new tank

[Greatsoccerman]

I have a 20 gallon up and running tank with about 30 pounds of lr. I'm upgrading to an 80 gallon tank. The new tank has had water in it for about two weeks. I would say about 20 gallons are from the tank running and 40 gallos are new. That has been cycling for about two weeks. My question is can I put the rest of the water from the old tank in there along with the fish and everything else into the new tank without it cycling or not?

 

[Mrc8858]

I have a 20 gallon up and running tank with about 30 pounds of lr. I'm upgrading to an 80 gallon tank. The new tank has had water in it for about two weeks. I would say about 20 gallons are from the tank running and 40 gallos are new. That has been cycling for about two weeks. My question is can I put the rest of the water from the old tank in there along with the fish and everything else into the new tank without it cycling or not?

You will more then likely have some spikes so you would be better off completely scaping it with lace rock and a little live from you established tank and wait for the cycle..it shouldn't be long if you seed it

 

[Greatsoccerman]

What do you mean seed?

 

[FTMMWS]

If you add all the LR from the old established tank along with a couple scoops of sand ,you'll be fine..No cycle..Just wait to add new fish to the new 80 gallon for a week or 2...
Seeding is just adding dry base to a tank with existing LR ,and it will soon become LR as well

 

[Mrc8858]

If you add all the LR from the old established tank along with a couple scoops of sand ,you'll be fine..No cycle..Just wait to add new fish to the new 80 gallon for a week or 2...
Seeding is just adding dry base to a tank with existing LR ,and it will soon become LR as well

Seeding is adding live rock to a new tank the, complete opposite...its to add BB to the new tank so that it can be jump started...the more you seed the less cycle/spikes you'll see, seed enough and no cycle at all maybe a small spike here or there

 

[FTMMWS]

its the same idea ...
The base rock he adds will be seeded by the LR and LS he already has.

 

[Mrc8858]

Ya but doing it the way you said means you would place your rock in the 20 gallon then move it into the new 80 which is just more work then setting up the 80 and "seeding" with 5-10lbs from the 20 so that you introduce the BB to the new system

 

[FTMMWS]

No ,thats not what i said
He just asked in general what "seeding" meant ..It can have different interpretations i guess..

I specifically said to take all the LR and some LS from the 20 and add it all to the newly set up 80 ,then add base ,which will be seeded by the rock and sand he has

 

[Greatsoccerman]

I don@ have sand in the old one I have crushed coral but I have been putting some in a bag and putting it on the sand. So all the water has been cycling for two weeks its new water with some old like I said before. I think I'm just going to fill the rest of the tank (about 15-20 more gallons) with water from the 20g. You guys think it would be ok to go ahead and do that and add the fish I have and some coral and crabs?

 

[Sniperhank]

Using the old water wont do anything but introduce the nitrates you remove with the water change. Everything you want to be in your tank from a cycle lives in the lr and sand/substrate.

 

[Greatsoccerman]

Oh interesting.. seems like there would be that bacteria in the water too. I'm just ready to get rid of my other tank and get the room on the counter. So you think 30ish pounds of lr could keep the tank stable enough until the rest of the rock turn live

 

[Greatsoccerman]

Ok well my nitrItes where at like .5 two days ago them dropped to .2 yesterday now at .1-.01 does it sound like my tank is ok for fish.

 

[Mrc8858]

As long as there is any nitrIte reading you wanna wait once its zero dose/feed it again and see if you get good readings after 24 hours

 

[Greatsoccerman]

And the NH4 is at 0

 

[Greatsoccerman]

Are hermit crabs hardy? G threw two of them in there and they are doing just fine. Does that mean\show anything?

 

[Mrc8858]

Ya some people would say inverts aren't but my experience is hermits are like the Roaches of the reef lol