Hello!

reef lover · May 9, 2020

Welcome to r2r!

DeniseAndy · May 9, 2020

akelly310 said:
Hello all,

I’m new to reef2reef and I am currently working on build my first reef tank. I have had a fish only salt water tank a few years ago, but had to tear it down. I’ll have many questions for sure, so I look forward to the forum. Welcome!

My first question is regarding the cycle in a new tank. I am going to be inheriting a pair of clownfish from a family member. These Clown fish are paired and about 3-4 years old and have been living in a 30 gal tank with live rock and a few snails. I am setting up a 55 gallon tank currently. If I am going to take the live rock and the clowns, do I need to follow a typical new tank cycle or are they safe to add right away once I have the tank filled with additional water and sand? If you are taking the live rock, you should not have any issue with a tank cycle. Get the tank ready with the water and sand (making sure to rinse the sand really well! Dry sand is just fine.) Make sure salinity and temperature is good. Then as you move the live rock over, keep it in water to avoid any die off. Then as you move between transport bucket and tank, have a tub to rinse it off and remove any algae. This needs to be saltwater rinse. I would shake it around and inspect it good before then putting it in a rinse of saltwater and moving to tank. After all rock in, should be fine to add fish. I would probably add some type of bacteria to just boost the removal of anything that pops up. You will skip the normal cycle completely. I do this often with nanos and picos.

How should I handle this move to make it safe for the fish? How would you go about doing this? As quickly as possible.
I do not have the tank up yet, so I will be starting from scratch.

Brandon Smith · May 9, 2020

Jaebster · May 9, 2020

Hi! Welcome to R2R!!!

Darsh · May 9, 2020

Welcome!!
If it were me I'd move the rock and fish together, just give the rock a quick clean in old tank water. Then feed the fish lightly for the first few days.

Do you have any pics of the 30 gallon? You might be able to use the old sand but it can be risky. So I'd either wash it really well in tap water to kill and clean it and reuse it or just dump it and get new sand.

akelly310 · May 9, 2020

Darsh said:
Welcome!!
If it were me I'd move the rock and fish together, just give the rock a quick clean in old tank water. Then feed the fish lightly for the first few days.

Do you have any pics of the 30 gallon? You might be able to use the old sand but it can be risky. So I'd either wash it really well in tap water to kill and clean it and reuse it or just dump it and get new sand.

i can try to get some pics before the move, but I don’t have them at the moment. If I go with new sand, should I buy live sand?