Starting a new tank...

[smndfi]

I have a 55 gal tank and my cousin wants to start a 30 gal. I want to take 15 gal of my water and about 10 - 15 lbs. of sand that is in my 55 gal and add it to his tank. Will that mean his tank is already cycled since I am adding water and sand that is already cycled?

[mfinn]

I don't think it will be fully cycled, but it will have a real good start.

[jeffbrig]

The water doesn't matter so much, the bacteria you're concerned about are in the sand. Mfinn is right, it will give him a good headstart, but he will still have a cycle, especially when he adds live rock.

[dracul00]

yes it will be ready to rock but you will have to exchange some water during the first days. just bring water from the cycled tank and viceversa, this way you keep bacteria alive in the new one

[mandktod]

If cured LR is added I would still say it will need to cycle, the cycle may be very short but there most likely will still be a cycle to go through, hopefully some one who has had experience with this will chime in, I know lot's of people upgrade their tank to a bigger one and have used the stuff from the old one to get the new one started but I don't recall much being said about the cycle, you might try a search about it and see what comes up.

[speccialj922]

agreed, not much beneficial bacteria floating around in the water. the sand will do 100x what the water will. i think a cycle is inevitable. but it will most likely be a shorter one.

[Brewboy74]

Just give him the sand and use fully cured live rock and his cycle will be really short. Just don't let him add a bunch of bioload right away. It could cause a mini cycle down the road. Good Luck