New Sand after move, Will tank cycle?

[jmadison]

Ok, I just moved back home from my summer job, and brought my tank back with me. I removed the crushed coral/sand substrate I had previously as it had become a detritus magnet :mad2:.

So currently all the livestock and corals are in tuperwares and bags. I saved prob 80% or more of the original water.

My question is, I plan on adding new finer (livesand) to the display. If I place the new livesand in with the live rock and some Bio http://www.aquariumplants.com/product_p/biosp02.htm and a cup of old sand to seed it; will my tank cycle again.

My other question is, how do I use my water...

I have a 20 gallon high for a QT tank and will place the water I saved in there along with the fish and coral while my main tank cycles or whatever. So if I make all new water to cycle the main tank, and the inhabitants are still in the old tank water, How do I reintroduce to the main tank. Do I drain most of the water out of the main tank and use all the old water that the fish are in that I can? Will that counteract the cycling of the main tank and cause it to do it again while the fish and coral are in the main tank?

I am sorry for the novel, and I hope that made sense.
Thank you all in advance.
-J

 

[atwinparadox2]

well for the water first, if you can get your new water to the same parameters as you old water then you can just drop them in....temp/alk/ph/nit/ all that good stuff has to be the same, otherwise I would acclimate them again to the new tank water. You may want to use half old water and half new water? Basically it's performing a water change.

As for the sand, I am not totally sure, but I don't think it will cause our tank to cycle...maybe a mini cycle of algae. Don't quote me on this one though. Someone else will most likely chime in. Good luck I hope this helps.

 

[atwinparadox2]

well for the water first, if you can get your new water to the same parameters as you old water then you can just drop them in....temp/alk/ph/nit/ all that good stuff has to be the same, otherwise I would acclimate them again to the new tank water. You may want to use half old water and half new water? Basically it's performing a water change.

As for the sand, I am not totally sure, but I don't think it will cause your tank to cycle...maybe a mini cycle of algae. Don't quote me on this one though. Someone else will most likely chime in. Good luck I hope this helps.

 

[atwinparadox2]

oops sorry about the double post.

 

[bolandess]

I'm wondering the same thing because I want to change my substrate from crushed coral to live sand so this is a bump...

 

[atwinparadox2]

I think if you're getting live sand there shouldn't be a problem, we get most of our cycling from adding new live rock that has die-off and stuff like that.

 

[Sk8r]

About a 5-day cycle: keep your corals and fishes in qt until it's had its snit and gotten steadied down. You may get some die-off from the live sand, too: just don't rely on it.
Feed the tank a tiny, tiny pinch of fish food daily and test for ammonia. When the tank can dispose of it, it's getting there. Test by adding (acclimate) snails. If they're ok, your fish are ok and if your fish are ok your corals are ok.

 

[jmadison]

As always sk8r great and concise info!

Whats your idea about the water situation? I will have to make up 25 or so gallons of new SW to cycle the new sand. So when I go about adding back the livestock, which water should end up in the display tank?

Also should I add the LR to the tank while its cycling?

 

[atwinparadox2]

if it's already cycled live rock, wouldn't this be beneficial to add to the new tank for the mini cycle? Could this maybe speed it along?

 

[Capt_Cully]

Why not just use a cup of the old sand, and use new dry sand (heavily rinsed) instead of live sand. This will avoid a cycle from the sand and it will become live in a very short time.

Add your already cured LR, then some dry sand, top it off with the old water, finish with newly mixed and matched water. Let that settle then acclimate your fish and corals.

I'd agree, that QT for a few days is optimal for keeping the fish de-stressified and out of the way for aquascaping. You can handle any mini cycles or spikes (from things kicked up off of the LR) with water changes and wet skimming.

Once you're in the clear, start acclimating things like sk8er recommends.

 

[jmadison]

So then should I use the old water to put into the QT tank to not stress the fish out, and use new water in the main tank with the new sand? I was going to use 20# of live sand and 10# dry sand. Wont the live sand help it cycle faster?

 

[Capt_Cully]

If anything IMO the live sand will cause a larger die off vs get things up to speed quicker. The dry sand will become seeded with only a cup or so of old sand. You still may have a mini cycle from your LR. Stuff gets kicked up during transfer that could increase your ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate.

For the QT I'd use some of your old. You can top it off with some fresh mixed and 24hr cured SW as long as it's parameters are equal to the old water. To the fish, it'll be like enduring a water change.

Then, I'd use as much of the old water as you can in the new tank.

This is all, exactly how I transfered Rock, Corals, and Fishes from a 72 to my 180. 0 casualties.