New Tank, Stumped

I have a new 29g set up with a Skilter 250(Skimmer/Power Filter/worthless junk). I know, I know, It isn't my fault though, It's just what came with the tank. So it is soon going to be replaced with a HOB skimmer. I am going to have a mixed reef tank and I'm having a few set-up worries. I have a 75g that I'm taking down because I'm a senior in High School and I'm going away for college. I plan to have the 29g with some of the fish from my 75g FOWLR. I've sold all the fish that i dont plan to keep and currently hse two Blue Chromis, a Six Line Wrasse, Two Cleaner Shrimp and a Neon Goby. I plan to take this nano tank with me to college since it is relatively small. I don't want to just get out of the hobby and get rid of everything.

My dilemma is the following, I have my new tank set up with some sand and a powerhead. The cycle is just starting, I have to still add some more dry sand and LR. I know this will cause another cycle. Problem is, I am going to sell the LR that i have now because it is just 3 BIG pieces and they are just terrible quality rock so I don't even want to try breaking them to make them smaller. They are not porous at all (about as porous as a marble kitchen countertop actually) and I bought them not knowing what good rock was, Live & Learn I suppose.
So, I want to take out the LR to sell it and get some good LR from my LFS, but I don't want to get rid of my Biological filtration in the 75g while I still have livestock in it, and I don't want to move the livestock to the 29g to then have it go through another cycle when the rock comes in.

Anyone got any ideas? Thanks for reading, sorry it was so long.

 

Could you hold off selling til. Your new tank is cycled with the new rock?

 

Don't have the money to get the new rock.

 

Will the old rock fit in your new tank if you break it up? Then you can swap it out slowly when you get your new rock or even use base rock to save some money.

 

A lot of people prefer dry rock for various reasons, and it might be your best choice. You won't have the die-off or re-cycle, and your bacteria will populate it when you place it in the tank. Once the system is established, you can add a small piece or two of LR to seed the coralline.

 

When the cycle is over, can I put my fish in the 29g without any rock and just add the base rock? will the sand be enough bio-filtration?

 

For a short period, yes, as long as you have a good skimmer. I wouldn't wait too long though, and be careful not to overfeed.

 

Since ur 75 still up and running, why not take the water from it and put it in the 29? That will eleminate the new cycle.

 

Careful here - it isn't the water that needs to cycle, it's the biological filtration. Adding water from an established tank will do little, if anything, to aid in the cycle, though it does maintain similar water chemistry so it makes moving fish over much less of a stressful event (for the fish) - it is something you should do regardless.

Also, adding live rock will NOT cause a new cycle if you add fully cured/mature rock. The only time that you get a re-cycle/spike is when things die off. Typically that doesn't happen with mature rock.

What I would recommend is to take a look on Craigs List for someone breaking down a large tank and offer to buy some small amount of rock off of him. Typically you can get rock like that for a deal, just make sure it is decent quality and doesn't have Aiptasia or other nuisance on it. That type of rock you can add with no worries about cycling. Actually, it effectively instantly "cycles" the tank since you are adding a cured bacterial filter. Just make sure you go through a similar acclimation as you would for fish to limit any die off.

 

Very Helpful post, I already filled the tank with new water however, so I will just put my new Skimmer on and have the fish in the 29 while I empty out the old tank and replace my old rock with some new. I will definitely look into the craigslist idea. Thanks K+