feeding during cycle

[playa0069u]

i am cycling two new tanks, do i need to feed during the cycle? there are a few hitchikers( hermits, snails starfish, ((pistol shrimp:D )), bristleworms etc...
also, what do you feed a saltwater tank? those saltwater pack cubes? is that it? i mean just for inverts and small stuff.

[Reef_Angel]

You must have gotten live sand from somewhere for starting out your tank, because you are a little bit ahead of the game by having live sand. Is there any other reef life like coral or fish in the tanks at all? The reason I'm asking is that cycling a tank generally begins with white play sand or reef sand from your LFS, that has never had salt water touch it. It's dead sand at first! It starts with a tank, the brand new sand, and a big raw shrimp out of either your grocer's deli, or if you want to eat the rest of the bag, you can buy raw frozen shrimp. That one shrimp, with absolutely no other life in the tank will start to rot, causing the bacteria needed to begin your cycle. Some people put in a live fish like a blue damsel or blue/green chromis to start their cycle. I am in favor of the big dead raw shrimp because the live fish doesn't have to go through any stress through the cycle. I don't know how much you know about cycling, so if you would give the folks here the lion share of the knowledge you have, it will be so helpful for all of us to help you through a successful cycle. Right now, you shouldn't need to feed the tank anything at all even though you have life in the sand as they are living off the bacteria that is already in the live sand you have in your tanks. As a tank cycles, life begins without you putting anything in it but the sand, rock, water & the dead shrimp. You'd actually see copepods develop in that environment after awhile, first so tiny you can barely see them, but as the tank cycles and the bacterias develop, the pods grow, and you can watch them march in lines like ant colonies. This always amazes me when starting a fresh saltwater tank with absolutely no life in it.
With the live sand you already have, you will see pods already established in your tanks. The best time to view them is at night in the darkness by using a flashlight with a red lense. You'll really come to enjoy watching all these little critters work around in your tank while it continues to cycle. I'm assuming you have a good test kit to test your water keeping an eye on all your parameters until the day comes where the cycle is complete and you can start adding the cool stuff, right? Fill in all the details for us, and we'll be more than happy to help you out with 2 successful beautiful reef tanks! Welcome aboard! .......Angel :angel1:

[playa0069u]

wow thanks. well ACTUALLY i am working on getting live sand. i just got a very small handful from an awesome lfs and normal old aragonite sand. 10 pounds od base rock (no life) and so far about 2 pounds of live rock. will be more soon i hope. but my starfish, the bigger one brittle i guess, seems to be smacking around its little spot looking for food, and i thought i should give him some. i figured the crabs and snails could find enough food on the LR. also btw another lfs has sand with TONS of these red worms in it sticking up out of the sand r these good?

[lReef lKeeper]

brisstle worms are good to a certain point, when they get to big they get to be a nusience !!

[seahorsedreams]

You really should be removing those inverts... that's kindda cruel. BWs no... because you you wouldn't be able to remove them all even if you wanted to. But hermits snails and what not should come out.

Pure ammonia (found in the cleaning department in some stores) is great to cycle a tank but it can be difficult to obtain for some folks.

[playa0069u]

everybody survived the (strangely quick) cycle except an unidentified crab thatwas rediculously small that i guess i killed. I was told to remove him until he was id'd and he died :-(

[seahorsedreams]

Do you want to tell us exactly what your setup is and how you went about cycling it?

[playa0069u]

why sure Its a ten gallon, with aragonite sand and about 8 pounds of base rock and 3 or 4 pounds of live rock. More live rock will be added as soon as I get some. well added slowly that is. I really would like to take a little base rock out and put in more lr so i am going to soon. i have 2 no 15 w flourescents on and 1 neptune power head(hopefully to be rreplaced be either a power sweep deal or an out of the water pump. i hate seing it in there...