New to marine tanks

[Scrappie301]

I am new to marine tanks and I am setting up mytank. How long will the cycle take if i use live rock, live sand and real ocean water?

[Garf]

Until it is done.

 

Really, there are too many variables. How big is the aquarium, how much live rock, how live is your rock, where was it sourced from, how did it arrive (damp wrapped in newspaper, or never left the water from an established tank)? What kind of water is it. And most importantly, how much experience does the reefer have and do you have the materials and means to maintain it. 

 

The best measure of if a tank is cycled is if it is processing 2ppm of ammonia in 24hrs. But even then, there could be a catch you need to be aware of. Just recently there was a post here where a persons tank was processing 2ppm ammonia in 24 hours, but was still measuring higher nitrites, which could have been fatal to certain livestock.

 

The best suggestion I could give is to set it up, leave it alone for at least a month. Then very gradually add livestock, first fish at 3 weeks, then a few weeks later, some corals. Cheap, easy, and mostly will cost you time. Use the month to learn as much as you can about reef tanks, water chemistry, the process of the cycle. Observe the tank, watching for signs it is maturing. The goal is to establish your rock and sand with enough beneficial bacteria, and enough bio-diversity to act efficiently act as your tank filter. 

 

You can take shortcuts, such as using a product like Dr. Tim's to dose ammonia and add bacteria, but that costs, as well as the cost for testing. With my tank, I did not test for ammonia, nitrite or nitrates. I got a nitrate test in my 4th week, along with my other test kits. Never bought ammonia or nitrite test kits. 

[seabass]

1 hour ago, Scrappie301 said:

How long will the cycle take if i use live rock

When using live rock from the ocean, don't dose ammonia (as this can kill the beneficial non-bacterial life).  Just wait until ammonia becomes undetectable, then do a large water change to export excess nitrate.

 

Some live rock is already cured at the local store.  If this is the case, you might not ever notice an ammonia spike.

[Clown79]

1 hour ago, seabass said:

When using live rock from the ocean, don't dose ammonia (as this can kill the beneficial non-bacterial life).  Just wait until ammonia becomes undetectable, then do a large water change to export excess nitrate.

 

Some live rock is already cured at the local store.  If this is the case, you might not ever notice an ammonia spike.

^ this 100%

[norbert]

Like others have said, the type of live rock and the amount of ammonia that will be produced by it will have a major effect here. If it's all cured and there's no ammonia spike the tank is theoretically instantly cycled. Testing is key though.