Hi all, I'm brand new to the hobby (although I've been stalking forums for some time).
I plan to set up a larger tank this summer, but in the meantime, I recently bought a pre-owned biocube 29. I figured I could learn more about the hobby by working with the biocube. The tank was a running tank up until the morning I purchased it. The seller gave me all of his live rock, live sand, water and tank (although no filter media was provided). After talking to my LFS, I was told to ditch the water and sand, but to keep the live rock. I therefore immediately cleaned the tank and re-set it up using newly purchased "live-sand" and the existing live rock. I also used 1 bottle of Bio-spira (at the suggestion of the LFS).
My question now is how much "cycling" will be needed for this tank. I've read that the majority of the bacteria for a nano-tank is located in the live rock and sand. Since I have the live rock from a tank that was running the same day and I have new "live sand", I'm curious if I will need to go through a full nitrogen cycle or if the bacteria is already somewhat established.
I tested my water today (its day 4 of the tank be re-set up) and I had 0 ppm Ammonia, 0 ppm Nitrite, 5 ppm Nitrate. As far as "bio-load", there are currently 3 blue-green chromis in the tank and 11 blue legged hermit crabs (I was going to wait longer, but this was recommended by my LFS). The LFS also sold me a Kenyan Tree coral, which is currently in the tank (but after talking to others I will likely pull it soon to prevent it from becoming too invasive). These inhabitants have been in the tank for 3 days.
Thanks for any info you can provide.
I plan to set up a larger tank this summer, but in the meantime, I recently bought a pre-owned biocube 29. I figured I could learn more about the hobby by working with the biocube. The tank was a running tank up until the morning I purchased it. The seller gave me all of his live rock, live sand, water and tank (although no filter media was provided). After talking to my LFS, I was told to ditch the water and sand, but to keep the live rock. I therefore immediately cleaned the tank and re-set it up using newly purchased "live-sand" and the existing live rock. I also used 1 bottle of Bio-spira (at the suggestion of the LFS).
My question now is how much "cycling" will be needed for this tank. I've read that the majority of the bacteria for a nano-tank is located in the live rock and sand. Since I have the live rock from a tank that was running the same day and I have new "live sand", I'm curious if I will need to go through a full nitrogen cycle or if the bacteria is already somewhat established.
I tested my water today (its day 4 of the tank be re-set up) and I had 0 ppm Ammonia, 0 ppm Nitrite, 5 ppm Nitrate. As far as "bio-load", there are currently 3 blue-green chromis in the tank and 11 blue legged hermit crabs (I was going to wait longer, but this was recommended by my LFS). The LFS also sold me a Kenyan Tree coral, which is currently in the tank (but after talking to others I will likely pull it soon to prevent it from becoming too invasive). These inhabitants have been in the tank for 3 days.
Thanks for any info you can provide.
