Cycling new tank

[peterhos]

Hi All

Recently had to dismantle tank after 20 years for new carpet. Have now bought Red Sea reefer G2. Looks good but empty! Do you think a few hardy corals will help or even hinder with cycling the tank? Thanks for any answers.

 

[mann1139]

I would worry about corals seeing 'ugly' water conditions during setup and cycling.

I would wait until the cycle is complete and the tank 'settled' before adding.

 

[d2mini]

The coral won't have any effect on your cycle. If they survive. You should wait.

 

[Cell]

Did you let your 20 yr old live rock dry out?!

 

[dstockwell]

Use some live rock to help cycle new tank.

 

[OfficeReefer]

Hi All

Recently had to dismantle tank after 20 years for new carpet. Have now bought Red Sea reefer G2. Looks good but empty! Do you think a few hardy corals will help or even hinder with cycling the tank? Thanks for any answers.

@peterhos I was just mentioning in another thread. Try use of this then fish but wait on corals until you get some stability in alkalinity and awareness of nitrates and phosphates. Add live rock for best results, as mentioned.

FritzZyme® TurboStart® 900 Saltwater

Fritz Aquatics' FritzZyme® TurboStart® 900 Saltwater contains a highly concentrated level of our nitrifying bacteria to reduce fish loss due to toxicity.

fritzaquatics.com

 

[Gregg @ ADP]

Even if your rock and sand feels dry, it’s still loaded w/bacteria. They can go dormant for a long time. Add some to the new tank and you should be good to go pretty quickly.

 

[Cell]

Even if your rock and sand feels dry, it’s still loaded w/bacteria. They can go dormant for a long time. Add some to the new tank and you should be good to go pretty quickly.

Not entirely sure about this claim. General consensus is if the rock is dried out, it provides no cycling benefit anymore. Let's see if @taricha can confirm of any potential for dormant bacteria in previously live rock but now dry that would aid in cycling.

 

[DIFish]

Hi All

Recently had to dismantle tank after 20 years for new carpet. Have now bought Red Sea reefer G2. Looks good but empty! Do you think a few hardy corals will help or even hinder with cycling the tank? Thanks for any answers.

Hardy softies and LPS will survive and be fine, but the longer you wait the easier it will be. Once you start showing nitrate your cycle is complete and corals will do fine, and honestly hardy corals can handle much more ammonia than fish. I do not think they will help or hinder, but rather just be another thing to watch and care for while your new tank matures.

 

[brandon429]

if you did not move over your live rock I will revolt

if there is much longer delay in updating us with a tank pic I'll revolt

revolt coming lol

 

[Gregg @ ADP]

Not entirely sure about this claim. General consensus is if the rock is dried out, it provides no cycling benefit anymore. Let's see if @taricha can confirm of any potential for dormant bacteria in previously live rock but now dry that would aid in cycling.

It would have to be really dry for quite a while. Rock sitting in a bucket for a month might look dry, but if you break it open, there is still a lot of moisture in it.

Nitrosomonas and Nitrobacter are the same genera of bacteria that live in terrestrial soils that often get very dry or freeze. They often go dormant during these periods…mainly meaning that they aren’t metabolically active or dividing. But they’re still there, and once conditions change back to preferred, they get back in gear.

I’m not sure what that timeframe is, but I’ve put live rock that had been sitting in buckets for 6 months into a tank and have it be cycling right away. There’s often elevated ammonium due to all of the decaying organic matter, but there was nítrate present within 2 days or so.

 

[Miniyork]

Add fritz and turbo start to expedite cycling

 

[peterhos]

Add fritz and turbo start to expedite cycling

Thanks to everybody for their very wise comments. As an aside it is difficult to get any live rock in the UK now. My old stuff + soft corals I gave to the LFS in return for their looking after my remaining fish until I can bring them back home. After 20 years of soft corals I am going to have a go now more with LPS and SPS stuff. Anyone out there got the secret? Also, I am hoping to go for a minimalist approach without skimmer and filter. My old tank was over skimmed I feel. Any more ideas? Thanks all.

 

[peterhos]

I would worry about corals seeing 'ugly' water conditions during setup and cycling.

I would wait until the cycle is complete and the tank 'settled' before adding.

Good advice. Think I will go slowly with this.

 

[peterhos]

Did you let your 20 yr old live rock dry out?!

Sadly I let it go as it carried soft virals. Bored with those. Will branch out into SPS … with luck.

 

[peterhos]

Sadly I let it go as it carried soft virals. Bored with those. Will branch out into SPS … with luck.

…corals not virals lol…

 

[peterhos]

if you did not move over your live rock I will revolt

if there is much longer delay in updating us with a tank pic I'll revolt

revolt coming lol

Thank you. I will add a picture … how do I do that?

 

[peterhos]

Thank you. I will add a picture … how do I do that?

Can you see this photo? Is it too dark/blue? Camera exaggerates …

 

[taricha]

Not entirely sure about this claim. General consensus is if the rock is dried out, it provides no cycling benefit anymore. Let's see if @taricha can confirm of any potential for dormant bacteria in previously live rock but now dry that would aid in cycling.

Some people have opened porous rock and found it quite wet internally months later. This would not apply to the fake concrete stuff. But aragonite, yes.

Also sometimes people have restarted with their old rock and sand and found cycling seemed to proceed without bottle bacteria additions.

Dr Tim has cited the below info on the forum before
"Nitrosomonas europaea cells starved for weeks, months or even almost a year of ammonium were able to regain their ammonia-oxidizing activity within minutes in batch and retentostat experiments (Wilhelm et al., 1998; Tappe et al., 1999; Laanbroek & Ba ̈r-Gilissen, 2002)."

So it is quite possible that externally dry rock could still house live nitrifiers, and that they could become active and drive the cycle for a new system.
I can't guarantee it'd work. I think a lot could go wrong with the rock or maybe just the amount of bacteria that can seed a new system this way is really low and thus it could be too slow to be practical.

I'd give it a shot though, and have a bottle of biospira on-hand if I lost patience.