Cycle question

[Myka]

After reading Chase's response...I was assuming you were cycling NEW rock. If you're ONLY using old rock from your old system then like Chase says, it shouldn't cause any ammonia spikes and shouldn't require any cycling.

[asylumdown]

+1 to the others. If all the rock from your old tank is going in to the new tank, and there's no new uncured live rock going in to the new tank, your cycle will be so small it will probably be undetectable.

You only need to worry about it if you're using all new rock in the new tank.

[Skimmer Juice]

Originally Posted by asylumdown

+1 to the others. If all the rock from your old tank is going in to the new tank, and there's no new uncured live rock going in to the new tank, your cycle will be so small it will probably be undetectable.

You only need to worry about it if you're using all new rock in the new tank.

so say the tank you were doing a swap from was 60g and the new tank was a 100g . Could you just swap everything over ,if you were not adding anything new. Except for the water you have to add to fill the extra 40g ? It would be just like doing a 40g water change?

[darkreef]

40 gallon to 150 gallon.
52lbs of cured live rock

Would the parameter stay stable for my corals ?

[The Grizz]

Should not be a problem, just make sure the rock stays wet as to not cause any die off. I went from a 65 to a 155 the same way and had no issues at all. Take all the rock out you can without disturbing the sand ( if you have sand ) remove all the water you can again without disturbing the sand. Then pull out the rest of the rock, give it a quick dip in some fresh salt water and into the tank. If you are planning to use the sand from the small tank, give it a good cleaning first to remove any built up toxins.

[asylumdown]

Originally Posted by The Grizz

Should not be a problem, just make sure the rock stays wet as to not cause any die off. I went from a 65 to a 155 the same way and had no issues at all. Take all the rock out you can without disturbing the sand ( if you have sand ) remove all the water you can again without disturbing the sand. Then pull out the rest of the rock, give it a quick dip in some fresh salt water and into the tank. If you are planning to use the sand from the small tank, give it a good cleaning first to remove any built up toxins.

My logic on the sand - unless you've gone out of your way to get 'real' live sand as a seed source, there isn't going to be any life in your sand that isn't also in the rocks you're moving. Life that will be pulverized and smashed to bits by the act of removing and washing it. I'd just start fresh, but that doesn't mean anything bad will necessarily happen if you don't.

[The Grizz]

Originally Posted by asylumdown

My logic on the sand - unless you've gone out of your way to get 'real' live sand as a seed source, there isn't going to be any life in your sand that isn't also in the rocks you're moving. Life that will be pulverized and smashed to bits by the act of removing and washing it. I'd just start fresh, but that doesn't mean anything bad will necessarily happen if you don't.

Very true but not everyone likes to by new sand so it is an option to clean it.

[Aquattro]

If it were me, I'd use almost all new water in the new tank and use the old one as a rinse for the rock as it comes out. Really swish it around to loosen any crud built up. The whole keep it wet pretty much means don't let it dry out for a couple hours. Don't be afraid to stack it in a bucket for 20 minutes while you figure which piece is going where.

[asylumdown]

Originally Posted by darkreef

40 gallon to 150 gallon.
52lbs of cured live rock

Would the parameter stay stable for my corals ?

There's a risk any time you transfer a tank, no matter how you do it. They'll stay stable if you are proactive about testing for them and responding before anything gets too out of whack. Your live rock isn't taking care of 100% of the nitrogen cycle in your tank since biofilms develop on pretty much every available surface, but it's definitely responsible for most of it due to the huge surface area. It's been my experience that live rock's capacity for dealing with nitrogenous wastes is pretty elastic once it's established. If you give the new system a good couple of weeks before adding new fish, I don't think you'll see anything bad happen, but definitely test for ammonia regularly for the first 10 days or so and have a bottle of Prime and the capacity to do a larger water change on hand just in case.

I would also try and disturb your live rock as little as possible. For example, try and place them in the new tank in similar orientations relative to the light source so that you don't have a mass die-back of photosynthesizing and photophobic life in the first few weeks. The undersides of all my rocks are covered in sponges that would be toast if I suddenly flipped the rock upside down, and nitrifying bacteria are photophobic, so they're probably more concentrated in areas that are currently shaded/in the dark in your current tank. If you try and maintain that for the first little bit it can only decrease the risk.

[darkreef]

Kay sweet It should be up in running next week then thanks