What product exactly have you tried out? What manufacturer?..

Carib Sea Inc. Ft. Pierce, Florida
Product # 00790 Reef Sand (use before 3/15/04)

a quote from the bag itself:
"20,000,000+ Bacteria Per Pound"



Were there any live rock?

none at all, just the sand. at setup I had no spare LR to add and the lfs
had a very poor selection.

How long does it take normally for you?

it has always been different from tank to tank. usually ammonia will start
to show within a few days of adding the dead shrimp (last tank I used the
skimming from my skimmer instead of the shrimp and it worked well) and the
shrimp will usually be visible in the tank for a week or so. the NO2 starts
around week 3 but is only slight, with a spike around week 4. NO3 usually
spikes a week after NO2. (then the little bounce back and forth)

IME with a tank that has a significant amount of LR that is fully cured, the
ANN cycle is very small and unless monitored very closely it can be missed
all together and for me at least happens within a week

all tanks are different, the larger the substrate size (CC on down to sugar
size sand) and amount of substrate the quicker the cycle "starts" IME (note
I only said start, not complete). the sugar fine sands seam to take the
longest to spike ammonia.

I think the reason for the slight cycle in the LR tanks is because the LR
has already been cycled (if its cured) and it takes care of the ANN cycle in
and of itself. the slight detection I would guess are the bacteria colonies
starting to form in the substrate and competing with the LR till an equal
balance is obtained between all parts of the tank.

just taking a stab in the dark here but I would think that when "live sand"
is packaged in a sealed bag, some of the bacteria and all the worms, bugs,
etc... die off in the bag, this in return feed other bacteria in the bag and
it continues in a cycle of its own. eventually all oxygen in the bag will
be consumed and the life cycle would end at that point, but again this is
just a WAG (wild ass guess) on my part.



as with all factors involved with marine reef keeping YMMV.

kc