Cycling Additives

[wayne1421]

At some point in the near future I will be starting up my first saltwater tank, basically at the moment Im collecting things I need and taking time to lean as much as possible. While in a local shop I was advised to use Red Seas reef mature pro kit, which basically appears to be a set of additives and claims that within 21 days it will will cycle the tank and be ready for corral.

Really my questions is, is this something that I need or should be using, or if I'm putting live rock into the tank will it just do the job naturally any way. It was only about £20 so its not an issue of cost, it could be just the local shop trying to sell me something I dont really need so I thought I would ask on here.

The tank will be 120 litres with live rock and i'm planning on a few soft corrals as well.

 

[Donya]

While in a local shop I was advised to use Red Seas reef mature pro kit, which basically appears to be a set of additives and claims that within 21 days it will will cycle the tank and be ready for corral.

Sounds very bogus to me. LR does your cycling - and good LR may not even show a visible cycle if transported well. Additionally, the process of tank maturation takes time and is controlled by a lot of ecological factors, not just bacteria that would be in those bottles. Plenty of tanks of that size can have a few hardy corals in three weeks time with no trouble (and no additives), but it varies from tank to tank and it would still not be considered a mature system at that point.