my sand bed was new and i just wanted to make sure that if it did go through a mini cycle, i wouldn't have any fish or anything in there to stress out. i recently added a peppermint shrimp and he pretty much ate 80% of my aiptasia already. i was quite surprised. i also have the rio and i'm doing almost 40% water changes weekly. the water still has some particals floating around but it's much better since i got that little surface skimmer attatchment (which kindda gets annoying to be honest. it's very finiky with the skimmer. slight water level changes like evaporation will offset the skimmer. still working on perfecting it). i think the little particles come from the filter inside the rio skimmer but i've yet to find any place in calgary that sells replacements
i tried golds and oceans. no luck.