okay, thank you very much for the advice kind stranger! Will take it into account and play the waiting game for the time being. my tank is 15 gals and i placed an average sized shrimp cocktail and left it in for 3 days before removing it. only half of the shrimp was left by then. I believe i have more than enough dry rock and bio media for the live sand to seed it in time to come. as its my first time doing a saltwater tank i was worried by other factors, i thought it wasnt cycling. thanks again, good luck to me i guess! Sent from Singapore Reef Club mobile app