Just so crazy with a Pico, Nano tank

[DebraLV]

+1…. When I need to get something from petco I usually find it on their site cheaper than what they tag it for at the store and they honor the online price….always. I’ve saved money being “that guy” lol.

Yes! I am that Girl Too! I go to the store to pick up an online order. It's near closing. I'm hovering in the aisle to get a signal on my phone to compare online pricing as you have to show them to the cashier so they can honor it.

Petco stores have yucky WiFi and is super slow on my phone. I'm all nervous and trying to pull up the online price at the register, hovering and letting everyone in front of me. I'm sure the line ahead of me while I'm hovering are thinking I'm trying to shoplift something.

 

[DebraLV]

Hey Guys! My tank is fully cycled and my juvenile damsels are doing well.

I took the advice about Damsels being so small that they will get up to 3 inches even though Yellow Tails are on the smaller side of the species.

Anyway I took advantage of the Fluval 13.5 gallon at Petco for 20% curbside pickup, Amazon rewards and all that good stuff. I also ordered 20 lbs of live sand from Caribsea too. I have a bunch of dry base rock leftover and a huge arch of "life" rock which I plan to place in my new tank. It will be left alone for about a month as I am no hurry to get it cycled.

My question is...can I just add distilled water (13 gallons) directly to my new tank and THEN dump the salt in (1/2 cup per gallon) and just let it settle? Or do I have to pre mix. I plan on grabbing 13 gallons of distilled tomorrow when I pick up my tank. I will have the pump running, plus a wavemaker and possibly an airstone. Of Note, no fish will be in for a month and no testing.

I only plan on keeping my Damsels and transferring and putting in a Goby to sand shift on my new tank. No corals, just a fowler tank. Also do I need to run the heater while my new tank is cycling?

Here's a pic of my fully cycled Nano Tank. I know way too much sand. I'm asking for advice if I can "seed" a couple of cups to my new tank, little by little while not getting my Damsels all upset.

 

[Spieg]

Yes, as long as you have no livestock or bacteria you want to save, you can add distilled water and then mix the salt in tank. This is how i usually do it with a new tank. You do want to have a heater running for the cycle, but don't need a light right away.

 

[DrZoidburg]

If no fish are in there you can mix salt. Everything else sounds ok. No fish in a month bacteria might go dormant. Might consider ghost feeding, and testing.

 

[LaloJ]

I'm not sure you can get your water to mix directly in the tank, I always prefer to take my time and mix the water separately if I'm going to install a new tank.
If you are placing live carib sea sand and want to take enough time with the new tank there is no reason to remove sand from your current nano.

 

[DebraLV]

Yes, as long as you have no livestock or bacteria you want to save, you can add distilled water and then mix the salt in tank. This is how i usually do it with a new tank. You do want to have a heater running for the cycle, but don't need a light right away.

Thanks, I'm still coming off a freshly cycled tank so I don't wanna do the pre mixed again so soon. I'm just wondering if I can little by little take out live sand from my pre existing tank while the cycling goes on in my new one? I have way too much sand in there. I overestimated how much I needed.

 

[DebraLV]

If no fish are in there you can mix salt. Everything else sounds ok. No fish in a month bacteria might go dormant. Might consider ghost feeding, and testing.

Noted!

 

[DebraLV]

I'm not sure you can get your water to mix directly in the tank, I always prefer to take my time and mix the water separately if I'm going to install a new tank.
If you are placing live carib sea sand and want to take enough time with the new tank there is no reason to remove sand from your current nano.

I will be running it bare for a month with a wavemaker and stock pump. I might pop in an air stone. It's just a b**to premix. I'm thinking since it's sitting there with nothing in it but dry rock and live sand, I'd let Mother Nature do her work?

 

[LaloJ]

The living sand should do its job, but it would also add a little liquid bacteria, I think it never hurts. Start your tank and take it easy.

 

[FishyFishFish]

If you're finding it difficult to mix the saltwater outside the tank, I would think of ways to make that easier. You may be doing that often (depending on how much you mix in one go) for water changes, and if it becomes a chore then it might influence when you do a water change (i.e. you might stop doing them!).

Mixing water and salt in the tank is fine IMO, if there is no livestock in it. You don't ever want to add salt directly to the tank (for example. to raise salinity) once you do have living things in it.

I wouldn't bother with a wavemaker or airstone for cycling; the return pump alone will be fine. I'm only now about to put a small powerhead in my Evo, and it has been running since February,

 

[FishyFishFish]

And as for the sand, it's not usually a great idea to re-use sand without thoroughly cleaning it first, but in your case with the tank so new I would think that it would be ok.

I have 10lb of sand in my Evo and I think that is about right.

 

[DebraLV]

And as for the sand, it's not usually a great idea to re-use sand without thoroughly cleaning it first, but in your case with the tank so new I would think that it would be ok.

I have 10lb of sand in my Evo and I think that is about right.

I know now to run a heater while it cycles with dry, base rock and a big arch of Caribsea "life" rock.
Since my original tank has only been cycling complete for a few days, I will throw a cup of live sand daily into my new tank. God knows I bought way too much for a small tank. I was just worried, daily removing a cup of sand would freak my damsels out which are doing so well.
The tank will just cycle for a good month before I put a thing in it. Maybe I will test after a week. I thank you guys and gals so much for the expert help!

 

[DebraLV]

I know now to run a heater while it cycles with dry, base rock and a big arch of Caribsea "life" rock.
Since my original tank has only been cycling complete for a few days, I will throw a cup of live sand daily into my new tank. God knows I bought way too much for a small tank. I was just worried, daily removing a cup of sand would freak my damsels out which are doing so well.
The tank will just cycle for a good month before I put a thing in it. Maybe I will test after a week. I thank you guys and gals so much for the expert help!

And as for the sand, it's not usually a great idea to re-use sand without thoroughly cleaning it first, but in your case with the tank so new I would think that it would be ok.

I have 10lb of sand in my Evo and I think that is about right.

Thanks everyone for 100% Help! I do appreciate each and every one of you. I originally wanted the Fluval 13.5 and I did order it from Petco for curbside. But then I saw this neat, Aqueon LED Ascent 10 gallon so I changed my mind as women often do. So, I bought that instead.
The filter, it came with was a cheapie 60 gph pump. So...I swapped it out for a Marineland 100 gph that I bought a week ago with a Biowheel. Amazon had them for 10 bucks, so I grabbed it. I've heard bad things about Biowheels as it raises nitrates, so I took it out and ordered Fluval bio rings arriving tomorrow.

I actually stole 10 lbs of live sand from my small tank which has cycled. My two juvie damsels were a little ticked but in an hour when the tank cleared, they were back to swimming mid stream. So many on here have told me, 20 lbs was way too much for an 8.5 gallon tank, so I stole some.

I do listen to all you guys one here and consensus was two, yellow tail damsels was way too small for the tank I have. So I decided to upgrade. I do realize it is still so small (10 gallon for Damsels)

It's still so small. I do have 1" of live sand that I seeded from my original tank as it's only been 100% cyled for about a week. I really only plan on my Damsels and maybe a Goby to sand sift.

This tank will cycle for a month as I know the drill from you guys. I may go pick up Dr. Tims One and Only in a week or so, but it the meantime, I will just let Mother Nature take course. I'm wondering if I should stick a wavemaker in to circulate the water? I did use 10 gallons of pre-treated with salt, distilled water.
I will turn on the heater tomorrow. Right now, I'm only running the Marineland Penguin 20 gallon pump. I was told it cycles 100 gph. My tank is cloudy as ****, but I do have 10lbs of live sand, base rock and Nano arches of Caribsea "life" rock. You just can't see that just yet