Will a "new" tank cycle if...

[stieger]

Hi folks,

So, I have a 100G tank I've sold and is being picked up in a couple days.

In the interim, I bought a 58G with a sump/Oceanic trickle filter, and set that up a couple days ago.

I transferred about 40lbs of live rock and about 50 lbs of live sand from the 100Gallon tank (which had cycled months ago), into the 58G tank. I've also transferred about 40G of water from the 100G into the other tank.

So, the water, rock, and sand are basically transferred to the new tank. The only thing that really doesn't have any "bacteria" is the trickle filter / bio balls.

Will the tank "recycle," or not? Just wondering as I have the fish in the tank.

My guess is I have enough rock and live sand in the tank that the bacteria growth on the bio balls won't make the tank recycle, as everything was basically transferred from the established tank.

Thoughts?

Stieger

 

[Mel-E-Mel]

disturbing the sand will release the bad stuff that it has caught from the past so im sure you will get another cycle. most of the time when people swap tanks they rinse out the old sand with r/o and reeseed with a cup of the old sand or just replace it completly and reseed.

 

[wooden_reefer]

I rountinely transfer media from a mature biological filter.

A cycled tank will stay cycled, just be mindful:

1. Don't let any of the old rock and biological filter media (your bio-balls and gravel etc.) dry out . They don't need to be submerged all the time, just be quite moist.

2. There may be a fractional loss in nitrification capacity. Be particularily careful about not overfeeding in the few weeks that follows.

 

[papagimp]

If you did not put all the rock and sand over (or mixed the sand too much) you may very well see a nice spike of sorts. The rock and sand in your existing setup were appropriately cycled for that tank, if you add less rock to a new tank and move all the same livestock over, than naturally you will have less bacteria but the same bioload going in. Also have to consider that even though the rock and sand was well cycled and established for a time, the new tank itself is not, and bacteria and other junk grows on the glass and whatnot as well, so maturation time will be needed but should go alot quicker. The only problem I really see here is the dustruption of the current eco-system, this can cause problems, just watch carefully, be patient, listen to wooden reefers good advice.

 

[stieger]

what if I take one of the canister filters from the "established tank" (eheim 2026 or Rena X3) and put it on the new tank to help with increasing the bacteria load - the eheim has a chamber with the equivalent of "bioballs" already well seeded - that may help increase the amount of nutrifying bacteria in the new tank, while the new trickle filter "catches up..."

Thoughts?

Stieger

 

[Europa13]

If you have live rock, you really don't need bio-balls. They are more for freshwater tanks. The use of them in a saltwater tank contributes to nitrates.

 

[chopsuey]

I have one question **scratches head**

Why are you moving all of you LR and fish to a 58gal from a 100gal...?

LOL it should be the other way around......

 

[stieger]

Wife factor - big tank is upstairs in "play room" - but takes up a lot of space. 58G is in son's room....