I think I'm ready for the next step, Please advise.

[seado]

Have been curing/cycling rock in my 120 gallon with 200 # SD and 150# Figi LR. Parameters as of today are Ammonia 0, (high was 1.0) nitrite 0 (high was .4) nitrates are 5(high was 25). pH 8.12, KH 12.8, Alk 4.46, Ca 420 (am dosing Bionic daily) 100# of the rock was partially cured by the LFS where purchased, maybe could explain why this has seemed to go quickly (started 4/21). There is alot of hair algae on a couple of rocks. Can I add detrivore kits now? Snails? I also want to add live sand, is 30# too much or should I add some more SD first and less LS? The sand bed ranges from 2.5 to 4" right now. Was shooting for 5" How much more of each? (the tank is 48x24x24 flat back hex. Thanks for your recommendations!

[Reef Engineer]

Seado,

Sounds like things are going well for you - congrats! [img]/ubb/biggrin.gif[/img] The sand bed depth that you currently have is what I use and find that it works quite well. You could add more if you want but I find that there's not a big difference in going any deeper. I had dual 90s set up - one with a 3" sandbed and another with almost 6" and found that the 3" sandbed had consistently lower nitrates - go figure! In any event, I would go ahead and add the detrivore kit that you referred to as well as get myself a healthy cleanup crew. Personally, I like a wide assortment of snails, hermits, brittle/serpent stars, tigertail cucumbers, and even shrimp in order to keep the tank clear of nuisance algae. Personally, I like to add 1 hermit/gal, 1 snail/2 gal, 1 cuke/50 gal, 1 brittle/serpernt star/25 gal, 1 peppermint shrimp/25 gal but everyone has an opinion on what their ideal number is. To each his own, I guess!

As for your LS, I would go ahead and put as much as you like. When I started my 90s, I only added 5# of LS for each tank and the remainder was "regular" aragonite sand or No.1 sand. When I setup my 300 gal, however, I cultured 200# of LS for several months before adding it in. In time, it'll ALL become LS so don't go crazy spending your money on it!

Best of luck to ya,

Randy

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[Mobious]

Hey Seado... How deep is your sand bed? 200lbs IMO, doesnt seem it would make a very deep DSB in a 120..

[seado]

Sorry for not responding earlier, have been out ot town working. My sand bed is about 2.5 - 3", thought I should add more but didn't know whether to use more SD and/or live sand and how much of either. Sounds like some people are happy with 3" others prefer 5-6". Any other opinions out there?

[Abet]

I'd say go for 4 - 6 if you can now. It can be a pain to add more much later if and when you change your mind. I have a 180 with 5" and a 75 refugium with 6-7" DSB.