Cycle faster!!!

Speaking for myself only.

If you know how to soft cycle and have done if before successfully then fine, as long as you still limit the bio-load.

Do I encourage stocking a newly set up tank, no way for 99% percent of hobbyist especially someone newer to the hobby.

Again I only hope we can be conservative in how we approach every aspect of this hobby. There is not an unlimited supply of damsels, snails............ Lets just be respectful of those creatures that we collect when we can, and offer them the best chance.

 

im with u on this... ive set up many tanks..some new and some from other mature tanks...

and every big wig reef guy i know in baton rouge has always said that as long as the product is DRY 100% or the live rock has come from a mature tank then you should in no way have a cycle.. granted the salinities match and doesnt shock the life on the live rock.. and also supposedly you can buy sand that is live and doesnt cause a cycle.. ive seen a few people use it and it works, saw it in person... but it makes the tank cloudy as sh** for a while.. and i just did this a month or so ago when i upgraded to my 40..i took my 40 breeder, put in new sand, transferred my live rock from bucket with water, put in maybe 15 gallon of old water where corals were stored during the move, and then the rest of the water was made up.. No cycle, no livestock lost, and no problems..i even had a HUGE NEM i had to move and place in a "new" tank...

and dont get me wrong, all of u commenting are outstanding reefers and would never second guess any of your info

 

when you switch things over use the water from your tank. just dont stir the sand while taking the water

 

im confused...u got this tank still running??? if so, then as long as u didnt let any live rock sit out water then u will be fine transferring everything.. and use new sand and as much water from ur biocube... if anything set out the water at all then u gotta let it cycle..

 

I agree,if temp,sg and ph matches,just transfer everything,your basically just switching glass boxes,which folks do all the time without issue.

 

I'm sorry, but this is not very accurate. If you set up a tank with only dry rock, new saltwater and sand, you will NOT have a cycle UNTIL ammonia is introduced... adding livestock will produce ammonia, and the cycle will begin. The tank will cycle until bacteria is abundant enough to convert ammonia to nitrite, and then to nitrates...

Even if you are using rock from a "mature" tank, there is a possibility of die off during transfer that can cause a cycle. You would have to be very careful transferring rock to not get a cycle... If all you are doing is transferring from one tank to another and care is taken not to allow die-off to occur then, it is possible to transfer from one tank to another...

But the OP set up a new tank with new water and live rock they got from someone else... The other tank is in the same room, but I believe that the new tank will cycle because it has new and old rock in it... when the new tank tests zero ammonia and nitrites, it's probably ok to move everything over.

Still, there is no debating what test kits can read.

Test the water for ammonia and nitrites if you want to know if your tank is cycling or not.

It is best not to add livestock until there is no detectable ammonia or nitrite.

In a newly set up tank, you have to add ammonia to get the cycle going, so it's best to do so by adding something that will decay into ammonia, like raw shrimp... even fish food will do it, anything to feed the nitrifying bacteria.


Also, and this is probably better for another thread, but some "dry rock" has been known to leach ammonia when first introduced to a tank... it can cause a mini cycle or start a cycle in a new tank.

 

I had all the rocks and water in tubs, the only time the rock was out of the water was when I was transfering it over, there were corals on the rocks and they are still alive. I added NEW live sand to the tank, half was bought live in the water and half was dry sand. Half the water in this tank was water that was in the tank that was previously set up for a year or so. I took that water with me with the live rock, but I also made a lot of water for the tank when I set it up, and it is up and running. and my bio cube is also still running because I dont want to transfer everything over and kill it.

 

Im just going to cycle it to be safe.. I really would prefer not to kill my torch and bubble coral... But I will test the waters and see whats up

 

forget all the quick cycle mumbojumbo. not worth it. let the bacterias develop with a proper cycle and give it time.

I always refer back to using this product when starting or introducing new rock, equipment, pellets to reactor etc... really helps with encouraging aerobic and anaerobic bacterias.


Brightwell Aquatics - Microbacter7

 

After reading how you've transferred rock over in tubs, etc. and you have living corals in the newly set up tank, I'm beginning to think it's safe... but I don't want too encourage anyone to move to quickly with their set up... you're doing the right thing to wait, probably at least a week or two and test the water... In your case (this doesn't apply to everyone) I'd say after a couple of weeks if your ammonia and nitrites are undetectable, you can probably start to move things over...

Since you're keeping corals, you'll probably want to go ahead and test for nitrates as well... you may want to complete a small water change in the new tank after things settle to help things along...