is this right?

[aqua5]

lr,not water carries the bacteria and things that make an established tank.

[Adonis Mt]

false, several things carry beneficial bacteria.

Sand, sponges, and the water itself as well.

[Navyblue]

The surface area in your tank (substrate liverock and etc) and the filter media carries the bulk of the bacteria load.

[DaveC]

bateria grows on every surface of anything inside the tank...the more porous the surface the more bateria can colonize..

DaveC

[aqua5]

so i have another question.......i want to make a frag tank and could i carry over 20 gallons of water from my 8 month old reef tank to a 20 gallon container with a power head and have 10 gallons of water sit and then a month later 10gallons more in it so in 2 months i will have 20 gallons of water and have it be established water so i dont have to cycle the frag tank over and wait for it to establish?

it is hard to put into words what i am thinking and i know this post sounds confusing so sorry.

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

I'll post the same answer here as in your other thread:

I don't think just adding tank water will cycle the frag tank. The necessary bacteria populate surfaces in the aquarium, not so much the water column.

[aqua5]

would you say that 1 month established (i will start cycling now) water and rubble rock is ok for frags like xenia and zoo's that have been in an 8 month established tank.the frag tank will have skimmer and MH and no fish.it Will have clean up crew.

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

I would think so. Sand might be best, but rubble rock is OK if there is enough. Unless you add fish food, there will be little ammonia produced in such a tank.

What sort of clean up crew? What would they be cleaning up?

[aqua5]

Originally posted by Randy Holmes-Farley
I would think so. Sand might be best, but rubble rock is OK if there is enough. Unless you add fish food, there will be little ammonia produced in such a tank.

What sort of clean up crew? What would they be cleaning up?


i dont want sand because i will have lots of flow and dont want the sand blowing around.i want to have very little rock in the tank besides the rubble rock that coral will grow onto so i would say i would have no rubble rock.can i get some rubble rock and then put it into my 20 gallon drum and add some fish flakes every day until it is cycled then i may cut back to adding frozen or flakes(not alot) to the tank everyother day?will this sustain the cycle and keep the tank running with no fish in it?

[friogatto]

I would say move the frag tank next to the estblished tank and plumb them together. No cycle, no temp swings, ph swings, Salinity swing and no need for a skimmer, and other filtration.
Saves alot of $$$ and all you need is light and a little PVC.

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

If you are not feeding the frag tank, there won't be much nitrogen to cycle. Growing frags are a sink for nitrogen, not a source. So if you cut back on the clean up crew to nothing needing feeding, then you won't need to add much food (unless you plan to dose phyto).

If you do add much food, I'd use as much rubble as you can collect.

[aqua5]

whta would be your reccomendation on doing this?there is absolutley NO way i could plumb it to my existsing tank.

could you explain this more please"Growing frags are a sink for nitrogen, not a source"

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

As they grow, corals incorporate nitrogen into their bodies, and so are a net sink for nitrogen, not a net source. Of course, if you feed a coral foods, the food is a source of nitrogen, and they may then release nitrogen.

[aqua5]

why would it be bad to not have much of a nitrogen cycle?

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

It wouldn't be bad, if there was no ammonia being added via fish and bacteria.

[aqua5]

now back to the tank cycling thing........if i wanted to start cycling tank water is a seperate container now what would i do without taking out any LR from my main tank?if i added half my tank water and half fresh water would it cycle quicker?

[Navyblue]

Actually, you don't have to "cycle the water", you are actually cycling the LR. If you were to add water from established tank to the LR, IMO it won't be noticably faster.

[aqua5]

thanks...whats you opinion on this?........


Originally posted by aqua5
if i wanted to start cycling tank water is a seperate container (as i dont actually have the glass tank yet)now what would i do without taking out any LR from my main tank? :rollface:

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

I'm not sure I understand your last post. His correct answer was that you do not cycle the water. I think that is where you are getting confused. You cycle the filtration equipment in the new tank, whether that is live rock, sand, a sponge, a wet/dry, or something else. The water does not hold the bacteria that process ammonia. They are bound to surfaces.

So in short, cycling the water alone will accomplish next to nothing.