Skipping a tank cycle?

[kyley]

Hi All,
Bear with me for some background... I'm working on an upgrade from a 65g to a 120g tank. I bought the 120 while it was in use, broke it down, and put the live rock in a 40 breeder and also got some new live rock that had been sitting damp for a month which I put in a 10g tank. All the rock has been sitting in those tanks for about 3-4 weeks and I've been feeding them too (and keeping flow, air stones, and heat on them). I tested the water in those tanks today and found that Ammonia and Nitrite are both 0. Several days ago I added dry, well-rinsed sand to the 120 and some of the live rock. Ammonia and nitrite are 0 there too.

So my question... Think I can safely add my 3 tangs to the 120 now? I don't really think I will have a cycle - especially since the rock is clearly processing the ammonia. And I don't see a better / safer option.

Reason? I have 2 (know healthy) tangs (hippo and sailfin) in a quarantine tank (with 2 sponge filters) and found the ammonia is at 1 - after less than 2 days of being in the QT! Even after a water change. I have a yellow tang in my 65g. I'd like to introduce all 3 now (if I can catch the yellow) so that they're on equal footing and because I don't think I can keep ammonia under control in the 30g. Think this will be okay? FYI, the hippo and yellow are about 4" and the sailfin is about 5" or slightly more. Thanks,
--Kyle

 

[BadFish619]

Well adding the fish to the tank will obviously raise your ammonia level. I guess if u gave enough bacteria to handle the addition it should go ok. Are you getting a nitrate reading? Adding new fish will spike ammonia, after doing so your beneficial bacteria will need to grow (it takes a few days or more) then convert it to nitrite then into nitrate. As long as your tank is processing the ammonia then you should be fine.

 

[Flippers4pups]

Though not ideal by any means, you could do this, but I would at least add some bacteria to the new tank like Bio-spira. Monitor the ammonia levels daily till in the clear.

 

[kyley]

Thanks all. I do have some bio Spira to add. And I've been feeding the tanks with the rocks in them, so they've been handling some load.

 

[Gregg @ ADP]

The important thing to remember about cycling is that the cycle first has to start, and that’s the hard part...going from essentially sterile to having viable populations of nitrifying bacteria.

Unless the rock from the previous tank was sterilized, dried out, etc, then nitrifying bacteria are present. If you just took the live rock out of a running system and put it into another system, then you’re pretty much good to go. You’re not skipping the cycle. You’re already cycling.

The only hang up you can run into when adding fish is not having enough bacteria to process through the increased NH3/4 and NO2...a situation that will resolve itself in a day or two.

 

[kyley]

Thanks. Yeah, most of the rock had already cycled. The only issue is that some rock I'm using had just been damp in a bucket for a month, but even that has apparently cycled during the last several weeks.
--Kyle

 

[Gregg @ ADP]

Thanks. Yeah, most of the rock had already cycled. The only issue is that some rock I'm using had just been damp in a bucket for a month, but even that has apparently cycled during the last several weeks.
--Kyle

Just to see how it would unfold, I once started a few tanks using aragonite that had been sitting in buckets for over a year and was all but dry. No rocks, just the sand...just to see how long it would take to get cycling (and by cycling, I mean NH3 and NO2 @ 0 and NO3 present).

It took about 3 days.

Nitrifying bacteria can go dormant, apparently for as long as they have to. Not to mention...aragonite has tremendous porosity (as does live rock), so even dry on the outside doesn’t mean there isn’t enough moisture w/in the structure to keep bacterial populations viable.

 

[kyley]

That makes sense. Thanks Gregg!
--Kyle

 

[TRIGGER SHARKFIST]

I shifted a well established tank into a bigger new tank.

Moved water and bio filtration etc but still had problems.

Lost a Regal tang, Clown fish and even a Damsel after about 4 weeks.
Keep a close eye on levels as not guaranteed to not have spikes.

 

[brandon429]

the cause of loss there is dealing with detritus clouds. We have 23 pages of tank transfers and moves, the sand rinse thread, and no such fish loss because we 1000% do not move over detritus and half rotten waste...that's the locus of the recycle.

its never lack of bac unless the live rock move over was downgraded to like 10% of original.

live rock is such a powerful surface area, in our sand rinse thread we don't even lose tanks/animals reducing the lr by a sig amnt