer to cycle and build the necessary bacteria. But putting a raw shrimp in there should shorten the cycle. I, myself let my tank cycle for over 2 months... with LR in it.

 

IMO The tank wont be completely cycled till the all the live rock is cured. So dont start adding live stock till your rock is good to go. If you werent going to have LR it may be a different store (which is do able), but since you are wanting to add rock I would do so asap to finish off the cycle. HAVE FUN

 

Thanks everyone. I will definitely be adding base and live rock at some point.
Also, how necessary is adding a plastic light diffuser on the bottom. (for stacking up rock)
Does it really risk cracking the bottom glass without?

 

Just so you know, this will end up being a layer of sand on bottom and a layer of CC on top. Just how that works.

No, if you add live rock later you'll probably get a mini cycle. If you're cycling now, I would add nothing but dry base rock later... there is 0 reason to add live rock after you cycle.

Your livestock list can grow as you add rock (since you'll have more bacteria)

Just do 100% and save money and headaches.

Not necessary at all, not even a little bit. Some folks use it for peace of mind and some other reasons but it is absolutely not necessary. The substrate will protect the bottom glass.

Just stack your rock well, be sure to secure it (epoxy, tie straps, whatever).

 

THANKS! Thats summed everything up and was right to the point and just what I wanted to here. So I will just go with all base rock and let the tank mature it on it own. As far as the Sand and CC Wont it stay mixed up from when I siphon it every so often? Its really what I need to use because I have two 5 gallon buckets full from my previous setup and cant afford to spend even more $.

 

oh... hmm... stirring substrate... well... I don't like stirring substrate (some folks do)... I just let the snails do it... which isn't that great a job...

It'll probably stay mixed longer, but it will eventually shuffle the bigger pieces to the top... it'll eventually be layered me thinks.

I can say, I wouldn't reuse substrate from a previous setup... Sand is super duper cheap at home depot...


BTW - P uses crushed coral for past couple years... I'm not convinced it's a terrible substrate to use like some claim *if* you have a good CuC.

 

Thanks. Whats a Cuc?
I will be running a in sump fuge also. And a good skimmer.

 

I have had tanks without the plastic racks, and rock on the glass. I have never had an issues, but that doesnt mean much. But here is something else to think about. I like to have "base" rocks ( the foundation for you rock scape) in place before the sand goes in. Instead of trying to push the rocks through the sand, have the sand around the rocks. This is in case you have any kind of burrowing organisms you wont have to worry about them digging out the sand under your rocks

 

I was just mentioning my opinion on what the difference is between sand and eggcrate+sand as a substrate.

 

For my initial 90 gallon salt mix, can I just do it right in the tank with my power heads blasting?