I need someone knowledgeable in the hobby.

xxjokerxx0415 · Feb 21, 2022

I have a 10 gallon saltwater reef aquarium. There is live rock, two paired clown fish, a skunk shrimp, a baby conch I found in the ocean that I saved from being eaten by another conch, a freshwater/saltwater nerite snail, a orange spotted gobie, and a baby emerald crab, a few Kenya trees and two mushrooms. Ammonia 0 nitrite 0 nitrate 0.5 calcium 400 kh 9-10 phosphate 0.5. I already want a bigger tank lol. The 10 gallon is a trail run and I’m honestly surprised I’m how well it’s going for such a small tank. Is there anyone who has taken one of there tanks and transferred it into a larger tank. For example in the freshwater community, I have taken my filter cartridge, some gravel, or piece of driftwood placed into a brand new tank and my tank would cycle immediately. Like the next day. Is this possible for saltwater? Tank is exactly 1 month 7weeks and 5days old.

Jedi1199 · Feb 21, 2022

Yes, this is perfectly acceptable. Your rocks, and filter media contain all of the bacteria you need to easily skip-cycle a new larger tank! (unless of course you are going to jump from a 10g to like 200g) lol

xxjokerxx0415 · Feb 21, 2022

lol definitely not doing that I’ll be jumping to a 36 maybe 40 gallon bow front.

monkeyCmonkeyDo · Feb 21, 2022

Yes this is acceptable. Your tank at being only 2 months old. Idk...
Maybe.
D

Miami Reef · Feb 21, 2022

xxjokerxx0415 said:
lol definitely not doing that I’ll be jumping to a 36 maybe 40 gallon bow front.

I don’t like bow fronts because the fish/corals will look very distorted, especially if the tank is made of glass.

Jedi1199 · Feb 21, 2022

For example... When I set up my 55g.. I used 2 large pieces of rock from another tank and skip-cycled no problem.
The same 2 pieces of rock later skip-cycled my 180.

I have NEVER used bottled bacteria, and never will.

Jedi1199 · Feb 21, 2022

xxjokerxx0415 said:
lol definitely not doing that I’ll be jumping to a 36 maybe 40 gallon bow front.

You will be fine to skip-cycle in this case. Don't even give it a second thought.

Give it 2 weeks to establish and then you can start adding new fish.

xxjokerxx0415 · Feb 21, 2022

Jedi1199 said:
For example... When I set up my 55g.. I used 2 large pieces of rock from another tank and skip-cycled no problem.
The same 2 pieces of rock later skip-cycled my 180.

I have NEVER used bottled bacteria, and never will.

Awesome awesome awesome!!! I love this! Thank you so much for sharing your knowledge lol. Super excited

Chrisv. · Feb 21, 2022

Jedi1199 said:
For example... When I set up my 55g.. I used 2 large pieces of rock from another tank and skip-cycled no problem.
The same 2 pieces of rock later skip-cycled my 180.

I have NEVER used bottled bacteria, and never will.

Wow. Cool that it was enough. I guess I would have expected that you would need a lot more rock to pull that off.

xxjokerxx0415 · Feb 21, 2022

Miami Reef said:
I don’t like bow fronts because the fish/corals will look very distorted, especially if the tank is made of glass.

Yeah I’m not really worried about that and with Jedi 1199 experience in cycling if I don’t like it I can wait a couple months and swap to another tank lol. Thank you for your opinion though

Jedi1199 · Feb 21, 2022

Chrisv. said:
Wow. Cool that it was enough. I guess I would have expected that you would need a lot more rock to pull that off.

Ok... Allow me to clarify this.

Yes I used 2 medium-large pieces of rock from my 55g to skip-cycle my 180. (each piece is maybe 7 Lbs.)

I ALSO, added fish slowly to the tanks.. allowing enough time between additions for the cycle to "catch up" to the bioload.

I am not advising that anyone attempt in any way to attempt to skip cycle a tank and add a bioload that the tank can't handle.

As with any new setup, even skip-cycled, you should be aware of what your system can process before adding any new inhabitants.

xxjokerxx0415 · Feb 21, 2022

Chrisv. said:
Wow. Cool that it was enough. I guess I would have expected that you would need a lot more rock to pull that off.

It’s kind of a science. If you’ve had freshwater before you’d think that “if it can be down in freshwater why not in saltwater? they are both body’s of water?” What makes one move slower than the other? All body’s of water have bacteria in it. Why could this not be possible? It’s the most reliable source of bacteria you can gather compared to pet stores.

xxjokerxx0415 · Feb 21, 2022

Jedi1199 said:
Ok... Allow me to clarify this.

Yes I used 2 medium-large pieces of rock from my 55g to skip-cycle my 180. (each piece is maybe 7 Lbs.)

I ALSO, added fish slowly to the tanks.. allowing enough time between additions for the cycle to "catch up" to the bioload.

I am not advising that anyone attempt in any way to attempt to skip cycle a tank and add a bioload that the tank can't handle.

As with any new setup, even skip-cycled, you should be aware of what your system can process before adding any new inhabitants.

Exactly like a freshwater tank in that sense. It’s not going to take 30+ days for this tank to cycle. I actually believe this is much simpler than how people make it seem.

Jedi1199 · Feb 21, 2022

xxjokerxx0415 said:
Exactly like a freshwater tank in that sense. It’s not going to take 30+ days for this tank to cycle. I actually believe this is much simpler than how people make it seem.

Yes! It is exactly the same. The bacterial colonies are different of course, but the cycling science is identical!!

xxjokerxx0415 · Feb 21, 2022

Jedi1199 said:
Ok... Allow me to clarify this.

Yes I used 2 medium-large pieces of rock from my 55g to skip-cycle my 180. (each piece is maybe 7 Lbs.)

I ALSO, added fish slowly to the tanks.. allowing enough time between additions for the cycle to "catch up" to the bioload.

I am not advising that anyone attempt in any way to attempt to skip cycle a tank and add a bioload that the tank can't handle.

As with any new setup, even skip-cycled, you should be aware of what your system can process before adding any new inhabitants.

Plus if I was to upgrade I’m definitely dropping more live rock in the tank than what I actually have in the 10gallon. I don’t want a empty tank I just want to be able to clean my glass and the back of aquarium.

xxjokerxx0415 · Feb 21, 2022

Jedi1199 said:
Yes! It is exactly the same. The bacterial colonies are different of course, but the cycling science is identical!!

Dude we’re just risk takers that know how to cycle without the 30+ day cycle lol. It’s a simple science. I guess people are just worried because of how expensive fish can be in this hobby. And no one wants to risk marine life dying. It is a heart breaking thing to see. But awesome man I really appreciate the knowledge Jedi.

Jedi1199 · Feb 22, 2022

xxjokerxx0415 said:
Dude we’re just risk takers that know how to cycle without the 30+ day cycle lol. It’s a simple science. I guess people are just worried because of how expensive fish can be in this hobby. And no one wants to risk marine life dying. It is a heart breaking thing to see. But awesome man I really appreciate the knowledge Jedi.

I base my advice on personal experience. You will never see me parrot any advice based on reading. If I do not have firsthand experience, I will quote the source for my information. I have 30+ years of FW aquarium keeping. The branch into SW was seamless for me. I simply cycled my tank using the exact same experience I learned from my FW tanks.

The biggest difference between FW and SW, in my experience, is LIGHTS! Don't go cheap here. If you really want a reef tank that makes a showpiece in your home, get the best lights you can (or can't) afford. Yes, $1000 or more is a LOT of money, but its a buy it once and be happy kind of thing. You can get cheap Chinese black box lights, and they will sustain your tank, but ultimately, you will upgrade later.

Again, this advice is based on firsthand experience.

I tried several Chinese black box lights on my tank. I got a good deal on a pair of Kessil A360x lights on black Friday and the difference in my tank is awe inspiring. The growth I see on my corals is breathtaking. What are considered to be "easy" SPS corals That died on me in weeks before, now are growing at an unbelievable rate!!

xxjokerxx0415 · Feb 22, 2022

Jedi1199 said:
I base my advice on personal experience. You will never see me parrot any advice based on reading. If I do not have firsthand experience, I will quote the source for my information. I have 30+ years of FW aquarium keeping. The branch into SW was seamless for me. I simply cycled my tank using the exact same experience I learned from my FW tanks.

The biggest difference between FW and SW, in my experience, is LIGHTS! Don't go cheap here. If you really want a reef tank that makes a showpiece in your home, get the best lights you can (or can't) afford. Yes, $1000 or more is a LOT of money, but its a buy it once and be happy kind of thing. You can get cheap Chinese black box lights, and they will sustain your tank, but ultimately, you will upgrade later.

Again, this advice is based on firsthand experience.

I tried several Chinese black box lights on my tank. I got a good deal on a pair of Kessil A360x lights on black Friday and the difference in my tank is awe inspiring. The growth I see on my corals is breathtaking. What are considered to be "easy" SPS corals That died on me in weeks before, now are growing at an unbelievable rate!!

I have 13 years in FW aquariums. And I agree. Lighting is a big difference lol. I don’t know about dropping 1000 on a light fixture or buying those ugly Chinese box lights. Just not my style. Lighting is something that is changing in this hobby as well. My father in law has a beautiful 150g with all kinds of coral in it no hard corals mostly leather mushrooms and polyps. He has a neat 200 dollar led light fixture and all his coral grows like wildfire. And it has a tone of settings on it.

dedragon · Feb 22, 2022

you can go cheaper a bit now with options like smatfarms, noopsych, and nicrew. Then there are the add on options like orphek or3 bars or reefbrite that you can add as you get more light demanding corals or want a different visual light spectrum

dedragon · Feb 22, 2022

xxjokerxx0415 said:
beautiful 150g with all kinds of coral in it no hard corals mostly leather mushrooms and polyps. He has a neat 200 dollar led light fixture and all his coral grows like wildfire. And it has a tone of settings on it.

Those work but best for only softies as they require very little light, easier to just put $200 towards an led that can be expanded upon in the future and still look good as a unit