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Cycling a tank quickly

K

KillaGoby

Here's the scoop. I wanted to cycle my new 70 gallon Tech Tank for at least a month before adding the corals from my old 29 gallon. Due to forces beyond my control I need to shorten the lenghth of time of the cycle. Here's what I've done so far:

1. One week ago I added 70 lbs of new live rock and 4" of new sand to the refugium.

2. 3 days ago I added 20 lbs of live rock from my old tank.

3. Last night I added another 25 lbs of live rock and half of the existing sand from my old refugium to the new refugium. I also had to add my Clownfish.

I have tested all levels and everything is at 0. Keep your fingers crossed. I'm hoping I don't crash and burn on this one.

Does anyone have experence with cycling a tank in a week by using live rock and sand from an old tank?
 
B

Brian

Officer Emeritus
Officer Emeritus
The only advice I can give is, nothing in this hobby happens quickly except problems.

If at all possible I would try my best to not rush the cycle along. After adding the other 25#'s of rock you still may get a cycle, you probably wouldn't know for a few days though.

I know there are some enzymes and bacteria you can add to the tank to speed up the cycle, but I've never been a fan of products like that.

Good Luck!
 
S

sinkingbeach

Nothing good ever comes out of rushing in this hobby :-X With that said, if you used LR and sand from an existing tank it's possible you won't get a cycle at all but I'd be very cautious.
 
M

mladencovic

You have to think about the nitrogen cycle as live and dynamic process where each stage of the process will constantly contract or expand based on the supply of nutrients and demand (number of bacterias).

So, assuming that your 29 gal was properly cycled and balanced, and that the conditions of your old rocks are such that they can perform the role without significant interruption, your tank should be able to support the bioload that was fully supported in your old tank. HOWEVER, if you just brought your LR in without water or animals it supported, then the bacterial life in LR might find new environment too clean - lacking nutrients that each individual step consumes. If there is nothing in new tank producing ammonia, then ammonia eating bacterias will die and you have disrupted the cycle and reduced the effectiveness and immediate usefullness of the old LR. Of course, not all of them will die, since those that die will produce enough ammonia for smaller number of survivors to "eat", but the balance is disrupted. And this goes for each stage of the cycle.
 
Phyl

Phyl

Officer Emeritus
Officer Emeritus
We emptied a 35 and moved it all into a 65 in 3 hrs time, never saw a cycle. If your rock and system was bio-capable before the move you will be bio-capable after the move as well. We recently moved our 120 into a 180. There's a big difference between counting on "live" rock to be capable of handling a new bioload (most "cycled" rock just means that there isn't anything CAUSING ammo from the rock, not necessarily that it is capable of handling the load from your fish, but if the rock was already handling the cycle in the exising tank, I see no reason to believe that you'll see problems from the transfer down the line. Lots of people upgrade tanks, many of them in place where the luxury of running both isn't an option.
 
K

KillaGoby

Well my old 29 gallon was up and running for 3 years with no traces of ammonia, nitrite, or nitrates. I added the Clownfish to the new tank to produce some waste, and I'm hoping the 45 lbs. of live rock and live sand from the old tank and fuge will be enough to support the tank right now. I will start to add the 20 LPS corals I have from the 29 gallon in about a week after checking the new tanks levels. I will try to do 2 corals at a time, a few days apart from each other. So far I have not seen any levels of ammonia, nitrite, or nitrate. I hope this works!
 
M

mladencovic

KillaGoby said:
Well my old 29 gallon was up and running for 3 years with no traces of ammonia, nitrite, or nitrates. I added the Clownfish to the new tank to produce some waste, and I'm hoping the 45 lbs. of live rock and live sand from the old tank and fuge will be enough to support the tank right now. I will start to add the 20 LPS corals I have from the 29 gallon in about a week after checking the new tanks levels. I will try to do 2 corals at a time, a few days apart from each other. So far I have not seen any levels of ammonia, nitrite, or nitrate. I hope this works!
Click to expand...

1 clown in 70 gal will be fine :) I did it with 2 clowns and everything was fine.
 
M

mladencovic

KillaGoby said:
I've heard I should add all 20 LPS corals to the tank as well to support the bio-load. What's the truth in that?
Click to expand...

definitively your original plan - wait a couple of weeks and then do it slowly and gradually.
 
M

mladencovic

KillaGoby said:
I'm sure going to try. I know there are some sponges on the Fiji LR I just purchased.
Click to expand...

You should have scrubbed those. They are either already dead by now and will just pollute water, or are going to die due to the lack of proper food, and pollute water later. Did you fully cure the rock? Even if they sold you the LR as fully cured, you should cure it for several weeks just in case.
 
K

KillaGoby

Well, I just did it. I added about 20 LPS's, some Zoos, and mushrooms. I had no other choice. I have to have my old tank out of the place I used to live at by Saturday. I have someone picking it up tomorrow night. So far all of the corals have opened up in the new tank. I hope it goes through a mild cycle if any. Wish me luck!
 
K

KillaGoby

I've got about 15 gallons of the old water which I will use 5 gallons at a time over the period of 3 weeks starting with the 1st water change tonight. So far all I have is brown hair algae growing on the new rocks. All of my parameters are at 0, and the fish and corals look healthy. I've added carbon and my skimmer is running wet.

Now if I could only figure out how to run the Solar setting on my Solaris lights so it comes on at noon!
 
J

JTN

The 4 raw shrimp (from the seafood store or local super market) method is the only method I found that works fast and efficient. It was much faster than the normal cycling with damsels and such.

I also strongly agree that rushing the cycle could have tragic resluts.

Good luck,

Hope it works 4 u

Jim
 
K

KillaGoby

So far, so good. Everthing is open, colorful, and healthy. I installed a PO4 reactor today, and added a bunch of snails to eliminate the algae on the new rocks. It looks like I went through a mini-cycle. My nitrates are currently at 1.
 
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