Tank Upgrade Questions

[Jabbajaw]

I am running a 75g reef with a 1-2 inch sand bed. I just finished my in wall stand for my new 125g and have some questions. In the 125 I am going to do a faux sandbed with starboard. I am also going to buy another 50 pounds of live rock. My question is where will a new cycle come from and do I need one to take place in the new tank? Would you buy cured or uncured rock? I only have 1 skimmer so it will be staying on the 75 until I move all critters.

My next question is I have some hair algae in the 75, i have added phosban and it is helping but I don't want to introduce that to the new tank. Will the elimination of the substrate and the new water help eliminating the hair algae. The 75G will be my new sump so I will have a larger fuge also as soon as I move out the live stock.

Thanks in advance!

 

[kar93]

If you bought uncured rock a cycle will come from the die off of the rock. When buying cured i still like to cure for a couple of weeks myself. As for the HA, Do you use RO/DI,what are all your parameters?

 

[Jabbajaw]

So if I bought cured I could safely transfer my livestock in a couple of weeks you think? I may buy uncured, run a normal light cycle and have flow then do a large water change in about 3 weeks.

I do use a RO/DI, i need to check my parameters

 

[Amoore311]

If your are going to buy uncured rock you might as well by the dried stuff from Marco or Bulkreefsupply. They both take about as long to "cycle through" (ie. eliminate all the die off).

Buying the dried rocks you will be 100% Sure that you have no nuissance pests coming from your new rock. (Aptaisa, Hyrdroids, Mantis Shrimp, etc.)


The dried out stuff took me about 2-3 weeks to get rid of the die off.

 

[Jabbajaw]

Is the "dried" rock the same as base rock? Will it not have any beneficial bacteria, etc? I hope I am wrong since that would be a lot cheaper.

 

[Jabbajaw]

I also meant to ask, doesn't it take years to seed that base rock?

 

[meschaefer]

No it will not have the beneficial bacteria, but it will quickly develop it.

As far as seeding - as said it will develop beneficail bacteria quickly. As long as your parameters are in place, it will start to develop Coraline algae in a month or two, and will be completely covered (or close to it) in about a year. Other stuff, such as microfauna, will migrate over from your existing live rock and you wont miss it being absent from your 'base rock"

I recently upgraded from a 65 gallon to a 220 gallon tank, and used about 75lbs of Marco Rock to fill out the tank. You need to remember that Marco Rock is a lot lighter than live rock since live rock is wet. I would guess that 1lbs of Marco rock is equivalent to 2lbs of live rock. Accordingly it is much, much, cheaper. You will also avoid any unwanted pests.

If I ever need to start completely fresh, I would use 95% marco rock and then seed the rest with some choice pieces of live rock.

 

[Jabbajaw]

thanks for the replies. So you think I could put about 50 pounds of the dry rock with about 10 pounds of live rock, run a normal light schedule and use a couple of powerheads and be ok for my cycle?

 

[meschaefer]

Yes. Take note that most base rock tends to yellow the water at first. I would give yourself about three weeks to cylce. Weekly water changes, and then run some carbon at the end of the period and you should be ok.

Other people I knowl hose down Marco Rock before using it to knock of some dead organisms and to "clean" it up a bit.