Their are lots of different cycles that go on when some one cycles a tank, and alot of variables that are also at play. So its tough to put an exact route or time frame on it as what you use pertains a good deal. So the cycle everyone usually refers to is the Nitrogen cycle or baiscally the fixation of Nitrogen based products by bacteria.
The first part of this cycle is pretty simple and it wouldnt mattered if you used cured Lr or raw Lr. Its an aerobic (done in well oxigenated water) process where bacteria reduce ammonia to Nitrite and then further reduce it to nitrate.
The second process is where different strains of bacteria further reduce the Nitrate down to ammonium, which then basically recycles to the top of the cycle once more. This process only occurs in anaerobic (without the presence of air) areas as the bacteria fix the nitrogen instead of the oxygen. This process will already be occuring in Lr but will take some time for it to be established in new sand (or even LS newly introduced).
Personally I think we should all look at this cycling process as a measure of balance and not so much just the set up of bacterias to accomplish the task. Bacteria are limited by the amount of food source in a tank (bac.=food available) so the tank when it is first setup is going to be working towards finding this perfect balance and that can take months to finally come to play and bacteria are but one player in that game.
So as an example you set up a tank with normal sand (or LS) and uncured rock. In this case you have a massive load of dead or dieing material, the first strain of bacteria will rise to meet this food input, as it begins to reduce the material it will begin to emmit a byproduct which will trigger the next strain of bacteria to begin it population increase and so on. But at some point the input (dead/dieing) material begins to lessen, this will cause the bacteria to starve and then themselves begin to die off. From here you will see another smaller cycle and also the presence of algae blooms, as the algae is usally second in line for nutrient uptake when the bacteria are in this stage. From here your going to get swings from bacterial blooms to algae blooms swinging back and forth until the tank hits an equalibrium. This equalibrium is where the population of bacteria is equal to the amount of food available.
In the other example say using cured Lr and ls. All you are doing is reducing the initial food input, so you are saving an ammount of time in the reduction of allot of dead and decaying material. BUT are you in balance?? Nope. Everytime you add a fish, or sprinke in some food you are changing the equation. So when you go this route it is better to go slow, as in add the fish and then allow the tank some time to beef up its bacterial populations, then look to do it again. At some point in time you will hit a stage where the bacteria can handle surges in food intake with out having to alter its population to much.
Anyway from their you still have to complete the moron cycle, ad that cycle can take you a while to get past, trust me, mine took years!!
arty:
Mojo
