marine freak, I think the reason most people that do not like to cycle with fish, i.e., damsels or mollies is that it is, in their opinion, cruel to the fish (they can become stressed and die). Why do that when you can cycle without using fish? Plus, most people (I think) usually do not want to keep the damsels and they can be hard to catch and remove.
Nabob, your option on adding the order of the sand versus the rock. Me, I add the sand first and put the rocks on top of it. But just be aware that this way rocks could possibly shift if you have a burrower that might burrow into the sand under neath one of the rocks. I have never had that happen but guess it could. I would put the base rock on the bottom and the live rock on top of that, but again I don't know how much it matters. I would rather have the live rock on top just for viewing and not hidden "under" base rock.
I really don't know why you should not do it all at one time. If there is a major sand storm, then you might want to wait until that clears some to see what your aquascaping looks like before adding the live rock.
From what I've read, I might think about adding a few corals first rather than fish and let them get established for a few weeks/months, but I know how hard that can be (to wait).
Give the live rock a chance to get established. That being said, I know I would not be able to wait too long before adding at least one fish once the tank is cycled. Try to have some sort of idea of the fish you want to add so you can add the most aggressive fish last.
Most hobbiests are not "patient" enough. Most times, one or two or three weeks is not necessrily being "patient" although it seems like it.
Well, now I'm confused. I just reread all of your posts. You start out saying that your tank already has water, sand and base rock in it, then you ask about what order to add those things?
Well, it won't be the first time I've ever been confused.
But it does sound like you are doing things right.
Frank
