Water and cycling

[nickstanley995]

I have an empty 55g waiting to be tlstarted up hopefully this weekend and I have a questioncabout water. My buddy has a big tank and is going to do a water change. My question is could I take his water change water to speed up my cycle? Or would I even need to cycle it if I took his water? Or is this a bad idea all together?

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[BigRedsReefs10]

The water is going to do nothing for you, the bacteria reside on hard surfaces in the tank (rock and sand), all adding used water will do is add any free swimming parasites from his tank to yours. Just make your own water, the other idea will have no effect on the speed of your cycle.

[nickstanley995]

Okay thanks. Was just a thought I had while daydreaming at work lol

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[icydeath]

You could jack some of his sand. LOL

[nickstanley995]

He is giving me a bit of sand! Thats where my whole thought of the water came from lol

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[icydeath]

Haha makes sense. You are lucky you are seeded... my science teacher (we share a love of fish) never let me use anything to seed :/

[nickstanley995]

Hes the one who convinced me to go saltwater. I have had freshwater but this will be my first in the salty side

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[nickstanley995]

I have another question. Is it better to buy all my rock then to do a bit at a time? Would it affect my cycling if I were to onlg start off with a bit and slowly add more and more?

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[Sniperhank]

You don't need any of the live sand to seed, it'll all go live after you cycle the tank.
In terms of the rock, you can add it slowly or all at once. If you add it slowly, make sure that there isn't anything in the rock that can die off or just cycle it in a separate container.

[icydeath]

I would add it all at once so it is all colonized and you can tweak it to your liking before fish are in it. The live sand does help seed though.

Good luck on the salty side! - Raymond

[nickstanley995]

My biggest thing is that I am in canada and I couldnt find any cheap stores I felt were safe that would ship to canada without spending billions on shipping lol. So my lfs has it for 11 $/lbs so if I do 50lbs thats close to 600 $ :/

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[carey]

Use 10lbs of live rock and 40lbs of base rock. You can save a fortune and it will not be any different for cycling. the base rock will become "live" in a few weeks and after a few months you wont be able to tell the difference between the live and what was base rock.

I probably have over 500lbs of live rock total and I have only purchased about 35-40lbs of it live. I prefer the base rocks look personally, other than live tonga rock. lol

I would also just go with all new sand, don't reuse someone elses as you will bring nitrates and who knows what else into your tank. Fresh is best.
No need for "live" sand either that the lfs sells, basic aragonite will do. Steer away from crushed coral as it can trap gunk in itself and lead to parameter issues later on plus smaller gobies will not be able to sift it if you were gonna get any gobies.

Good luck

[nickstanley995]

I totally forgot about base rock! I will definitely do tgat then

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[Ingy]

JL aquatics in Vancouver is about $1.5/lb for base rock. Best price I've found on the left coast.


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[nickstanley995]

For water can I use tap water for the cycle? I have heard that dechlorinator and salt in tap water is fine for the cycling and then when its done a big rodi water change before fish. Is this true?

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[icydeath]

I would think so.

[carey]

You could, but if you "can" I would go with ro/di water. You might get some nasty algae during the cycle. BUT if all you can swing is the tap water then I would guess thats the road you have to take.

[Khuligirl93]

I'm new on the salty side of the forum is RO water 100% necessary for SW? If so, why can't you mix it (say 50/50) with tap?


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[BigRedsReefs10]

Originally Posted by Khuligirl93

I'm new on the salty side of the forum is RO water 100% necessary for SW? If so, why can't you mix it (say 50/50) with tap?


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That really depends on what type of tank you want, reef or fowlr/fish only?

If you want a reef, then yes IMO it is. Corals require pristine water (other sw inverts too honestly) and there's really no way of knowing what's in tap water. Tap water also tends to fuel nuisance algae growth as well, which once it takes hold can be a battle to get rid of, some times it causes people to shut down the tank and start over.

[carey]

Juts as a note to the OP, you want RO DI wayer, not just RO. The DI stage will take out the last of the other stuff in the water. RO is a good first step, but youre much better off with the DI as well.