Starting nano with live rock from 60g.

[munkafan]

Hi guys. I have an old Fluval Flex 15g that has been standing empty and looks like ****.

I need some advice on what to watch out for when starting with stuff from my main tank.

Was going to use a big chunk of live rock from my main tank. I have some old dried live rock that is currently in the Fluval tank that I am going to clean. Should I add this later or add when starting up with the live rock from my main?

If anyone have any more input on what I should watch out for or do please let me know.

The nano is going to serve as a quarantine tank for now until I decide what to do with it.

 

[alveopora guy]

I would add all the rock at once so the old stuff has a chance to cure as the tank cycles. The Fluval flex is made for fresh water though so it does have less filtration then the evo would have. So while you have it up as a quarantine make sure to do water changes more frequently then normal and you should be good.

 

[Pistol Peet]

If there's any pests or hitchhikers in the older tank that you don't want in the newer one I definitely watch out for those watch for die off and ammonia spikes.

 

[Pistol Peet]

Die off as in good bacteria bad bacteria algae other things that wood release ammonia phosphate nitrates nitrate anything that you don't want in there as you trying to cycle other than the ammonia and bacteria so the ammonia Part Just for severe spikes

 

[alveopora guy]

Are you using your water from the 60 gallon as well?

 

[munkafan]

I was planning on using water from my 60g. I was actually planning on bleaching the old rock from the Fluval and maybe skipping the cycle. You guys think that would be possible? In that case it would be nothing dying off from the bleached rock as there will only be bacteria filled liverock and water from my 60g.

Thanks for the heads up on the Flex. I have previously been running it like a SW tank and have it setup with In-tank inserts with filtration and everything.

 

[Pistol Peet]

I was planning on using water from my 60g. I was actually planning on bleaching the old rock from the Fluval and maybe skipping the cycle. You guys think that would be possible? In that case it would be nothing dying off from the bleached rock as there will only be bacteria filled liverock and water from my 60g.

Thanks for the heads up on the Flex. I have previously been running it like a SW tank and have it setup with In-tank inserts with filtration and everything.

If you do bleach the Rock hi think it's going to take quite a while to get it back to being in the tank not exactly sure how long but I think it takes a little bit if anybody knows and has done this before hopefully they chimed in

 

[Pistol Peet]

If you do bleach the Rock hi think it's going to take quite a while to get it back to being in the tank not exactly sure how long but I think it takes a little bit if anybody knows and has done this before hopefully they chimed in

I also think I heard somewhere that when you bleach these rocks it is a good idea to lay them out in the sun this may be completely false not sure so hopefully somebody chimes in there too

 

[Dolphins18]

You may want to be careful removing a big chunk of your biological filter from your 60 gallon, do you plan on keeping the 60 gallon going? If you do I would remove minimal rock, no more than 5 pounds. I think you should get some new live rock.
If its a qt tank then just start with dry rock, when you treat with copper it will kill everything on the rock anyway.

 

[Pistol Peet]

You may want to be careful removing a big chunk of your biological filter from your 60 gallon, do you plan on keeping the 60 gallon going? If you do I would remove minimal rock, no more than 5 pounds. I think you should get some new live rock.
If its a qt tank then just start with dry rock, when you treat with copper it will kill everything on the rock anyway.

You know I keep hearing this on forums all over the place I have a quarantine tank go however with just using live sand that I let cycle I put multiple fish with copper in this tank and I have had zero problems with ammonia spikes or anything else due to the bacteria being dead I have dosed Prime with the copper I use copper safe and Prime together the Prime detox the ammonia not sure if this has anything to do with it or not but my ammonia levels always stay good in that quarantine tank

 

[Dolphins18]

You know I keep hearing this on forums all over the place I have a quarantine tank go however with just using live sand that I let cycle I put multiple fish with copper in this tank and I have had zero problems with ammonia spikes or anything else due to the bacteria being dead I have dosed Prime with the copper I use copper safe and Prime together the Prime detox the ammonia not sure if this has anything to do with it or not but my ammonia levels always stay good in that quarantine tank

Right, using prime will neutralize any of it, thats not really the issue. My concern is this 60 is your display tank, removing biological filtration may or may not cause a issue at first, but as your bioload increases you will need that biological filtration.
This is my reasoning for not removing any rock, the 60 gallon is probably starting to mature, and I really think it would be best to leave it.
This is a separate point from what copper does, Copper kills pretty much everything, as long as you use prime there wont be any spike, and if there is no significant die off as a result of the copper, then you dont really even need prime as things wont spike, though id always use it just in case. Theres almost no time where a test will show ammonia after dosing the tank with prime. Biological filtration is still there, but just about everything that makes the rock "live" will die from copper, so I don't understand why move any live rock from your tank if you plan treating it with copper.

 

[Pistol Peet]

Right, using prime will neutralize any of it, thats not really the issue. My concern is this 60 is your display tank, removing biological filtration may or may not cause a issue at first, but as your bioload increases you will need that biological filtration.
This is my reasoning for not removing any rock, the 60 gallon is probably starting to mature, and I really think it would be best to leave it.
This is a separate point from what copper does, Copper kills pretty much everything, as long as you use prime there wont be any spike, and if there is no significant die off as a result of the copper, then you dont really even need prime as things wont spike, though id always use it just in case. Theres almost no time where a test will show ammonia after dosing the tank with prime. Biological filtration is still there, but just about everything that makes the rock "live" will die from copper, so I don't understand why move any live rock from your tank if you plan treating it with copper.

Correct book Prime does not change the levels of ammonia in the tank so when you test whether there's huge spikes or not it's not that there isn't a spike it's just that detoxifies the ammonia from that so you can still accurately test ammonia levels and if they stay at 0 or 0.01 0.02 what is the cause that if all the bacteria has died

 

[munkafan]

Right, using prime will neutralize any of it, thats not really the issue. My concern is this 60 is your display tank, removing biological filtration may or may not cause a issue at first, but as your bioload increases you will need that biological filtration.
This is my reasoning for not removing any rock, the 60 gallon is probably starting to mature, and I really think it would be best to leave it.
This is a separate point from what copper does, Copper kills pretty much everything, as long as you use prime there wont be any spike, and if there is no significant die off as a result of the copper, then you dont really even need prime as things wont spike, though id always use it just in case. Theres almost no time where a test will show ammonia after dosing the tank with prime. Biological filtration is still there, but just about everything that makes the rock "live" will die from copper, so I don't understand why move any live rock from your tank if you plan treating it with copper.

I am not very worried about the filtration on the 60g. Running about 70lbs rock in that and also marinepure blocks in the sump. Also running very little livestock as it is my coral tank.

 

[Dolphins18]

I am not very worried about the filtration on the 60g. Running about 70lbs rock in that and also marinepure blocks in the sump. Also running very little livestock as it is my coral tank.

OK I mean if its just like 10-15 lbs its probably fine, I still would try and do it over a week or two period if possible, but be aware if you do treat with copper in that tank most of the life on the rocks will die, so at that point you may as well just use dry rock.