Tank upgrade question

[Rython]

Background: My nephew is upgrading his 38g bowfront to a 100g reef ready. We're using new sand and new rock too since he's so infested with algae and kenya trees.

Current Fish: Oscellaris Clown, Carpenter's Flasher Wrasse, Green Chromis
Current Coral that he's keeping: 2 colors of Monti Digi 4" and 6", a 6" bubble coral, a handfull of frag sized zoa colonies, a lobo and 3 small acanlord colonies.

Tell me if i'm totally crazy, but I think this would work:

Set the old tank on the floor on the other side of the room without light for a day but all other electronics running (powerhead, heater, skimmer). Set up the new tank and stand where the old one was. Put the rinsed sand and bleached (but not cycled) Reef Saver Rock in the new tank and fill it with saltwater. Wait a day to make sure there's nothing leaking and let the sand settle.

Then add an 8 x 4 marinepure brick that's been in my tank for over a year to his sump, his new skimmer, chaeto and a fuge light. Add his fish and corals, and dose Microbacter 7 daily for maybe 2 weeks while testing ammonia nitrite and nitrate daily...maybe twice a day? When I see N03 going up without detecting NO2 or Ammonia we've succeeded right?

I think this will work because I think that one Marine Pure brick probably has more bacteria than all his rock would even if that rock had been matured in a cycling tank. In my 60g tank I haven't been able to get detectable nitrate in a year without specifically dosing stump remover and I have twice as many fish as him. I also think even if the bacteria on the rock isn't keeping up with the amonia or nitrite production, the MB7 would, and at some point relatively quickly the bacteria would spread or die off to balance to the available food.

Are there major holes in my logic? Right now my nephew thinks i'm a genius for regurgitating various tidbits i've read from RHF's posts over the years. I really don't want to let him down by killing all his livestock.

 

[NY_Caveman]

Background: My nephew is upgrading his 38g bowfront to a 100g reef ready. We're using new sand and new rock too since he's so infested with algae and kenya trees.

Current Fish: Oscellaris Clown, Carpenter's Flasher Wrasse, Green Chromis
Current Coral that he's keeping: 2 colors of Monti Digi 4" and 6", a 6" bubble coral, a handfull of frag sized zoa colonies, a lobo and 3 small acanlord colonies.

Tell me if i'm totally crazy, but I think this would work:

Set the old tank on the floor on the other side of the room without light for a day but all other electronics running (powerhead, heater, skimmer). Set up the new tank and stand where the old one was. Put the rinsed sand and bleached (but not cycled) Reef Saver Rock in the new tank and fill it with saltwater. Wait a day to make sure there's nothing leaking and let the sand settle.

Then add an 8 x 4 marinepure brick that's been in my tank for over a year to his sump, his new skimmer, chaeto and a fuge light. Add his fish and corals, and dose Microbacter 7 daily for maybe 2 weeks while testing ammonia nitrite and nitrate daily...maybe twice a day? When I see N03 going up without detecting NO2 or Ammonia we've succeeded right?

I think this will work because I think that one Marine Pure brick probably has more bacteria than all his rock would even if that rock had been matured in a cycling tank. In my 60g tank I haven't been able to get detectable nitrate in a year without specifically dosing stump remover and I have twice as many fish as him. I also think even if the bacteria on the rock isn't keeping up with the amonia or nitrite production, the MB7 would, and at some point relatively quickly the bacteria would spread or die off to balance to the available food.

Are there major holes in my logic? Right now my nephew thinks i'm a genius for regurgitating various tidbits i've read from RHF's posts over the years. I really don't want to let him down by killing all his livestock.

Sounds decent. Off my head, two things stick out.

(1) You mention bleached rock. I assume this has long since been dechlorinated or soaked/dried/something to remove all traces of bleach

(2) You may want to wait more than a day to move everything. The longer the rock, sand and marine pure can mature the better I would think. At the least, after a day or a week, test and be sure there is no Ammonia in the tank. Perhaps worth testing PO4 too.

I am no expert, but have moved reef tanks a few times. Perhaps @brandon429 has some ideas. He is the expert on cycling.

 

[NY_Caveman]

Sorry, I misread at first. You have #2 covered.

 

[Rython]

Thanks for your response.

(1) After bleaching for a month, the rock was rinsed and sat in dechlorinated tap water (prime). After a few days the water was tested with chlorine strips and was clean. Then the rock was left out to dry for 3 days.
(2) so you agree the aged MP block covers the nitrogen cycle?

 

[Rython]

My understanding was that the threat with bleach was chlorine. So if the water the rocks had been sitting in doesn't have any chlorine the rocks must be clear of bleach. Is this untrue?

 

[NY_Caveman]

Absolutely unless there is something I am missing. I have not used Marine Pure, but how I understand it it should work perfectly.

EDIT: “Absolutely” was meant in response to the question of Marine Pure and being cycled.

 

[NY_Caveman]

Yes the bleach dissipates quickly anyway and the dechlorinator obviously helps. I bleached my rocks for two weeks, then dechlorinator two weeks and then cured to lower Phosphate. I used RO/DI water though because my tap has Phosphate at 1-2 ppm.

 

[Rython]

Crap. I didn't think about phosphate in the tap. Probably should test for that and deal with it outside the DT since the rocks could have leached it.

Thanks for mentioning that.

 

[Rython]

If there is phosphate in the water I can't think of a reason not to just use Lantham Chloride in some RO water and just shake the rocks clean of any precipitation. Can you?

 

[NY_Caveman]

If there is phosphate in the water I can't think of a reason not to just use Lantham Chloride in some RO water and just shake the rocks clean of any precipitation. Can you?

I have not used it before, but having read many people's experience with it Lantham Chloride should work. Not sure the time frame needed, but probably depends on the level of PO4. Of course, all of this is just my opinion, but it sounds like you know what you are doing anyway. should be an interesting project, perhaps worthy of a build thread. I am sure many would be interested in how it goes with the "instant cycle" or "skip cycle."

If you are interested, I mentioned @brandon429 earlier. He has an excellent thread on cycling I would recommend to anyone:

The microbiology of reef tank cycling.
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/the-microbiology-of-reef-tank-cycling.214618/page-8#post-4564606

 

[Rython]

Thank you for your insight. I have read quite a lot but have little practical experience, so i just wanted to bounce the idea off one or two people with real experience before proceeding.

I will read that thread you linked this evening. Thanks for all the help!