Can I skip cycling my tank?

[reptileguy112]

I never had a cycle even using old sand. I waited a week but nothing. It is all set up with gatorade's, dragons eye, rainbow tracky, kenya, etc. and I picking up rastas($5pp), utter chaos ($15pp), hornets ($5pp any color), oompa loompas ($5pp), and some other high end zoas today from a friend. He has every zoa you can think of from clementines to people eaters for cheap to!

 

[brandon429]

http://reef2reef.com/threads/what-a...e-you-dont-get-a-mini-cycle-in-a-nano.204187/




To me, its not about breaking rules or advising anarchy lol its finding true biology, and then testing it repeatedly. By operating under the same conditions, my skip cycles are golden. Always.

To further find interesting ways to uncover truths about skip cycling, consider searching for "simon Garret's intertidal reef at six months" to see a full blown reef tank that is left drained for six hours a day. Wow

 

[reptileguy112]

That nano is too small! I want MORE coral and I can fit another frag in there! Someone is giving me a 20g long for my picasso in bout 30 mins.

 

[reptileguy112]

what do you mean "left drained"

 

[brandon429]

By left drained, I mean he has a system that drains his tank for six hours and then refills it. In nature, certain tidal zones do this and bake in the dry sun. For millenia. Corals live. This guy is modeling a worse daily treatment on his tank vs any of us, and he doesn't recycle for very specific reasons (no sandbed)

 

[reptileguy112]

if my coral was dry for 30 minutes it would die

 

[brandon429]

When my lfs manager is cutting up corals for frags, he w take five large brain corals and set them on a work bench on a towel. Not in a tank

He will then band saw them into small pieces and put them on glued plugs and might get done 30-45 mins and then put them back in. They slime. But live!

 

[sawdonkey]

I'm not surprised you had no cycle. I've moved my tank plenty of times over the years. I even used old sand. When I say sand, I mean the coarse stuff that I gravel vac often. I don't let much detritus build up in my tank. I even upgraded from my 90 to my 220 with little to no cycle. I didn't have any coral at the time, but fish were all fine.

 

[reptileguy112]

thats weird. Why can you frag regular brains but not open brains? I want to frag my trachy

 

[brandon429]

Agreed, moving clean sand is same as moving new sand which is what I did. I've never fragged a trachy w yield to someone that does on that specific. Im not sure how cuts that don't sever the mouth would work in trachs

But I could hang one in the air no prob lol!

Pink wimpy seriatopora are weak aerialists

 

[hig789]

I set my 15 gallon up with a fresh bag of "live" sand and established rock and I haven't had any ammonia since day one.

 

[Harold Green]

Set up a 210 last year. Rinsed my old gravel thoroughly and reused it. Added a small amount of live sand. Reused some of my old live rock and added fresh florida live rock, uncycled. Tank never had a rise in ammonia or nitrate. Still waited several weeks before adding live animals although there were ivory corals and brain corals on the fresh live rock. A year later they are all still alive. With a big enough tank, large skimmer, carbon and gfo, refusium it probably is less trouble than trying it with a small tank. Regardless I'd still wait a while and add livestock very slowly.

 

[fishboy15]

With established live rock you won't have a cycle, I didn't at least. I only transferred about a couple gallons of old water but filled the rest with new water. Yes don't re use your sand, might have bubble traps that hold "bad stuff" that will pollute the tank

 

[Shaun Sweeney]

Yes, there's lots of little nasties stuck in that sand and rock that gets stirred up and released into the water when being moved. I'm learning about that myself as I'm about to transfer all my rock and sand to a bigger tank.

I'm wrestling with what to do with my upcoming move - from a 3 year old 140 gallon, to a new 140 gallon. Still can't make up my mind but I'm leaning towards leaving the old sand behind.

 

[melypr1985]

I'm wrestling with what to do with my upcoming move - from a 3 year old 140 gallon, to a new 140 gallon. Still can't make up my mind but I'm leaning towards leaving the old sand behind.

I always say it's better safe than sorry. If your able to, then leave the sand and get new. You'll have lots of people tell you to use your old sand, and that's up to you.... but if you can get new, why risk it?

 

[Shaun Sweeney]

I always say it's better safe than sorry. If your able to, then leave the sand and get new. You'll have lots of people tell you to use your old sand, and that's up to you.... but if you can get new, why risk it?

Thanks for that. I'll take your advice. I can add new. Next question would be what kind of sand. I have lots of sand left over from a tank that was shut down a month ago and it's been thoroughly rinsed with fresh water. Been sitting in fresh water for a few weeks. I'm guessing that's safe to use. There is also the question about "live" sand which I could buy locally and lastly, there's the question of seeding the new sand with a bit of the old. Any thoughts on that?

 

[melypr1985]

Thanks for that. I'll take your advice. I can add new. Next question would be what kind of sand. I have lots of sand left over from a tank that was shut down a month ago and it's been thoroughly rinsed with fresh water. Been sitting in fresh water for a few weeks. I'm guessing that's safe to use. There is also the question about "live" sand which I could buy locally and lastly, there's the question of seeding the new sand with a bit of the old. Any thoughts on that?

I've reused old "cleaned" sand before. It wasn't a big problem or anything. Mostly it was ugly sand - kinda grey- but it was free. If you want to seed it, you can just get a scoop of sand from a friend's tank and put it in. I've done that as well. Of course, just added a bottled bacteria product, or a piece of liverock will do the same thing, if a little slower.