Cycle/Rowa Phos/carbon filter on a marine setup (?)

[Sean Smith]

My current plan:
is to apply Rowa Phos and carbon on my yet-to-be-set-up FOWLR tank. These agents would reside in an external canister.

(Have a new canister so decided to use it. I must just add that I have already debated the pros and cons. General consensus was that it would at least work to provide water flow and could be used for water polishing. I do understand that mechanical filtration is not advisable and can increase 'trates and remove valuable nutrients. ).

I use carbon to good effect on my freshwater tanks and the Rowa Phos seems to be a quick and effective win for little input.

The LFS is advocating an agent they call "Cycle"... I can guess what that is, but I haven't seen mention of it in discussions.

Any sanity checks/ opinions /advice?

no fisticuffs on disagreements this time PLEASE! :oops: That's not what I am after.

Warm regards
Sean.

[HoopsGuru]

Well then throw away everything including your skimmer plans! :D

HAHA! Just kidding, but sometimes to get the best information people have to bump heads a little bit.....doesn't mean there is any animosity on this board!

Your plan sounds fine to me, however, I would pass on the "Cycle". There have been no finding that support that this product can significantly help kickstart a tank any more than just throwing in some cocktail shrimp and letting it happen naturally. If you want to spend your money on something like this, a scoop of live sand (or bag if that is all you can find) will hold way more bacteria that this "bacteria in a bottle" scheme.

HTH

[phistio]

while i'll offer no fisticuffs...i think your new setup will be fine...

however, what your LFS is promoting is nothing more than a waste of money...

yes i'm sure that "cycle" (i've never heard of this product specifically, but others like it) will help cycle your tank quicker...but my question is, why? trust me you're much better off completing the cycle naturally...and you're only saving yourself a day or two, to be honest...

while cycle times may vary, there are several things to help expidite the cycle...examples that hoops gave are as such...

i'd reccommend to set-up the salt and RO water first, let that run for at least a day...there'll be a lot of tiny air bubbles that will work themselves out over the next few days...anyhow, run salt and water for at least 24 hrs.you can add your sand at this time, but some will say wait...personally, i put my live argonite sand in first, then RO water/salt mix...and ran for 24 hours...then i dumped my live rock in...cycle was near finish within about 1 weeks time...but this was on a 25 gallon tank, and so cycle was a bit faster...i added two shrimp, and a reef was born...still has some growing to do though!