Cycling or Not?
Moderator: snoopdog
Cycling or Not?
If we set up the 55, place some LR & LS in it, take 30 gallons water from existing tank (water change), and 15-20 gal fresh SW, Would it be considered cycled already or would it still need to go through the whole cycling process?
Karen
cycling
Using well established live rock and live sand from a healthy existing tank is much more important than using the water from the old tank. even though some nitrifying bacteria exist in the water column itself, the real cycling work is done by the colonies that live on and in the rock and sand.
There is nothing really worth keeping about the old water from the other tank. If there was you wouldn't be doing the water change to start with.
If you transfer a large enough quantity of established rock and sand then you can certainly consider the tank cycled.
Think of it this way: True cycling of the typical "new tank" is the period starting from when a tank-full of biologically inactive ingredients (glass, sand, rock, water, salt etc.) begin to be polluted with ammonia and ending when there is sufficient bacteria present to consume all the ammonia that is being produced, thereby achieving "balance".
In the typical new tank the ammonia spikes to very high levels simply because there is nothing in the tank to eat it. But if you transfer LR & LS from an established tank you are literally installing a bio-filter of rock and sand that contains colonies of bacteria just waiting to be fed. You won't have to go through that biological limbo period of soaring ammonia readings waiting for mother nature to magically drop that first pair of bacterial newlyweds into the water, and then wait for them to be fruitful and multiply.
Just remember though, when you transplant established colonies they have to be fed. If you put them in an empty tank with no bioload they will starve to death.
There is nothing really worth keeping about the old water from the other tank. If there was you wouldn't be doing the water change to start with.
If you transfer a large enough quantity of established rock and sand then you can certainly consider the tank cycled.
Think of it this way: True cycling of the typical "new tank" is the period starting from when a tank-full of biologically inactive ingredients (glass, sand, rock, water, salt etc.) begin to be polluted with ammonia and ending when there is sufficient bacteria present to consume all the ammonia that is being produced, thereby achieving "balance".
In the typical new tank the ammonia spikes to very high levels simply because there is nothing in the tank to eat it. But if you transfer LR & LS from an established tank you are literally installing a bio-filter of rock and sand that contains colonies of bacteria just waiting to be fed. You won't have to go through that biological limbo period of soaring ammonia readings waiting for mother nature to magically drop that first pair of bacterial newlyweds into the water, and then wait for them to be fruitful and multiply.
Just remember though, when you transplant established colonies they have to be fed. If you put them in an empty tank with no bioload they will starve to death.
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KrazyPlace
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Re: cycling
When you move live sand it will have a significant ammonia spike in both the system that it came from and the system you move it too. You will also loose the majority of the anaerobic bacteria that denitrifies the nitrates because it will be exposed to oxygen rich water during the transfer. You will have a new cycling stage when you disturb the sand.old salty wrote:Using well established live rock and live sand from a healthy existing tank is much more important than using the water from the old tank...If you transfer a large enough quantity of established rock and sand then you can certainly consider the tank cycled...
Old Salty has a very good point about the live rock, but I'd have to disagree with the live sand. I would restart with clean sand and "seed it" with a cup of sand from several sources. There is no need to rush the new tank unless there is an emergency.
Wind me up!
First off I don't have a very deep sand bed.. I don't trust them. Probably 2". My tank had been setup for approx 18 month, and we just scooped up the sand and moved it in trashcans with some water on it. It didn't smell at all, none of that rotting or sulfur smell, so we just pitched it into the tank when it was set up again at the new house. The water was cloudy until I hooked up the skimmer the next day. After hooking up the skimmer, it cleared up in 30 minutes. Tank has not cycled again, as far as I can tell.
If it was a very deep sand bed 5-6" , I would have just siphoned off the first inch or two and moved that, but no problems with my shallow sand bed.
If it was a very deep sand bed 5-6" , I would have just siphoned off the first inch or two and moved that, but no problems with my shallow sand bed.
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Scott
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I have read in other posts that if you reuse a sandbed you will have some sort of a cycle. It might be very limited though. If you use good live rock and new sand you actually have less of a cycle. I have not experienced this myself except when I changed silica sand to SD and noticed no cycle at all.
Wanted: to set up a tank again.
I have never read anything about this, but I think it depends on how you treat your sandbed in the move. If you were to let it dry out some, or exposed to extreme temperature ranges, then some die off of the life on it would have to be expected. In my move the sand was kept wet and indoors, it was the last thing taken out and the 1st thing put back in. I just treated it like it was part of the livestock. Of course I guess it helps that this was just across town 
I don't even have a cyano outbreak or anything.. course this probably means an imminent crash
I don't even have a cyano outbreak or anything.. course this probably means an imminent crash
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If a sand bed is moved or stirred up or temp change it will die off like anything else....oxy gets in the bed, ect....depending on how much it is disturbed and for how long will depend on how much cycle you get from the sand bed...IMO..... If it is done quick with no disturbance then you might not see any cycle...If it is stirred up and air gets in it then you might see a larger one...