Still looking for the answer

[PghReef]

Setting up a qt for coral and inverts. 29 gallon simple setup.

If I add 10 gallons of water from the dt, a cup or sand, a small piece of liverock, and sponges from hob filter will the tank be instantly cycled?

Maybe wait a week and then safe to add corals and snails?

 

[Alexreefer]

Setting up a qt for coral and inverts. 29 gallon simple setup.

If I add 10 gallons of water from the dt, a cup or sand, a small piece of liverock, and sponges from hob filter will the tank be instantly cycled?

Maybe wait a week and then safe to add corals and snails?

I would put in some bottled bac like turbo start and have the sponge filter run for a day or two and you should be good

 

[Crabs McJones]

Agree with above, except I'd use bio spira. That stuff is amazing. Use it in quarantine and never have ammonia issues

 

[mtraylor]

I have setup qt tanks with 100% main fish water with sand and a few nice pieces of of live rock and put fish immediately in there. No issues. Jus TV use some of the reccomended additives to keep parms jn check if the move. Prime is good as well. Be sure to add air stone to keep oxggen up

 

[lapin]

+1 above
Plus you are not adding fish so you will not be feeding things that create a lot of waste

 

[mattdg]

The stuff you put in will be cycled, if it was well established in the original tank. The newly set up tank, maybe not.

The act of moving established live sand is going to kill off some of the bacteria and benthic life in it. That means your system is going to need to work over time to filter that out, which is why it can't hurt to add some off the shelf bacteria and a good skimmer. Perhaps using live rock only, may be better. Another thing to consider is the bacteria and filter feeding fauna in an established system. The newly set up tank will tank some time to populate.

I have set up quarantine systems that have been ready in 3 weeks (proper Ammonia, Nitrite, Nitrate, Phosphate) and some that have taken several months, based on the size of the tank, amount of established LR, sponges and equipment being used, all sorts of variables much like everything in this hobby. There may not be one answer to your question.

 

[ca1ore]

As long as the seeded media is of sufficient volume, the tank will be able to process wastes right away. I typically use about a cup of seeded biomedia (rings, matrix, etc.) for a 20L that holds four medium fish max.

 

[PghReef]

Thanks for all the comments and advice above. Maybe I will leave the sand out if it will cause a problem. I figured wouldn't have muh of a cycle, when I set up a qt for fish in the past I just used the filters from the dt and never saw an ammonia spike. I figured corals make almost no bio load so nutrients shouldnt be an issue but wasnt sure if the water chemistry would be to unstable for a few lps