cycling

[cajundolphin]

how do I cycle my new tank with help from my old tank? The first day, I mixed my water and salt. Next day, I added substrate, CC. One week later, I added LR and water to new tank from my old tank already established for about 7mths. What next?

[drillsar]

Well you said you have LR is it cured or not cured? If its cured already you wont have a cycle. You need a source of Ammonia, so basically you will need a uncooked shrimp if you have cured rock already to activate the ammonia process.

[cajundolphin]

It came out of my established tank that is about 7mths old. So can I add fish to my new tank already?

[drillsar]

No your tank will never Cycle this way, You need a source of ammonia, You dont have any, Way to either do this is to add a uncooked shrimp or add flakes of food or add Ammonia Chloride to water to activate the Cycle.

[cajundolphin]

ok, I have uncooked shrimp. So, I just throw one in and leave it for how long?

[drillsar]

You can leave it in there as long as you wish probably about two weeks, It will smell though. Eventually Ammonia will show up then Nitrate. Best way though is to use uncured rock but this should get some benefecial bacteria then add slowly once everything turns 0 about 30 days

[cajundolphin]

ok thank you so much for your help. I am confused at why add cured liverock if it still has to cycle for several weeks with shrimp? I still have sooo much to learn about all of this. Do I need a special filter for this tank...my lfs told me the one I have is fine since I am only putting one fish in the tank but is that true? It is just a cascade 200 over the back kind in a 30gal hex.

[drillsar]

Wait did you use your old tank water? Substrate new?

[drillsar]

If you used water from mature tank you may have a mini cycle

[cajundolphin]

I used about 10gal from my old tank and the rest new water. The lr is from my old tank too.

[cajundolphin]

new substrate though....so do I still need to add the shrimp? And what about my filter? I am setting this tank up to move my baby porc puffer into. I know he will outgrow it but that will take some time and I hope to have a much larger tank set up by then. He is only 3 inches now.

[drillsar]

IS the filter new? I would add the shrimp it wont hurt anything

[madreefer14]

Cajun, How much live rock do you have? You'll need at least 60 pounds of lr for a 55 gal unless it is very porus. If you have this much rock and it has been in a tank WITH FISH for the last 7 months AND you are using some if not all of the substrate from your old tank then you should not have to worry a bit about cycling. If you are using the same HOB filter for the new tank, dont change the filter cartriges for the next 2 weeks just to be on the safe side. You should keep an eye on your ammonia, nitrite and nitrate levels over the next 2 weeks too. If there will be any cycle you will first see a spike in ammonia then nitrites then nitrates. Every other to every 3rd day should suffice unless you see a spike in any of your results and if so take appropriate action. If your using the appropriate ammount of rock, substrate and filter from your old tank I'd lay dollars to dougnuts that you wont have a cycle at all.

[cajundolphin]

new substrate....filter is not new but has been used as freshwater setup till last week when I started changing over

[cajundolphin]

new substrate....filter is not new but has been used as freshwater setup till last week when I started changing over .....i put about 15lbs lr into new 30gal tank and left about 50lbs in old tank

[drillsar]

15lbs is not going to do it in a 55gal tank, They recommend 1lb of rock per gal, what you can do is get 30lbs of base rock and 35lbs of Live Rock, You really dont need the filter because the rock will be your filter, I would get at least 65lbs though, I have 110lbs in my 55gal.

[cajundolphin]

will this filter even work for a saltwater setup...cascade 200 over back

[drillsar]

Do you want to go reef or FOWLR? I also seen your light system, if you want to go reef you need better lights and a better skimmer.

[cajundolphin]

the 15lbs was put into the new 30gal tank....I left 50lbs in the 55gal tank...I guess I still need more in the new tank though

[cajundolphin]

no im staying fowlr...the new tank is solely for my puffer only

[drillsar]

Yes you should aim at least 1lb per gal but if the Rock is your only filter you shold try to aim like 2lbs per gal, if you dont want that much in your display you can use a sump and put some in there. You can by Base Rock its cheaper and eventually will come live.

[drillsar]

Then you should get around 30lbs more rock, Again you can get base rock its cheaper.

[cajundolphin]

ok thanks for ur help