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clarityreef
04/17/2014, 08:19 PM
Hi everyone,
I would like your advice on my new tank.

I'm upgrading from a 12gal to a 25gal tank. Tank has been running for 3 days with live rock with a good amount of coralline growth, dry sand which i have seeded with 1/2 a cup of the old sand, fresh salt water. Ammonia and nitrites are 0

My question is whether I can start moving my livestock over to the new tank. My lfs has given me mixed advice which has been confusing. Some say after 1 week, others 3-4 weeks, and others say I can start adding cause i'm using live rock.
I have tried to do some research but most answer are based on using a combination of dryrock/dry sand or live sand/live rock. Whereas I have gone with using live rock and dry sand.

Is there going to be a mini cycle eventually? Should I add food to feed the bacteria?
Ive also noticed some colonies of zoas on my live rock and they seem to be doing well in addition to a couple of cleaners that have hitched hiked there way to my new tank. I'm not sure what to do...

Can anyone help please?
thanks

MinnFish
04/17/2014, 08:31 PM
No, you are not ready for livestock. 3 day? You will not read anything in that time. That is why the readings are 0. I can't give you a timeline. Each and every tank is different, but I will say. 3 weeks is the minimum, even under the right conditions.

TinManx
04/17/2014, 11:57 PM
If ALL of the rock is mature and from your other tank, and there is no die off, I would transfer the livestock now. If there is ANYTHING that can die off (ie, new live rock, new live sand, mature rock that was out of water for any appreciable time) you have to wait out a cycle.

bnumair
04/18/2014, 12:12 AM
i am confused a bit,
is 12gal tank up and running for long time? the new 25g tank is only 3 days old? is that true?

clarityreef
04/18/2014, 04:33 AM
Hi,
I'm confused...
The 12 gal tank is already running and has been for about 1.2 years.
I have transferred some of the old live rock into the new tank. The rock is MATURE and has plenty of coralline growth. I used about 1/2 a cup of the old sand to seed the new sand as suggested by the LFS. I did not use live sand. I used dry sand in the new tank. New tank has been running for 3 days and all params are stable. Although I wasn't expecting a spike in ammonia for sometime.

So do I wait for a cycle?
thanks

Pko9876
04/18/2014, 06:09 AM
You have put cycled rock into a tank that has no ammonia (fish aren't producing it because there are no fish), meaning bacteria are dying (they have nothing to eat). You're just going downhill. Either feed the tank ammonia or start to transfer fish (not all of them, you said you've only transferred SOME rock.) Transfer an equal proportion of fish and then after about a week, transfer the rest. In a 12gal you should only have 2 or 3 small fish, in which case, transfer everything now.

Cymonous
04/18/2014, 06:48 AM
If all of your rock is Live rock, you won't have a cycle. You will get the usual diatoms, possibly algae/cyano with the new sand eventually though. How many pounds of live rock do you have total in both tanks? If you have 25+ pounds of live rock, move the rest into the new tank and all of your livestock.

clarityreef
04/18/2014, 05:22 PM
Yep all rock is Live rock that perfectly cured.There is about 20 pounds of live rock cause I didnt want too much, leaving room to put corals. In that case I will move the live rock and livestock today. YAY!
Im expecting a diatom bloom and/or cyano issue somewhere down the track. Anything I can do to evade this?

Thanks everyone!