Tank Cycling

CaseyC33 · Jun 30, 2023

Hey all,

I have had 2 clownfish and a pistol shrimp in a 5.5 (I know) for quite some time now. I knew we were moving and have a 40 breeder waiting to go.

My question… best way to establish tank? Obviously I will use live rock from the current set up but how much and how long should i wait before adding the clowns? I also have 40lbs live sand.

My thought is to try to put live rock in the day before and then bring the 3 in tank water and drip acclimate while I put on the aquaclear from the established tank and let that run.

I figure this will keep enough BB in the tank to feed their ammonia and colonize the new rock. I don’t really want to put live rock in the tank and have it sit with no ammonia source and I don’t want to add ammonia.

Need to mention I am somewhat short on time so full cycle with dr. tims isn’t going to work.

Thoughts and criticism welcome!

Casey

brandon429 · Jun 30, 2023

You can't starve a cycle from rocks, so submerging in water and not adding any ammonia keeps the cycle viable just fine. If you're moving over the bulk of the existing live rock it'll just skip cycle and be instantly ready

CaseyC33 · Jul 1, 2023

so would it be better to just add everything same day? Is there a point in drip acclimating? maybe just temperature acclimate and release? it wouldnt be an issue to take all of the existing live rock and add at once

brandon429 · Jul 1, 2023

Agreed if you match temp and salinity it'll be fine no drip needed. Check out any job here below, this entire thread is either moving reef tanks or cleaning one by taking it fully apart then putting back together which is the step you're at. We make sure there is no waste clouding, totally clean water, all the live rock from prior in place, then we add in all the animals immediately.

Official Sand Rinse and Tank Transfer thread

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