Hi, i am just getting into the saltwater fish and want to build slowely a reef system. I have a 62gal with 20 gal sump tank, protien skimmer (prizm 100liter) . What would be the best way to start up? SHould i get some live rock and let that stabilize the aquarium for the first few months?

I would wait untill the cycle is done at least.

I have a few finger corals I got not long after my cycle and they are fine, I would maybe wait a bit longer on buying anything that's expensive though just to be on the safe side, go with teh cheaper ones you want first.

Yeah put in sand and live rock to start your cycle.

I copied this from another post the basically asked the same question. This would be after you added your live rock and sand: There are many ways to cycle a salt water tank with two rules of thumb a hard cycle or a soft cycle. A hard cycle is with no water changes during the cycle. Add a piece of table shrimp and let all your levels peak(ammonia, nitrite, nitrate) and let them come down on there own. This way takes a little longer but will add a strong bacteria base needed in a new tank. A soft cycle basically the same only after all levels peak start doing 20% water changes weekly until levels reach 0's across the board. Then add a clean up crew because at this point you will start to have algae blooms. As far as water changes go again depending on your setup, after the tank has cycled 20% bi-weekly is a good starting point.

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Water changes during the cycle, some say yes some no, some say don't put your lights on others say leave them off, When I did my saltwater tank I switched my lights on and off as normal and I don't think it made any difference to it.

There are a few ways of cycling a tank now, you can go the old trust and tested put a Prawn in (Folks in the USA call them shrimps) wait for it to rot and do it that way.

You can buy Amonia and add it that way (I wouldn't really go this way).

Throw some fish in(Not really fair on the fish and to be honest I don't believe it will cycle that much faster than using a Prown/Shrimp).

Buy Live Sand, Live Sand has a few debates going, folks point out how everything in the sand could be dead so it's not live, but on the other hand if the Live Sand has dead stuff in it then that would be good as it would have started to rot and will be more or less starting a cycle.

I bought Live Sand and the guy in the shop told me I may be able to add livestock after 2 weeks, I said wow that's great but I didn't believe him because I was stuck in the old it takes 8 weeks for a tank to cycle, but anyway I tested my water every day and sure enough 2 weeks and a few days in my tank had cycled, my Amonia, Nitrite and Nitrate never peaked that high so I knew I only had a little of the bacteria needed but never the less the bacteria was there.

Since I had what I called a light bio-load cycle I just stocked slowly, 1 fish per month no more(really 1 fish per month is a nice stocking regime no mater how you cycled your tank or even on tanks that have been cycled for a long time)

As for Live Rock get what you can and get it in, Live Rock is going to be your Primary Filter, also with Live Rock you may get un-cured most LFS cure it for you, but if you do you will get some die off from it which will add Amonia into the tank.

In my LFS they sell Reef Rock, it is kept in a big basket at the front of the shop so it isn't live but it half the price of Live Rock so you can get a really nice big bit cheap, if your LFS has it you can buy some of that and some Live Rock after a few months it will become Live Rock I have a few big bits that have now got Coraline Algae on it so they are Live Now.

Also with Live Rock you really want big bits as it functions better the more surface area the better.

Yeah, they pretty much said it...

I think live rock and sand is what you want. Take it slow and easy.

Yup.

Yeah. live rock in your aquarium is good.. it will make your aquarium more attractive..

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