Cycling qt with established live rock

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Hello guys

I am currently starting up my qt and i reckon that i can use my established live rock from my display and place one in my qt as i have red it will do instant cycle. But does anyone know how long should i actually wait? I tested nitrate and its at 0

 

[Lost in the Sauce]

As soon as you remove the LR if you need to medicate, your cycle is gone.

 

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As soon as you remove the LR if you need to medicate, your cycle is gone.

How do you reckon doing it then? Whats a good step by step to instantly cycle a qt. I know using water in my dt wont do anything but i filled my 10g qt with dt water and a single live rock but the filter was new tho

 

[Lost in the Sauce]

I have a sponge filter that stays cycled. Are you trying to do this on a short timeframe?

 

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I have a sponge filter that stays cycled. Are you trying to do this on a short timeframe?

Yes i am trying to do this as soon as possible because I have a fish in my dt that has ich, i only have 1 fish in my dt tho but i dont want to put copper and other medication in to my dt, so i am trying to find a way to medicate my fish asap. I believe ich cant live without a host so I will do fishless dt for 2 months

 

[BostonReefer300]

I keep bags of ceramic bio-spheres in my sump. When I need to start up my QT, I just move some bags over to my little QT, add water (either from my DT or freshly made), start up my HOB unit, add a healthy dose of whatever appropriate bacterial product I have on hand (Biospira, Microbacter7, etc.), and the QT is ready to go. In my 10G QT, my 5 pounds of bio-spheres plus the HOB bio-wheel (seeded with the bacterial product) provide plenty of biological filtration capacity instantly. There's no cycle to worry about. By the way, you should primarily be monitoring ammonia levels rather than nitrate if you're worried about your biofilter keeping pace with whatever livestock load you're putting in your QT

 

[BostonReefer300]

I keep bags of ceramic bio-spheres in my sump. When I need to start up my QT, I just move some bags over to my little QT, add water (either from my DT or freshly made), start up my HOB unit, add a healthy dose of whatever appropriate bacterial product I have on hand (Biospira, Microbacter7, etc.), and the QT is ready to go. In my 10G QT, my 5 pounds of bio-spheres plus the HOB bio-wheel (seeded with the bacterial product) provide plenty of biological filtration capacity instantly. There's no cycle to worry about. By the way, you should primarily be monitoring ammonia levels rather than nitrate if you're worried about your biofilter keeping pace with whatever livestock load you're putting in your QT

Forgot to mention, like Lost in the Sauce, I also keep a sponge filter in my sump. I use this in my QT with an air pump if I need to use meds in QT that can lower oxygenation.

 

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I keep bags of ceramic bio-spheres in my sump. When I need to start up my QT, I just move some bags over to my little QT, add water (either from my DT or freshly made), start up my HOB unit, add a healthy dose of whatever appropriate bacterial product I have on hand (Biospira, Microbacter7, etc.), and the QT is ready to go. In my 10G QT, my 5 pounds of bio-spheres plus the HOB bio-wheel (seeded with the bacterial product) provide plenty of biological filtration capacity instantly. There's no cycle to worry about. By the way, you should primarily be monitoring ammonia levels rather than nitrate if you're worried about your biofilter keeping pace with whatever livestock load you're putting in your QT

Would a plastic design that i bought from petsmart help if i place it onto my dt then later transfer it to my qt? I bought it just for the sake of hiding spot because my gf preferred that than having pvc pipes