Skip Cycling???

[eatsomepopcorn]

If I seed a new 120g tank with 5lbs of live sand from my existing marine tank, 10 lbs of live rock from my existing marine tank, and 20 gallons of water from my existing marine tank, and run my existing canister filter for a few hours per day. How quickly could I get the tank to cycle and balance?

[Kurt_Nelson]

The water won't help you, but the other things will help jump start a bacteria colony for you. As far as how quick it cycles probably depends on how much ammonia you put in. Just a little - it'll probably take care of it pretty quick. A lot - it'll probably take longer. I'd just plan on 4 weeks and if it's quicker it'll be a nice surprise!

[melosu58]

As Kurt said the water wont help. There is very little to none of the nitrifying bacteria in the water. The LR and sand will help. You wont be able to skip the cycle with that little bit in a big tank like that. It will help jump start it though.

[cmor1701d]

How much LR do you intend to have in the tank? Are you going to be adding alot of base rock and let the LR seed it?

The LR and LS will help start the cycling but your still going to need a source of ammonia to help the bacterial colony grow and colonize the rest of the sand and rock and keep what you have alive.

[austinsdad]

i think too with so little established rock and sand that you will experience a cycle.

[eatsomepopcorn]

Thanks for the input.