New Fuge - Will it Start a Cycle?

[FSOL]

Hi guys,

I had to move my 40g fuge tank yesterday for some house work. I emptied as much water out of it as possible. While moving it, a lot of dirt and debris came out of the DSB so I decided to completely re-do the fuge.
I emptied out the whole tank, got rid of the old sand, put 5 new bags of live aragonite sand, placed my LR back in there and filled it up again with some cleaners and some chaeto.

Will this cause any cycling or nitrate spike events in the whole tank?

FYI - the main tank is 180g and has been running for 14 months, while the fuge had been running about 12 months.

Thanks

 

[sunfish11]

Yes, you have the potential for a cycle. Keep an eye on it and see what the levels do and be prepared for water changes. Not only have you lost the nutrient processing from the DSB in your fuge temorarily, but you have also used live sand that can cause a nice amount of amonia. It would be good if you could cycle the fuge seperately from the main display. Even if you do that you have still lost a potentially decent size chunk of your biological filter by re-vamping the fuge so you will probably see a nitrate spike in the display.

Lisa

 

[FSOL]

My main tank is also a DSB and is a lot bigger in size, so perhaps losing the DSB from the fuge may not have a big impact.
I did consider running the fuge separately for a few weeks then connecting it to the main tank, but I decided I'll be ok this way.
Would it be too late if I disconnect the fuge from the main tank today (I setup the fuge yesterday).

 

[nathan_unsane]

i personally think it depends on the size of the display ratio to the size of the fuge ration; water, sand, live rock... etc...

giving your specs i don't see it making a impact enough to worry about but like mentioned above i would keep an eye on your levels

 

[FSOL]

I'll definitely keep an eye on them of course. I reused the same LR as in the old fuge. I had no other choise though. The old fuge sandbed got all disturbed and was filthy.
Well in any case, if I wanted to separate the fuge from the main tank today (after one day together) is it too late for this?

 

[sunfish11]

No, I don't think it is to late. Are you seeing amonia?

 

[FSOL]

I set this up yesterday, so only a day has gone by. I think it's too early to see any type of spike

 

[sunfish11]

Since your existing tank has such a large sandbed you may get lucky and not see anything.

 

[FSOL]

We'll see