Qestion about LR and LS cycling

[mhopper321]

So my tank is running and the salinity is at 1.0264 temp is at 79. Got that right first try thanks to spleify. so tomorrow Im going to pick up 50lbs of LR and 20lbs of LS from a guy taking down a tank in Colorado Springs. Im going to put it all in buckets with water for the trip home. I have about 30lbs of rock in my tank now so with this I will be about 1lb per gallon. I aslo have rock in my refugium. My question is with this rock being live and covered in corraline and the sand being fully established in his tank (all of this has been in there for a few years so its obviously fully cured) will this be ok in a new tank for cycling purposes or will everything die off and have to restart again? Im just curious if its all for not and maybe I should get uncured rock instead? I expect some of the organisms will die off since its going to spike ammonia once its all in but will the bulk of the sand orgamisms and rock creatures and bacteria survive this ordeal? Thanks for the input! By the way with this setup I will also be running full system ie. protein skimmer, pumps, heaters, powerheads, 10hr light cycle with reverse lighting in sump for another 10 when main lights are off. How long should this cycle take?

 

[jp634]

you should be alright. I would make some extra water just in case you need an immediate water change though. I just changed my tank out and all new sand and rock and left my refugium as is and did not have any spike in the last 3 weeks.

 

[holdorf333]

You will have some die off and an adjustment period is sure to follow. Most of everything that is in the sand and rock should be fine, but I really wouldn't worry about all that. The cycle duration can be anywhere from quick to long. I use those words because there is no way to guess how each tank will react to a cycle. If I had to put money on it, I would say 2-3 weeks.