Changing out aquascape

[musaabi]

I’m changing my aquascape out with new rock work. I have 2 structures I’m adding. I removed half the live rock already and put one of the new dry rock structures in. I’m debating on a waiting a week before removing the rest of my old rock with the rock to give time for the biological filter to start building on the new rock to not completely shock my system. Is that enough time, not enough or too much?

 

[brandon429]

there is about 1 contact time study on this site:

Connecting Established Reef To New Tank

EDIT: In conclusion, if using the method I did - connecting an established reef to a new system with dry rock (clean), I recommend the following: 1. Dose your new tank prior to connecting to your old tank with NO3 and PO4 enough to raise to your established tank levels. 2. Take your skimmer...

www.reef2reef.com

we did 20 days to ensure completion. nobody knows how fast the actual time is, I'd go longer than a week/closer to 20 days since that's all we've tracked.

*a common cycling chart shows ten days to ammonia compliance, and ammonia compliance is all that matters so anywhere above ten days - 20 would be safe if you have to rush it.

secondary point: so many surfaces in a reef tank are actively nitrifying it might not even matter. Ive seen a couple posted studies where a bone empty ten gallon tank that had only slicks on the glass walls was handling clownfish waste just fine. you'd have to have a mighty heavy fish load to ever be under-cycled, even with some partial rock removal.


this question you posed is part of the unfolding details of updated cycling science that nobody knows for sure. Since cycling charts are over fifty years old and they all show the same wait time to ammonia compliance, ten days or so is a darn good bet. those charts would be highly varied among sites were it not that way (wastewater treatment plants and scientists also reference and use those same charts, it's tested quite well in other industries that don't rely on API test kits to discern cycle readiness.)


post a pic of your tank let's see the details.

 

[musaabi]

there is about 1 contact time study on this site:

Connecting Established Reef To New Tank

EDIT: In conclusion, if using the method I did - connecting an established reef to a new system with dry rock (clean), I recommend the following: 1. Dose your new tank prior to connecting to your old tank with NO3 and PO4 enough to raise to your established tank levels. 2. Take your skimmer...

www.reef2reef.com

we did 20 days to ensure completion. nobody knows how fast the actual time is, I'd go longer than a week/closer to 20 days since that's all we've tracked.

*a common cycling chart shows ten days to ammonia compliance, and ammonia compliance is all that matters so anywhere above ten days - 20 would be safe if you have to rush it.

secondary point: so many surfaces in a reef tank are actively nitrifying it might not even matter. Ive seen a couple posted studies where a bone empty ten gallon tank that had only slicks on the glass walls was handling clownfish waste just fine. you'd have to have a mighty heavy fish load to ever be under-cycled, even with some partial rock removal.


this question you posed is part of the unfolding details of updated cycling science that nobody knows for sure. Since cycling charts are over fifty years old and they all show the same wait time to ammonia compliance, ten days or so is a darn good bet. those charts would be highly varied among sites were it not that way (wastewater treatment plants and scientists also reference and use those same charts, it's tested quite well in other industries that don't rely on API test kits to discern cycle readiness.)


post a pic of your tank let's see the details.

Thanks for the link and the feedback. Attaching pictures now. I’m in no rush, I can absolutely wait. I’ve heard from lots of ppl that the transfer happens almost instantly but didn’t want to crash my tank. I think waiting will be the best bet. Here are photos of the tank with the new rock and him much rock was removed. Note I removed everything on the right side of the tank and the left is old rock.

 

[brandon429]

its a good plan for sure, wait a bit then complete it out

in my opinion don't use bottle bac. that's not because I think your system would be harmed/long track record of not killing people's tanks here/but because it takes bravery to step outside the control boundaries of bottle bac sellers who've trained us merely glancing at a reef tank requires 3 bottles to 'stay alive'

what you're planning is an algae risk, not a crash risk and I know you're already planning for the uglies

hey that's a perfect reef though, why jack with it??? :) it is very nice. however you guided that through the uglies will be just fine on the new rocks too. in my opinion more jobs done without bottle bac puts the power and control of cycling in the hands of reefers and not sellers.

in our tank transfer thread which is sixty pages of mixed tank transfer jobs the #1 thing that was a crash risk was the upwelling of waste up under rocks and in the sandbed. that looks clean and managed above, but creating clouds in the tank of detritus waste formerly held in place was the real risk and you've already got past that step so there's no reason to think removal section #2 will matter via clouding. at day 20 I would trust it and I'd really like to link your thread to that one since you're doing a non bottle bac job, one that is a calculated wait/deposit time only.

very new wave stuff to not be dosing bottle bac right and left. and if you already have, I forgive you he he

 

[brandon429]

* to cover one small detail you mentioned above that may actually apply in a different study thread

instant transfers, zero wait time, true skip cycles:

A thread tracking pure skip cycle instant reefs, no bottle bac

This is a testless cycling thread, we don't want ammonia testing here for any job if possible, because we are teaching reefers/readers that moving live rocks system to system does not restart the cycle: many in our community don't understand that rule and feel that any tank being setup simply...

www.reef2reef.com

in your thread as I read above, you're setting dry rocks into the scape which need time to pick up bacteria. that was Tuffloud's thread too, he got 200 pounds of dry rock ready in 20 days merely by running used reef water across them, no bottle bac and no extra feed.

but if you're accessing wet/cured/already cycled rock from another aquarium (vs the ocean, that type requires cure time to stop organism dieoff) then you're using the rare instant ready skip cycle tank which we compiled ten pages of examples above. as soon as you set the rocks in the tank, it's 100% cycled, because moving rocks among tanks does not uncycle rocks.

 

[musaabi]

its a good plan for sure, wait a bit then complete it out

in my opinion don't use bottle bac. that's not because I think your system would be harmed/long track record of not killing people's tanks here/but because it takes bravery to step outside the control boundaries of bottle bac sellers who've trained us merely glancing at a reef tank requires 3 bottles to 'stay alive'

what you're planning is an algae risk, not a crash risk and I know you're already planning for the uglies

hey that's a perfect reef though, why jack with it??? :) it is very nice. however you guided that through the uglies will be just fine on the new rocks too. in my opinion more jobs done without bottle bac puts the power and control of cycling in the hands of reefers and not sellers.

in our tank transfer thread which is sixty pages of mixed tank transfer jobs the #1 thing that was a crash risk was the upwelling of waste up under rocks and in the sandbed. that looks clean and managed above, but creating clouds in the tank of detritus waste formerly held in place was the real risk and you've already got past that step so there's no reason to think removal section #2 will matter via clouding. at day 20 I would trust it and I'd really like to link your thread to that one since you're doing a non bottle bac job, one that is a calculated wait/deposit time only.

very new wave stuff to not be dosing bottle bac right and left. and if you already have, I forgive you he he

Yeah I haven’t added bottle bacteria. My lfs advised of it but I politely declined. The only bacteria I use rn and I dose it fairly often is PSB. We’ll see how it goes, I’ve had luck skipping the uglies in the past using nothing but phyto, PSB, and a couple of bottles of bacteria from different brands for diversity as well as pods.